Ricardo was always interested in tech communities, events, and hackathons, and chose to pursue technology because of the positive impacts it can have in promoting social change. But when he began university, he felt lost about his tech skills and ability to create something significant that can help others. Early on in university, one of his teachers strongly suggested he participate in the UG Creativity and Innovation Contest for extra credit with another student. Ricardo had never been to a tech contest before, and he could not meet with his partner, Rodolfo Ferro (MLH Top 50 Class of 2020), as they were in different cities at the time. They worked on the project remotely and only met on the day of the contest, 15 minutes before pitching their project to judges, yet surprisingly their project won first place at the event. The experience brought Ricardo and Rodolfo together, both literally and figuratively, as they became best friends, co-founded several communities together such as Future Lab and Datostada Mx, and are now roommates! Their work together has focused on promoting science and technology through education initiatives with GitHub Campus Experts, Google Developer Groups, Microsoft Student Ambassadors, and more. Such work in the tech community has opened many opportunities for Ricardo to work on professional projects and earn scholarships, giving him important firsthand experiences that he never would have had access to otherwise.

Soon after starting university, Ricardo collected a small group of students and co-founded Future Lab, a hack lab for their projects. Over 4+ years, the lab grew from a physical space at the university to a fully virtual community of 100+ members from universities all around Mexico, who have organized over 25 tech events from large hackathons of 500+ attendees to smaller and more casual meetups like MLH Local Hack Day. Much of the lab's work has involved collaborations with other organizations, such as hosting a science challenge in 2020 with Clubes de Ciencia México, or receiving a grant from the Empanada Fund to develop a professional scientific computing course which will be available for free to any student in the country.

Ricardo is also part of an unofficial network of hackathon mentors in Mexico, where he shares and collaborates with others. Most of his work there involves co-organizing events through Future Lab; hosting workshops, talks, and conferences; and helping with dynamics in GitHub, Google, and Microsoft communities. The network has organized many events including GuanaHacks, Datostada Mx, Open Data Day, BeeHack, LinceHack, and more.

Tech communities and hackathons have allowed Ricardo to have a real impact in helping other students that are just as lost as he once was, and he is motivated to continue contributing to the community by putting time and effort into promoting tech as a fun field that teaches applicable skills. He has helped build a number of tech communities, but a particularly interesting one he works with now involves managing the community for Microsoft’s Virtual Innovation, a free program that complements students’ professional training by teaching technical skills in Industry 4.0 and Microsoft cloud technologies. The program is a part of Microsoft’s Innovate for Mexico investment plan to hone industry and innovative skills for the future and has over 10,000 enrolled students from across Mexico. Ricardo is a “Digital Sherpa” for the program, guiding the community’s learning process as inspired by sherpas who accompany travelers in achieving their journey’s goals. Through the metaphor of travel, Digital Sherpas host various events such as talks on a variety of topics, live sessions with industry specialists, and hackathons for prototyping solutions, all serving to encourage students to grow and interact with each other.

Ricardo is an avid civic hacker and passionate professional who works to have a positive impact on society with his creations. No matter where he is or what he is working on, Ricardo says there will always be a part of him that promotes the skills and values he learned from all the hackathons he has attended because they were integral to growing his tech capabilities, connecting him with like-minded people, and shaping his tech career aspirations.

Being a part of the LGBT+ community is a defining part of Ricardo, yet he very rarely finds LGBT+ presence in Mexico’s tech field. That is why he tries to promote their visibility and inclusion in projects and events that he works on, sparking conversations and bringing attention to the topic, and raising awareness about their lack of representation in important decision-making positions through his organizational work. At Open Data Day 2020, Ricardo collaborated with the Open Knowledge Foundation to use public data to map safe spaces for the community, as well as analyze the public agenda on gender and trans equality, an experience he wrote about in this blog post. Ricardo also recently joined Codeando México, a non-profit and community of tech developers that focuses on civic rights, open data, and civic tech. Codeando México actively promotes inclusion and human rights in the tech field, and Ricardo is proud to contribute to the organization’s great work.

Ricardo’s favorite project he built at a hackathon was CitizenBot, an intelligent bot that citizens can use to report problems or needs related to their homes and neighborhood, such as with water services, electricity, roads, and more. The bot’s potential expands further beyond the individual needs of citizens, as it collects and uses the information to construct heat maps that detect potential areas in a city where there is a concentrated need for improvement, marking it as an area that would most benefit from targeted investments in resources that solve the citizens’ reported needs. The hack won a first-place prize and shows the kind of civic hacking that Ricardo hopes to continue doing to help communities in need.