# Marco Netto

> Tech Lead • Full-Stack & AI Engineer. Building AI solutions for real problems. Leading teams and projects. Sharing what I learn through articles and my community.

Web page: https://tchez.dev/ · Versão em português: https://tchez.dev/pt/index.md

## A little about me

I’m a Computer Science graduate with five years in software, the last three focused on building agentic workflows and AI solutions. I’ve learned in practice that not every problem labeled AI actually needs it. I shape the solution around what each case really demands: cost, reliability and who will maintain it after me. Sometimes that’s an agentic workflow, sometimes a simpler model, sometimes conventional automation.

Today I’m tech lead of the AI squad at an airline’s innovation lab. For each problem the business brings, I write the technical plan: how the process works today, where it could go, and a staged path to get there, with quick wins and proofs of concept. Then I give the projects technical support and build part of the solutions myself.

Outside work I founded SpeakUp Community, a free English conversation community that has been growing fast.

Interests: music · sports · math · philosophy · photography · travel

## Top personal projects

### SpeakUp Community

A free English conversation community I founded.

A free English conversation community I founded in January 2025 in Palmas, Brazil, and still lead. It started as a group of friends looking for a safe place to practice, and today it has 1,000+ followers on Instagram.

It has run 20+ meetups, in person and online, with peaks of 70+ participants at once, and an edition in Dublin, its first outside Brazil. It was featured in a TV report and partners with Brazil’s largest network of language schools, Wizard by Pearson.

I also built its site, [speakup.tchez.dev](https://speakup.tchez.dev/en/), with Astro and TypeScript.

Topics: Community · English · Astro

Links: [Visit the site](https://speakup.tchez.dev/en/) · [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/speakup_cmty) · [TV report](https://g1.globo.com/to/tocantins/videos-bom-dia-tocantins/video/jovens-investem-na-aprendizagem-de-idiomas-para-conhecer-outras-culturas-13897391.ghtml) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/speakup-cmty)

### Brain Blog

My articles on AI and software.

My blog, with articles, tutorials and reflections on AI and software.

It is where I write about some of my projects, what I have been studying lately, and tutorials.

Topics: AI · Writing

Links: [Read the blog](https://blog.tchez.dev/)

### Placar

A scorekeeping PWA for my family’s games.

A scorekeeper for some of the games my family loves (canastra, truco and others).

It is an offline-first PWA, a web app that works without an internet connection. There is no backend, so the scores are saved on the device that recorded them.

I built it with Spec-Driven Development: I wrote each SPEC with its rules and acceptance criteria, and an AI implemented it.

Topics: PWA · Offline-first · TypeScript

Links: [Open app](https://placar.tchez.dev/) · [LinkedIn post](https://lnkd.in/p/dqEcXKjv)

### English immersion in Dublin

Eight months studying and working in Dublin to improve my English.

I took a career break to spend eight months immersed in English at a school in Dublin.

Those months were intense, and I reached my goal: fluent English.

Topics: English · C1 · Communication

Links: [LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_englishfluency-studyabroad-lifeinireland-activity-7445753300441882624-pTkS)

### Mental health chatbot

A mental health chatbot from my award-winning thesis.

A chatbot specialized in mental health, built on my own RAG architecture when the technique was still recent.

It was my final-year Computer Science thesis (graded 10 out of 10) and became two papers, one at the 26th ENCOINFO and one at the XXIV Jornada de Iniciação Científica. The Jornada paper won the Young Researcher Award (1st place).

Topics: AI · RAG

Links: [LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_jornadadeiniciaaexaetocientaedfica-praeamiojovempesquisador-activity-7263597654570369024-2PqS) · [Paper](https://ulbra-to.br/bibliotecadigital/publico/home/documento/4802) · [Source code](https://github.com/Tchez/mental-health-ai)

## Featured research and talks

### Papers

- **Development of an Informative Mental Health Chatbot Using the RAG Architecture**. My thesis (the mental health chatbot), published at the 26th ENCOINFO and the XXIV Jornada de Iniciação Científica, 2024. Young Researcher Award, 1st place. [Paper](https://ulbra-to.br/encoinfo/edicoes/2024/artigos/desenvolvimento-de-um-chatbot-informativo-sobre-saude-mental-utilizando-a-arquitetura-rag/) · [Award](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_jornadadeiniciaaexaetocientaedfica-praeamiojovempesquisador-activity-7263597654570369024-2PqS)
- **APILyzer: a Python library for assessing the security and maturity of REST APIs**. 25th ENCOINFO, 2023, presented at the event. The library is discontinued: its goal was the paper. [Paper](https://ulbra-to.br/encoinfo/edicoes/2023/artigos/desenvolvimento-da-apilyzer-uma-biblioteca-python-para-a-avaliacao-da-seguranca-e-maturidade-de-apis-rest) · [Source code](https://github.com/Tchez/apilyzer)
- **OSLive: an ANTLR compiler that draws process trees**. XXIII Jornada de Iniciação Científica, 2023. [Paper](https://ulbra-to.br/jornada/edicoes/2023/trabalhos/oslive-compilador-com-antlr-para-representacao-grafica-de-arvore-de-processos)
- **A Big Data Analysis with Apache Spark: Illiteracy among Brazilian Voters**. 26th ENCOINFO, 2024. [Paper](https://ulbra-to.br/encoinfo/edicoes/2024/artigos/uma-analise-de-big-data-com-apache-spark-analfabetismo-entre-eleitores-brasileiros/)

### Talks and courses

- **Specializing LLMs with Knowledge Storage: a hands-on short course**. Co-taught at the 26th ENCOINFO, 2024. [LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_encoinfo-workshop-inteligaeanciaartificial-activity-7262469201888509954-UT2N)
- **AI Agent Architecture: from Concept to Practice**. Computing seminar series, 2025. [LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_seminario-seminar-palestra-activity-7378513264453955584-rABy)
- **Unlocking the Potential of AI in Software Development**. Given at an internal AI week at work, 2024. Recognized as talk of the month. [LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_destalks-palestra-inteligaeanciaartificial-activity-7158800489155866625-E6tE)
- **Seminars, talks and short courses**. Others I’ve given over the years: technical talks on RAG, vector databases, compilers with ANTLR and open source; short courses on Python, Prolog and Unity; and some for people outside tech, such as a workshop for Social Research classes on the responsible use of AI in scientific research.

### Awards and volunteering

- [Young Researcher Award, 1st place, XXIV Jornada de Iniciação Científica (2024)](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_jornadadeiniciaaexaetocientaedfica-praeamiojovempesquisador-activity-7263597654570369024-2PqS)
- [E-Collect, selected for Campus Mobile 2024 (Smart Cities track)](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_campusmobile-inovaaexaeto-desenvolvimentodesoftware-activity-7170575907185766400-Ae4x)
- [Selected for the Artificial Intelligence training program (HCIA-AI 3.0 certification), IFTO with Huawei ICT Academy](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_artificialintelligence-ai-technology-activity-7026152496578375680-OMoO)
- [Senior Judge at the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad (OBR), state stage, 2025 and 2026](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tchez_olimpiadabrasileiraderobotica-obr-robotics-activity-7502017106553581569-Qqcg)
- Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP): bronze medal 2015, honorable mention 2019

## Contact

Have a project or an idea to talk through?

- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tchez/)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/tchez)
- [Blog](https://blog.tchez.dev/)
- [X](https://x.com/tchez_dev)