He Left Cuba A Year Ago, Now He Codes For An International Marketing Agency
When he arrived in Miami from Cuba in April of 2021, Adrián Valdés Díaz was determined to make his mark in the field of coding but he didn’t know how to get started.
That all changed when he stumbled upon an old Miami Herald article that featured the inspiring story of Jose Muguira Iturralde, who like Valdés had made the trek from Cuba to Miami seeking a better life.
Muguira’s story catapulted him from the despair in Cuba, to opportunity at The Honors College at Miami Dade College and eventually to the hallowed halls of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Inspired by Muguira’s story, Valdés looked to blaze his own path at MDC. He contacted Antonio Delgado, the vice president of innovation and technology partnerships at the College, who sold him on the possibilities at the Business Innovation & Technology Center.
Soon, Valdés was immersed in the offerings at the BIT Center. He completed a Google IT automation with python course and participated in the Miami Hack Week Hackathon. His team placed second, creating a program that gives students blockchain rewards after completing community service hours.
He also completed Harvard CS50—a free computer science online class offered by Harvard University—and continued to expand his coding knowledge through online courses with EDX and Khan Academy.
“I wasn’t just wasting a year applying to college,” Valdés said. “I was actually learning something out of the gate, gaining new skills.”
The hard work paid off. In March, Valdés landed a full-time job at Hogarth Worldwide—an international marketing agency—as a front-end developer where he maintains websites and HTML email campaigns.
“He pushed himself so much,” Delgado said.
Valdés’ love for computer science and coding began in 10th grade when his friend, Carlos Garcia, taught him to code. He eventually joined the Conpincha Club at the Vocational High School Institute of Exact Sciences Vladimir Illich Lenin, a STEM school in Havana, Cuba.
While there, he learned coding languages such as C++ and worked on automating electronic systems using Arduino code.
However, his passion was briefly put on hold when the school shut down because of the pandemic. But Valdés refused to let that stop him. He reached out to Luis Enrique Dalmao, a friend who studied computer science at the University of Havana.
Dalmao provided Valdés with the textbooks he used in his first year of college. Valdés used them to complete a C Sharp programming project that he submitted to Dalmao in October of 2020.
By 2021, Valdés was determined to move to the United States with his father. He arrived in Miami on April 28 and connected with the BIT Center shortly after.
Delgado’s wife, Maria Carla Chicuén, helped Valdés expand his educational dreams. She assisted him with completing college applications and prepared him for the SAT. He got rejected by Harvard University, Columbia University and Dartmouth University, was waitlisted by Cornell University and accepted to Rice University, The University of Florida and The Honors College at Miami Dade College.
The 19-year-old has not officially announced where he will attend.
Valdés hopes to complete a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science and hopes to work for a major tech company such as Google or Facebook. He also wants to use his coding skills to start a new software application.
“He’s definitely not only incredibly intelligent, but he’s also so willing to learn,” Chicuén said. “I am very inspired by the way he has achieved incredible things in his short time in the U.S.”
Click here to subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter, The Hammerhead. For news tips, contact us at mdc.thereporter@gmail.com.
