Las Ultimas Noticias
Chile
January 3, 2023
Continuous education is an ideal project: to keep learning new things at every stage of life. An IT Engineer, Rodrigo Quezada (40) is a textbook case. He spent his entire school stage in Punta Arenas until he turned 18 and went to Valdivia to study at the Austral University.
With a degree in hand, he moved to Santiago. "I worked in technology companies and in banking, but I wanted to do something more with my career," he says.
Following that passion, he pursued a Master's in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Federico Santa María University; with his course, he took a trip to San Francisco, USA, where he visited technology startups. "That trip clicked for me, and I knew I wanted to dedicate my life to it." Back in Chile, he enrolled in the Digital Marketing Diploma at the AIT Institute (Academy of Information Technology) in Melbourne, Australia, where he discovered Augmented Reality, The Metaverse, and participated in an entrepreneurship program at the University of Melbourne.
Before moving on, a couple of definitions. "The Metaverse is a virtual and three-dimensional ecosystem that replicates scenarios that give the sensation of total immersion. It is still in the experimental stage," clarifies Miguel Sanhueza, a IT engineer and director of Utem Virtual. "In simple terms, augmented reality overlays virtual elements on real images," he adds. Examples of this technology are Pokémon Go and Instagram filters, designed for entertainment purposes.
"But augmented reality is also a powerful tool for e-commerce that allows users to try on items such as sunglasses, makeup, or tattoos without leaving home," adds Quezada, who, blending both concepts, created his company, Particular Createch Studio, in Melbourne a year ago. "We design Instagram and Facebook filters and 3D images for web catalogs with interactive purchasing options."
Among his clients are Deakin and Melbourne universities, which used Instagram filters for social events. He has also worked with restaurants, tattoo studios, and music stores. "I offer consultations to all of them to help them adapt their strategies to new trends and The Metaverse."
"I arrived in Melbourne in March 2020, and two weeks later, they declared quarantine due to the pandemic. I had to take the diploma online and could go out for an hour a day to walk or go to the supermarket. I stayed like that for six months and wanted to go back, but the borders were closed."
Today, he is grateful he didn't return.
To finance his business, he has done everything. "I did cleaning in cinemas and buildings; I even worked as a kitchen assistant, although I am a very bad cook. I also worked as a waiter and barista; for three years, I have been a guide at the Australian Open, and I have had to supervise Rafael Nadal's training facility."
