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Mario SAM: “We Respect Extension Providers Who Speak to Brazilian Magento Community in Portuguese”

It’s so much fun to be a part of Magento universe. The United States, Magento cradle, is no longer a sole proprietor of Magento mainstream; this eCommerce platform has spread far overseas with many outstanding local leaders eager to share Magento wisdom. Mario SAM, one of the winners of “Magento PHP Developer’s Guide” in aheadWorks blog, is such a Magento activist in Brazil.

We have already published the post about Magento in Brazil by André Gugliotti in our blog. Mario will be glad to tell more about Brazilian Magento market and his expectations on its prospects.

Mario SAMHi, guys, I'm Mario SAM from mariosam.com.br. I'm Brazilian and never give it up!

I started working with eCommerce in 2006, even created my own eCommerce system fully in J2EE (Java). Back then I was in love with the code and had been teaching Taekwondo classes.

When Magento was released in 2008, I accepted the possibility to abandon my project and fully dedicate myself to the business.

Mario, how did you decide to launch a website with Magento tips?

I had a site about technology in general, where I talked a little about everything I did - JavaScript, CSS, XML, PHP, Java, SQL, etc... the blog was a mess of information.

Later I noticed that Magento-related posts began to gain prominence. Besides, it was very difficult to find Magento tutorials in Portuguese, so I thought of creating exclusive blog tips for Brazilian Magento audience by myself. The blog was a success and won the TOPBLOG 2010 technology.

How do you recognize what tips should be posted?

At first, I reviewed frequently asked Magento questions on the forums and used them to write posts. To my surprise, the most simple and very basic Magento tips are the ones that generate more page views.



I also administer the forum about Magento forum.escolamagento.com, where I address several Magento questions and issues. The board now has over 5,000 posts in Portuguese.

Who do you consider role models in Brazil Magento environment?

Here in Brazil I can quote André Gugliotti who has been working hard to popularize Magento through courses, books, blog and events. It’s also Tiago Sampaio who got all Magento certifications.

Mario SAM with Andre GugliottiMario SAM with André Gugliotti


How do you evaluate Magento in Brazil? How many certified developers are there?

Currently, the official directory of Magento reports 14 certified developers in Brazil.

If we compare the cost of Magento certification with other certifications in the market, we will see that the price is too salty and not justified, considering the lack of tutorials in Portuguese. This and other factors discourage local professionals to become certified.

Anyways, the number of certified specialists is increasing, and I believe in a very promising future of Magento in Brazil.

What prominent brands in Brazil based their websites on Magento?

It is sad, but big Brazilian brands and companies are either ashamed or afraid of adopting Magento for their projects.

Here in Brazil we have UolHost that offers hosting service using Magento technology. Some others examples are: online store Hering (www.heringwebstore.com.br), Ar Condicionado (www.arcondicionado.com.br), Oppa (www.oppa.com.br).

What do you think of aheadWorks regional website br.aheadworks.com and our plans to contribute to Brazilian Magento market?

aheadWorks

It is great! It demonstrates the importance of Brazil on international eCommerce market and brings respect to aheadWorks for your efforts to communicate with the Brazilian public in our native language.

I hope that the example of aheadWorks will be followed by other companies that provide different services for eCommerce.

Is there anything special we could expect from you shortly?

I am working on a project to help professionals get certified in Magento, thereby a special area in my blog will be exclusively dedicated to this purpose. It will be ready in a few months.

A long-term project is to write a bunch of books about Magento, since I have a lot of information to publish in Portuguese for developers and managers.

As a project for five years, I see my blog, future books and courses in multiple languages, helping countless professionals to become qualified in Magento.

In the end, Mario leaves his overall impression about aheadWorks.
I’m grateful to aheadWorks and Irina for this opportunity to share my ideas outside Brazil. You are doing an exemplary job - both in extensions development and interaction with Magento public.

Want to know more about Brazilian Magento market? Ask Mario in comments!