Faces Of New Bedford – #54: Edson Goncalves

Meet Edson Goncalves, 27-year-old systems engineer.

Edson’s mother saved money during his early life, to move him from Praia, Cape Verde to New Bedford to work towards a better life. Growing up in housing projects throughout the city most of his life, he had been exposed to so many things that troubled him. From friends who had been imprisoned for murder to friends who overdosed and passed away.

Knowing he wanted to become more than that and from a little inspiration from Star Wars, he chased the dreams of becoming an engineer. He saw all of this amazing technology in the movies and asked someone why we didn’t have any of it and they told him because engineers hadn’t created them yet. Doing his best to stay out of trouble, he graduated from New Bedford High School and attended UMass Dartmouth, where he received a degree in Electrical Engineering.

He had heard great things about working with Department of Defense so pursued a job with General Dynamics, who held multiple contracts with the U.S. Government. During his time there he worked with the networks and systems that have assisted our troops oversees in communicating with one another as they are out in the battlefield.

Wanting more out of his career he moved on from General Dynamics to Riverbed Technology, where he is currently helping improve network performance for Fortune 100 Companies. He understands the importance of communications and hasn’t let his dreams of Star Wars technology slip away, as he hopes to continue helping create and innovate better ways for the human race to stay in contact.

“Don’t follow the trend. You don’t have to do everything everyone else is doing because it most likely won’t lead to anywhere good. Don’t let your dreams die and continue until you achieve them.”

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