User:Ecividanes

Ernesto Cividanes (born April 21, 1977 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) came to the United States in 1987 and attended the University of Florida to earn his BS in computer engineering. In 2002 he began his career as an entrepreneur and in 2006 he closed his computer consulting business to enter into pharmaceutical sales. In 2006, his company merged with another and consequently laid him off. Encouraged to continue his entrepreneurial dreams, he entered into public speaking and he now gives motivational and educational speeches to people experiencing a career transition.


 * Education
 * Entrepreneur
 * Employment
 * Personal Life
 * Writings

Education

Ernesto attended Riverside Elementrary, Ramblewood Middle School and later Taravella High school in Coral Springs. After being accepted under probationary terms, Ernesto entered the University of Florida and earned a BS in Computer Engineering. In 2008 he continued his education at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton Florida and graduated in 2010 with a MS in Computer Engineering. In 2010 he entered in the doctoral program at FAU while still attending University of Florida's Systems and Industrial Engineering program through distance learning.

Entrepreneur

Ernesto started a computer consulting business under the name of EMC Computer Workshops. Four years later he closed the doors to begin his career as a pharmaceutical sales representative for a major pharmaceutical company. In 2010, he opened Cividanes & Associates as a keynote speaker focusing on the development of people going through a career crisis.

Employment

Ernesto has been an intern at IKON Solutions selling computer services to Fortune 500 companies. In 1996 he worked at JC Penney at the customer service counter and continued to do so during Summers and Winter breaks in between college semesters. In 2006, Ernesto was employed by Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals as a sales representative. In 2010, Ernesto was let go during a massive lay off and he began doing contract work for various companies selling to physicians, hospitals, and pharmacies.

Personal Life

In July 2008, Ernesto married Laura B. Banuchi (a Puerto Rican whose family knew Ernesto's family very well) and one year later his wife gave birth to their first son, Ernesto Antonio. They now live in Coral Springs.

Writings

Ernesto is author of an unpublished self-help book called "The Wallesters." As a computer engineer, Ernesto's thesis was titled "Smart Low Power Handheld Device" which focused on the design of a low power device which would aide the visually impaired by generating an obstacle free path. This was after his first autonomous robot project at the Intelligent Machine Design Laboratory at the University of Florida.