Data platforms, automation, AI systems, software, and interactive web
About MCC
Mário Carlos Chaves
Data Engineer · Systems Builder · Founder of MCC
I build systems that turn messy, repetitive work into something reliable: data platforms, automation, AI, custom software and interactive web experiences.
Netherlands • Working remotely worldwide 🌍
Data Engineer & Business Controller by day, building after hours
PT · IT · ES · EN · NL
The story
A builder, a cook, and a very curious mind
I was born in Angola and have both Angolan and Portuguese roots. I spent much of my life between Angola and Portugal before eventually building my professional life in the Netherlands.
I have always been someone who likes to learn by doing. Early in my career, I was working while continuously developing my skills in data analysis, SQL, Python, Power BI, Tableau, databases, dimensional modelling, and data architecture. At the same time, I spent part of my free time working in restaurants and helping with an Italian pizzeria.
That probably sounds like an unusual combination, but it makes perfect sense to me.
I love building things. Sometimes that means designing a data pipeline, creating an automated workflow, developing a prediction system, building an AI agent, experimenting with an LLM that can run locally without needing a paid subscription, or turning an idea into a complete piece of software. Other times, it means making a really good dish.
Cooking is one of the things I genuinely enjoy, especially Portuguese and Italian food. Portuguese cooking has always been close to me because of my Portuguese and Angolan roots and the strong culinary connection between the two cultures. Italian food became another passion after spending time learning the cuisine and working around it.
Neapolitan pizza is one of the things I enjoy making most, but I'm not limited to it. I simply love cooking: learning techniques, understanding ingredients, experimenting, and eventually putting something on the table that tastes exactly the way I wanted it to.
In a strange way, I think I approach cooking and engineering quite similarly: understand the ingredients, understand the process, keep improving it, and build something good at the end.
Cooking has always been an important part of my life. My mother and grandmother are both great cooks, and I grew up around food, kitchens, and the idea that making something well takes patience, attention, and practice. Cooking is still one of my favourite hobbies today, and I cook regularly at home for myself and my fiancée.
Moving to the Netherlands gave me the opportunity to push my technical skills much further. I went deeper into data engineering, data science, machine learning, advanced Python, object-oriented programming, cloud architecture, data lakes, lakehouses, warehouses, Databricks, Snowflake, SQL architectures, and the systems that connect all of these pieces together.
Today, I work full-time as a Data Engineer and Business Controller while continuing to build and experiment outside of work.
My interests now extend across data engineering, automation, artificial intelligence, software engineering, AI agents, LLMs, analytics, and interactive web applications. I enjoy taking something complicated, fragmented, or repetitive and turning it into a system that is easier to understand and easier to use.
A lot of my free time still goes into learning and building. Sometimes that means experimenting with AI models until my laptop strongly disagrees with the idea. Other times it means working on a new data platform, automation, application, or interactive project simply because I want to understand how far I can take it.
What I enjoy most is creating things that have a useful ending. A good project, to me, starts with a real problem and ends with something that genuinely works better than what was there before.
I am still learning, still building, and still experimenting. And that is probably the simplest way to describe me.
The analogy
Cooking and engineering, side by side.
- Ingredients
- Preparation
- Timing
- Process
- A dish
- Data
- Architecture
- Orchestration
- Logic
- A system
What I'm good at
Skills, grouped the way I actually use them
Data Engineering
AI & Machine Learning
Classical / Predictive ML
Modern AI
Analytics & BI
Software & Automation
Web & Interactive Systems
- scikit-learn
- Regression & Classification
- Predictive Modelling
- Tree Ensembles / Boosting
- Clustering
- Feature Engineering
- Model Evaluation
- Forecasting
- AI Agents
- LLM Applications
- Local LLMs
- RAG
- Applied AI
- Automation Intelligence
Proof of work
Things I've built
A good project starts with a real problem and ends with something that works better than before.
End-to-End Data Engineering
A real miniature pipeline: ingest, quality checks, quarantine, transform, and a gold data model you can run in the browser.
Revenue Operations Command Center
CRM and revenue intelligence: interpretable scoring, a weighted forecast, and grounded next-best actions.
Supply Chain Control Tower
Operations and exception management: a live event stream, delay-risk scoring, and a prioritized exception queue.
Dutch Housing & Energy Intelligence
Real CBS open data engineered end to end, with municipality comparison and a retrofit scenario lab.
Portugal Rental Investment Intelligence
Analytics and prediction as a data product: occupancy and price models feeding a clear investment decision.
MCC AI Automation
This website itself: multilingual architecture, motion systems, cursor intelligence, and live interactive demos.
Outside the code
What I'm into when the laptop cools down
I like making things that have a useful ending, and that isn't only software. Cooking is a real part of my life, especially Portuguese and Italian food. Away from the kitchen and the laptop I also make room for travelling, good weather, and the simple things. My fiancée and I share a home, a kitchen, and a fair amount of curiosity.
- Cooking
- Portuguese & Italian cuisine
- Travelling
- Simple things
- Good weather
- Gratitude
- Always learning
- Side projects
- Time with my fiancée
Nala & Simba
My fiancée and I also share our home with two rabbits. Simba is the calm one. Nala is essentially a small ninja: she moves through the house as quietly as possible whenever she suspects there is food somewhere she probably should not be investigating. They make everyday life considerably more entertaining.
Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, English & Dutch
Handy for cross-border European work, not a claim of global offices.
The company
Why MCC exists
MCC brings together what I have spent years developing: data engineering, AI, automation, software and interactive digital experiences. It is a studio, not a personal portfolio. The idea is simple: start with a real problem, end with something that works better.
Right now, MCC is me. It is set up to leave room for more people later, without changing what it stands for: understand the problem, build the system, ship something that works.