My Tech Path

My Tech Path

A journey through code, systems, and the lessons learned along the way.

 The Job History
    2014 : Nuvem K
    2016 : 3fs 
    2016 : Marionete 
    2017 : PFC
    2019 : VOI
    2022 : Telia
    2023 : Bitpanda
    2025 : GWI

Nuvem K (Portugal)

Role: Junior Full-Stack Developer

My entry into software development started at Nuvem K, a small agency in Portugal. Joining a small team as the sole developer, I worked on many interesting projects: building institutional websites, creating e-commerce platforms, crafting apps for motion-tracking devices, and developing CI/CD pipelines and CLI tools using Go. I received foundational guidance in Agile methodology, which has remained a key asset throughout my career.

Tech Stack:

  • PHP (Yii framework), MySQL, JavaScript/jQuery, CSS/HTML, Go, WordPress, Electron.

Key Lessons Learned:

  • The Power of Ownership: As the sole developer required me to rise to the challenge of owning every layer: translating client visions, building the full-stack implementation, and managing the deployment and delivery of each project.
  • Client Communication: I learned early on how to bridge the gap between business goals and technical realities.

3fs (Slovenia)

Role: Mid-level Full-Stack Developer

By 2016, Docker, Go, and microservices were “coming in hot,” and I moved to Slovenia to dive into these technologies. My move was more eventful than planned; due to the travel chaos following the tragic 2016 Brussels bombings, I was stranded for three days and arrived in Ljubljana having lost my belongings. Despite this rocky start, joining 3fs became a major turning point in my career.

Tech Stack:

  • Go, REST, Docker, PostgreSQL, TypeScript, Angular, Ansible, Microservices, AWS.

Key Lessons Learned:

  • Engineering Excellence: 3fs became my benchmark for a transparent, quality-focused engineering culture.
  • Cloud-Native Systems: Collaborating with a remote Ericsson team, I deepened my knowledge of RESTful API design, microservices architecture, and Infrastructure-as-Code.
  • Resilience: Navigating a difficult international move taught me to maintain a calm head under high-pressure personal and professional circumstances.

Marionete (Portugal)

Role: DevOps Engineer

Returning to Portugal, I joined a consulting firm to master the “Ops” side of the industry. One of the most interesting projects I worked on involved the infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines for a Big Data and Machine Learning platform used by one of Portugal’s major electronic toll collection system.

Tech Stack:

  • Go, Python, Docker, Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins, Elasticsearch, Logstash, RabbitMQ, Azure.

Key Lessons Learned:

  • Infrastructure for Data Science: I gained exposure to the complexities of managing high-volume data pipelines and deploying ML models into production.
  • Operational Mindset: I realized that while I valued infrastructure and Linux mastery, my true passion lay in product-focused coding. This defined my identity as a Backend Engineer with an operational mindset supporting developement teams with an intrinsic understanding of the systems they run on, and engineering best practices.

PFC (Sweden)

Role: Senior Backend Developer

In 2017, I moved to Stockholm to join a high-performing team. We were tasked with maintaining a legacy PHP payment application and building in Go what would become Sweden’s first neo-bank.

Tech Stack:

  • Go, PHP, PostgreSQL, Docker, Heroku, S3, REST, Microservices.

Key Lessons Learned:

  • Fintech Rigor: Banking requires extreme precision. I contributed to KYC workflows, account ledgers, and complex payment integrations and reconciliations.

VOI (Sweden)

Role: Senior Backend Developer

I joined VOI during the electric scooter boom. I was part of a team responsible for building services for fleet and field operations, hardware integrations, and inventory management systems. As the company grew, I also became involved in mentoring and team leadership.

Tech Stack:

  • Go, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Docker, Kubernetes, GCP, PubSub, gRPC, REST, NetSuite.

Key Lessons Learned:

  • Scaling at Speed: Using PostGIS and PubSub to handle real-time data from thousands of vehicles taught me the unique challenges of high-concurrency location services.
  • Sustainability & Leadership: Experiencing burnout during this phase was a defining lesson. It motivated me to work with management to implement frameworks that protect engineer well-being and promote work-life balance.

Telia (Sweden)

Role: Senior Backend Developer / Product Owner

Working as a remote contractor, I joined a team developing Conversational AI services. While I started as a Backend Engineer working on an inherited platform and on-premise infrastructure, I was later offered the role of Product Owner to help the team make sense of an extensive backlog and map product goals to engineering work.

Tech Stack:

  • Go, PostgreSQL, GCP, Dialogflow, On-Premise Infrastructure, Prometheus, Grafana.

Key Lessons Learned:

  • Product-Engineering Alignment: I supported the team in acquiring more stability by translating technical debt into product value.
  • Strategic PO Perspective: This role strengthened my ability to advocate for technical sustainability while satisfying business stakeholders.

Bitpanda (Romania)

Role: Senior Backend Developer

After moving to Bucharest, I returned to the developer path. At Bitpanda, I worked on reimplementing and revamping a critical trade and account service, migrating it from PHP to Go.

Tech Stack:

  • Go, PHP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, DynamoDB, Kafka, AWS, GraphQL, Datadog.

Key Lessons Learned:

  • Distributed Financial Systems: I contributed to the migration of core trading services, involving Kafka providers and ensuring data integrity in a high-volume environment.
  • Technical Mentorship: I had the opportunity to support and mentor colleagues as they transitioned to Go, fostering a culture of technical excellence.

GWI (Greece)

Role: Staff Engineer

At GWI, I focus on high-level architecture and organizational impact. I was responsible for kickstarting the API team, focusing on customer-facing AI workflows, production-readiness, Oauth2 and documentation.

Tech Stack:

  • Go, REST, gRPC, Model Context Protocol (MCP), Kubernetes, GCP, OAuth2, Terraform, Prometheus, Grafana.

Key Lessons Learned:

  • Architectural Leadership: I led the definition of production-readiness, testability and the implementation of monitoring through Service Level Indicators (SLIs).
  • AI & Modern Protocols: I introduced the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to the organization, integrating product features to AI integration.

My Engineering Philosophy

My approach to software engineering is built on a foundation of operational depth and total ownership. I believe that technical excellence extends far beyond clean code; it requires a first-class commitment to the systems where that code lives. Whether I am implementing a neo-bank, hardware interactions, or introducing modern standards like the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to drive AI workflows, I treat observability, security, code quality, tests and deployment as core features of the codebase.

I view engineering as a strategic product partnership rather than a purely technical function. I don’t just build to specification, I work to solve business problems. By bridging the gap between technical constraints and product goals, I ensure that architectural decisions like scaling distributed systems across diverse domains like Fintech, IoT, and Mobility translate into measurable business value and a superior user experience.

Finally, I believe that resilience, mentorship and shared ownership are the ultimate force multipliers for any organization. My journey has taught me that a “get-it-done” energy is essential having satisfaction on what I do, but sustainability and being pragmatic is what ensures long-term success. I am dedicated to fostering sustainable high-performance engineering and mentoring, because I don’t just aim to build great products, I aim to build the high-performing teams that have the best time while doing so.