This overview focuses on my work and experience rather than individual employers. Further details are available upon request.
Early Career: Systems Administration & WordPress Development.
2003–2011
I studied computer systems administration, covering computer networking, operating systems, databases and programming. The curriculum included network architecture, protocols and configuration of routers and switches, including Cisco equipment; administration of Novell NetWare, Windows and Linux systems; database design, SQL and administration using Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL; shell scripting; and programming in C and Java. In parallel, I completed additional vocational training in Java development, focusing on network applications, JSP and Servlets.
I began my professional career as a systems administrator in a small company, working as part of a team maintaining Windows workstations, Linux servers and the company’s IT infrastructure. The work was mostly routine administration, maintenance and technical support.
Outside work, I continued exploring technology independently. I built and self-hosted blogs using WordPress, initially writing about programming and Robocode competitions. Experimenting with WordPress sparked my interest in its underlying technology. I also spent time exploring Linux and open-source software, writing small C programs, including network packet tools using libpcap and terminal applications using ncurses.
After a couple of years, I began working independently, providing WordPress development, maintenance and technical support. This brought me into contact with local WordPress shops, where I started collaborating on client projects.
Alongside this work, I developed an interest in photography and completed professional photography training at a private school. I later moved to Barcelona to continue my studies, specializing in fashion and advertising photography.
Creative Industry: Design, CGI & Web Development
2011–2022
After moving to Barcelona, I continued my fashion and advertising photography studies while working independently to support myself. I began collaborating with larger creative studios and advertising agencies, providing technical assistance with their infrastructure. This included tasks such as setting up backup systems and recovery procedures, or creating reproducible LAMP environments using Vagrant.
Alongside my technical work, I began assisting established commercial photographers, including Jordi Farrús and Marcelo Isarrualde. Through my work with these photographers and advertising agencies, I participated in commercial productions for brands such as Rosa Clará, Pronovias, Tarik Ediz, Javier Simorra, Germaine de Capuccini and Lidl, to name a few.
I also pursued my own fashion photography projects, collaborating with online magazines, local modelling agencies, stylists and makeup artists.
Around 2013, I enrolled in a CGI photography course out of curiosity. The course brought together my experience in photography and computer systems. My teacher, who led a production team at a CGI studio working on automotive advertising, offered me a position after I completed the course.
At the studio, my primary focus was CGI production, working with Cinema 4D and Maxwell Render. The company operated a large CentOS-based render farm with approximately 480 physical CPU cores, managed by a dedicated systems administration team. I occasionally assisted with technical projects thanks to my background, including setting up an auxiliary render farm using approximately 15 Supermicro workstations, each equipped with 24 physical CPU cores and several hundred gigabytes of RAM.
The studio produced advertising material for agencies working with automotive brands, including SEAT and other Volkswagen Group brands. As I became more involved in advertising campaigns, my technical background allowed me to contribute beyond the creative work. I participated in discussions about the technical possibilities of campaigns, suggesting ways to incorporate interactive experiences using web technologies.
One example was the SEAT Digital Museum, where I collaborated with the development team, providing feedback, suggesting improvements and identifying bugs. Most of the development was handled by a specialized company, but my involvement gave me the opportunity to work more closely with software developers.
Around 2015, I established my own small creative business, focusing on graphic design, art direction and web development, while continuing to work with clients and collaborators from the creative industry. As design became a larger part of my work, I enrolled in a one-year intensive graphic design course between 2016 and 2017. During this period, I also spent a couple of years teaching at the school where I had originally studied photography, delivering a module on advertising and creative production based on my professional experience in Barcelona.
Around 2018, I began refreshing my knowledge of web development, exploring modern frontend frameworks and tools to improve the websites and applications I was building for clients. Outside client work, I also developed my own tools, including a visual page editor inspired by WordPress builders such as Elementor.
By 2019, for personal reasons, I had closed the design business. I continued collaborating on creative projects while increasingly focusing on software development and actively looking for opportunities to work with engineering teams.
Software Engineering: Back to the Roots
2022–Present
In 2022, I started my first software engineering role at a small German startup whose main product was an audio streaming platform. I joined a small engineering team, working closely with design and product teams to develop new features, refactor legacy code and maintain existing applications, following Agile development practices.
My software engineering work has primarily involved frontend development, building and maintaining web applications. Over time, I became involved in broader engineering responsibilities, including application architecture, backend integrations, automated testing, build systems, CI/CD workflows, analytics and internal tooling. Working across different projects also meant maintaining existing systems, investigating bugs, modernizing applications and collaborating with other developers on technical challenges. The Case Studies section provides a closer look at some of my professional engineering work.
Alongside my professional responsibilities, I continued exploring other areas of software development. I revisited Java, continued using Go for personal projects, and began experimenting with Rust and C++. While most of these experiments live on my self-hosted Forgejo instance, I share some of the more interesting projects on my GitHub account.
Linux and open-source software remained a constant throughout this period. I continued experimenting with infrastructure and automation through my personal homelab, running services and exploring technologies such as Podman and Kubernetes.
More recently, I’ve been spending more time contributing directly to open-source development, working with different codebases and participating in their communities. This has given me opportunities to explore programming languages and development practices beyond those I’ve used professionally.
Today, my interests increasingly revolve around systems programming, developer tooling, Linux and open-source development, alongside my continued interest in full-stack web development.