About

From the pharmacy counter to the backend

I didn't start out in software. I studied pharmacy, found my way into tech through a customer support job, and I've been moving further down the stack ever since.

Jump to now ↓

1. 2011–2016

   Pharmacy, Lisbon

   I studied pharmacy at ESTeSL (opens in a new tab) and then worked as a pharmacy technician. It taught me to be methodical and careful with details, which turned out to transfer well to testing software.

   +Also in this period3

   • Jul 2015StudyGraduated with a BSc in Pharmacy
   • 2015–2016RoleTwo roles as a pharmacy technician
   • Oct 2016VolunteeringWrote blog posts for Good Energies Alliance Ireland (opens in a new tab)

2. 2017

   Smartlook↗ (opens in a new tab)

   I joined in customer support and localization, debugging customers' implementations. By November I was the company's first tester, and I taught myself enough automation to set up its first CI pipeline.

   +Also in this period2

   • Sep 2017WritingWrote the Smartlook School series for the company blog
   • Dec 2017ContractContent marketing for Freemius (opens in a new tab), part time for three months

3. 2018–2021

   Productboard↗ (opens in a new tab)

   First Quality Engineer at a fast-growing product company. Alongside testing, I ended up running our cloud test environments (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Terraform), which is where my interest in infrastructure started.

   +Also in this period1

   • Dec 2020ContractSet up QA automation and test infrastructure for Roger, now CorpayOne (opens in a new tab)

4. 2021–2023

   Cognitive Science, Warsaw

   I studied for a Master's in Cognitive Science (opens in a new tab) at the University of Warsaw while working full time in QA. I completed the coursework (data science, ML, deep learning, NLP), and it's what led me to Neurons.

   +Also in this period9

   • Apr 2021RoleQA on a large e-commerce project at EPAM (opens in a new tab)
   • Aug 2021RoleQA Engineer at Pento, now part of HiBob (opens in a new tab)
   • Apr 2022RoleTest Automation Engineer at Startup Development House (opens in a new tab)
   • Jul 2022ResearchPoster at the SocBrain conference, Warsaw
   • Aug 2022CertificationISTQB Certified Tester
   • Jul 2023StudyCompleted the Master's coursework
   • Sep 2023StudyVisceral Mind summer school in neuroanatomy
   • Oct 2023VolunteeringNeuroscience symposium at the Champalimaud Foundation (opens in a new tab), Lisbon
   • Jul 2024ResearchPoster at the Cognitive Science Society conference, Rotterdam

5. 2022–2026

   Neurons↗ (opens in a new tab)

   I joined as the only SDET and moved into backend. I became the Product Engineer for the public API: led the v2.0 launch, built the sandbox, wrote the docs and joined sales calls. The API grew from 7 to 20+ enterprise clients.

   +Role changes2

   • Sep 2022RoleSoftware Developer in Test
   • Nov 2023RoleBackend Engineer, then Product Engineer for the public API

6. 2026

   Caliber↗ (opens in a new tab)

   I build the infrastructure behind an Agentic RAG assistant, plus the data ingestion tools that feed it.

7. Now

   What's next

   I want to spend more of my time on infrastructure and platform work, and I'm interested in fully remote roles within the EU.

Outside work you'll find me on the BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) mats, or building side projects (right now, Töökratt (opens in a new tab), an assistant that pulls insights from the current job market to help people re-skill).