So, my journey in software development started when I was around 10 – seems pretty young looking back! Computers weren’t really household staples back then, so I’d head to the Cyber Cafe anytime I got the chance, reading a lot of how-to blogs or any guide I could put my hands on and just exploring the basics of how things worked. By 12, I managed to build my first “website.” I say “website” in the loosest sense; it was a mess of tables holding things in place, but hey, it worked, and to 12-year-old me, it felt like magic.
Around 13, I started learning Java. I remember the moment it clicked that so many programming basics were shared across languages – that opened up a whole new world. I also got into JavaScript, which was mainly used for fun animations and flashy transitions back then. Today, it’s everywhere, but back then, everyone was all about building in Flash. There was no rush for JS to do much more than a few animations. Fast forward through years of self-study and small gigs here and there and well also highschool and my first year of uni, I landed my first “official” role: a full stack developer intern at Microsoft’s Innovation Center. That’s where the real adventure began, kicking off about a decade ago.
First Big Wins and Challenges
An early project that still sticks with me was a platform for my scout group, The idea of developing tools and experiences to make other people’s lives easier was and somehow is still one of the things I love to do. The idea was simple – just a dashboard where everyone could see updates and events and the admin can manage the information of the people from the group. Facebook wasn’t huge yet, and Myspace was too complicated for the group organizers, so there weren’t many options to keep everyone in the loop. It went live, and I was proud of it, even though it didn’t last long since no one wanted to pay for hosting. Hosting fees were a harsh reality check!
Then I jumped into some game jams, which was a blast, and managed to make a few little games which you can find on my Itch.io page to be honest at some point I thought about pursuing a career as a game developer but the market in Mexico back then was not great, maybe it hasn’t really improved in the past years but in the end I didn’t, it was a good experience to work on and I would give it a try or two on the coming years if I happen to come with an idea I’d be happy to build. My first “real” project was a virtual tour for my hometown, Monterrey, using the Microsoft HoloLens. This was for the Smart City Summit, which was all about innovation and future city tech. Creating an immersive, interactive experience was both a challenge and a thrill – it was a solid win that showed me I really wanted to pursue a full career in Tech.
My tech stack has been all over the place over the years. I started with Visual Basic, which then led me to Java. From there, I went down the web development rabbit hole – HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, even Ruby at some point, all that good stuff. In my early jobs, I got to work with frameworks like phonegap from apache, Angular (until a bunch of projects broke due to Angular 2), and I'd use C# for desktop and cross-device projects like working with Microsoft Hololens, and IOT. Eventually, I dove into mobile development, working with Java on the front end and .NET for the back-end with a sql database,or an express back-end linked with either a sql or a no-sql db.
After that, I started building my own stuff with mainly JavaScript frameworks and experimenting with both relational and non-relational databases. These days, I’m all about JavaScript, React, Expo, Next, and a variety of backend frameworks. I also dabbled in PHP for a bit, but that phase… let’s say it didn’t stick around too long. Now, I’m adding my own twist to the no-code world by developing libraries and tools for platforms like Webflow. It’s been quite the evolution, but every tool, language, and framework has added to the toolkit.
One of the biggest job changes I had was right during the 2020 pandemic, when I went from working full time at an office to becoming a freelancer for about 2 years, here I got to work with multiple teams all over North America one of them which I was part of for almost 2 years and I was later invited to be part of the internal team, that's how I became an internal member of Skyrocket Digital team which to the date I've been working with for almost 4 years now, starting in Mexico and now from the main office in Vancouver.
There are definitely some highlights that have shaped me along the way. My time at Microsoft gave me a solid foundation to build on. Then, working at Sorteos Tec taught me how to plan and execute, even under tight deadlines or high-stress situations. Later, freelancing and my time with Skyrocket helped me develop an open mind toward new technologies and processes. Those roles taught me the value of staying adaptable, learning from others, and being willing to pivot. AI, for example, is something I might’ve resisted at first, but I’m excited by what it can bring to the table now.
Recently, I’ve been diving into open-source work – contributing to various repositories and creating my own library, WebTricks. It’s a small way to give back and share with the community, especially for those working on no-code platforms. But you can read more about it on my next blog.
I don’t really think I’ve achieved a lot of wisdom or knowledge to say I’m an expert, yes I’ve been doing this professionally for a decade, I’ve been coding for over 16 years but I am still learning and there’s so much I’m still yet to try in the future. So if you ask me, If there’s one thing I’d say to new devs or anyone, really, it’s this: keep learning, keep trying, and don’t quit if you enjoy it. Technology and trends move fast, and while it’s easy to settle into a favorite stack, an easy workflow, it’s also easy to get left behind. Embrace the new stuff – whether that’s AI, new frameworks, new languages or even just better processes. I used to think some tools or teams were just… well, on the way. Now, I know better. QA teams, designers, new technologies – they’re all there to make the final product better. The more you know, the smarter the decisions you’ll make down the road.
What’s next?
At the moment, I’m deep into a few personal projects and some really interesting projects at work too . One is about to launch (stay tuned!), and it’s an open-source library aimed at enhancing functionality for no-code platforms like Webflow. It’s exciting to work on something that could help so many others – not just devs but designers and creators working on no-code platforms. Looking ahead, I want to keep building, learning, and contributing, but honestly? I’m just as excited to see where the next chapter will take me as I was when I first started.
