I always had a knack for getting good grades. It was like that since high school and still is today; as a software developer, I always aim for excellence. I dive into manuals and technical books to get the hang of things, absorb as much information as possible, and then the real fun begins: stretching that knowledge to its limits by tinkering with code and experimenting with new ideas. The mix of the learning and the doing is what keeps my journey in the software world both interesting and practical.

Self Learn

Courses

SymfonyCasts

  • type: platform
  • author: Multiple (mostly knplabs courses)

I’m a long-time user. Often request the teams I’m leading to subscribe to it.

Laracasts

  • type: platform
  • author: Jeffrey Way

Signed up in 2018. Updated with all new major releases’ courses.

Getting yourself organized with Org-mode

  • type: course at udemy
  • author: Rainer König

I organize myself via GTD methodology and have tried multiple softwares. But I always end up on emacs/orgmode.

Test Driven Laravel

  • type: course
  • author: testdrivenlaravel.com

I enjoyed learning TDD and decided to match it with early Laravel.
Never had the chance to apply it in any professional project but did manage to use its methodology in multiple hobby-projects.

PHP The Right Way

  • type: documentation
  • author: phptherightway.com

Deploying different frameworks to different infrastructures allows me to apply PHP in unique and creative ways. I use PHP The Right Way to guarantee I am taking the right decisions.

The Vue.js Master Class

  • type: course
  • author: vueschool.io

While working at VueSchool.io I had the possibility to take the course and learn directly from the author (Alex).

Books

Mastering Swoole PHP: Build High Performance Concurrent System with Async and Coroutines

  • author Bruce Dou

Symfony 5: The Fast Track

  • author Fabien Potencier

Symfony 6: The Fast Track

  • author Fabien Potencier

High Performance MySQL: Optimization, Backups, and Replication

  • author Baron Schwartz, Peter Zaitsev, Vadim Tkachenko

Ansible: Up and Running: Automating Configuration Management and Deployment the Easy Way

  • author Bas Meijer, Lorin Hochstein, René Moser

Real-World Solutions for Developing High-Quality PHP Frameworks and Applications

  • author Sebastian Bergmann, Stefan Priebsch

Modern PHP: New Features and Good Practices

  • author Josh Lockhart

Professional XMPP Programming with JavaScript and jQuery

  • author Jack Moffitt

Free-to-Play: Making Money From Games You Give Away

  • author Will Luton

Practical Vim: Edit Text at the Speed of Thought

  • author: Drew Neil

Game Programming Patterns

  • author: Robert Nystrom

Development and Deployment of Multiplayer Online Games, Vol. I: GDD, Authoritative Servers, Communications

  • author: “No Bugs” Hare

Development and Deployment of Multiplayer Online Games, Vol. II: DIY, (Re)Actors, Client Arch, Unity/UE4/Lumberyard

  • author: “No Bugs” Hare

Development and Deployment of Multiplayer Online Games, Vol. Vol. III: Server Arch, Fault Tolerance, Pre-Coding

  • author: “No Bugs” Hare

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity

  • author David Allen

Academic

FCT, University, Informatic Enginner [2008-2011]

  • place Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Almada, Portugal
  • awards Paid scholarship to develop internal university system
  • status Incomplete

My university experience was three years in the making when one of my personal projects was purchased by a bigger company. During the acquisition process I ended up being offered an irrecusable full-time job. I have it in my bucket list to go back to university and finish the course.

João de Barros, High School [2005-2008]

  • place Agrupamento de Escolas João de Barros, Corroios, Portugal
  • awards Best student of informatics course award
  • status Complete

I was already coding for 5 years when my high-school experience started. Benefiting from an already deep understanding of the computers’ fundamentals, I coded a solution that provided cybercafés the ability to remotely control their own machines (using VB6 and PHP/MySQL). This school project granted me The Best Informatics Student award (and a 500EUR prizemoney).