About · Software Engineer
Pedro Santos
I make software, break it, fix it, and learn something along the way.
Software engineer from Belmonte, Portugal. I'm open to full-time roles and contract work, and I keep a meaningful side project alive on purpose.
- Based in
- Belmonte, Portugal
- In tech
- more than a decade
- Now
- React + GraphQL in production
- Availability
- full-time & contract, remote (EU)
I started in support and moved into software because I wanted to fix the things people were complaining about, not just file tickets about them. That shift shaped how I work: I still think from the user's frustration backward, not from the tech stack forward.
Today I ship production React and Next.js on a React + GraphQL codebase large enough that frontend architecture and testing stop being opinions and start being infrastructure. I care most about the parts of the job that make everyone else faster: clean component boundaries, patterns people can actually follow, and reviews that teach instead of gatekeeping.
On the side I run Melro.io, the engineer's version of founding: owning the whole loop, not just the implementation. And this site, which is where I write down what I'm learning and the work behind it.
I love the web. With AI as a drafting partner, I'm learning what it takes to build professionally and securely for any environment, from a browser tab to a phone to a desktop app. The goal isn't speed for its own sake: it's shipping things that are safe to put in front of real users.
01
How I think
Ship, then sharpen
A working thing in someone's hands teaches you more than a perfect thing in your head. I get to a thin vertical slice fast, then improve against real use.
DX is a feature
The experience of building the thing matters. Clean component boundaries, fast feedback, and patterns people can follow make the whole team faster.
Decide what not to build
The hardest part of product work isn't building, it's the cutting. I'd rather ship one well-scoped thing than three half-finished ones.
Founder thinking compounds
Running a side company makes me ask better questions at my day job: who is this for, what happens after we ship, what's the smallest useful thing.
02
Where I've worked
The full work history lives on LinkedIn. This site keeps what matters for the work I do today: the stack I use, what I'm studying, and what I'm building.
03
Education & study
- 2024
React Native Specialization · Rocketseat
Deep dive into mobile — gestures, animations, and shipping to both platforms.
- 2023
Meta React Native Specialization · Coursera
Mobile app development from fundamentals to advanced patterns.
- 2016 — 2018
Software Engineering (SOA & IoT) · Unibratec
Foundations in service-oriented architecture and connected systems.