My Story

I was born in a small beach town called Manta in the shores of Ecuador. Growing up, I saw my dad, who came from humble and poor beginnings, beat numerous struggles with optimism and courage. By watching him, I learned that it is possible to accomplish anything despite the odds, and I developed the courage and resilience needed to pursue my dreams. 

My interest in software development started when I saw how the growth of cloud computing unblocked opportunities in nearly all industries. As a result, I migrated to the United States to pursue my B.S. degree in computer engineering at the University of South Florida, and later continued my education by pursuing a M.S. degree in computer science at Virginia Tech. Prior to starting my career, I acquired experience in software development through internships at data centers, software startups, and international banks. 

I began my career as a software engineer by integrating security services into the Chromium Microsoft Edge Browser, making it the safest browser for navigating the web. These services protected customers against criminals who profited from stealing their money and identity. However, despite offering such a valuable service, our customers were still doubtful. This motivated me to understand our customers and learn how to build products they love, leading me to transition into a Product Management role. 

As a Product Manager, I learned that technology is about people. I realized how easy it is to lose sight of customers’ needs and wants when you're focused solely on building the most reliable and efficient solutions. I listened and learned from my customers, using these insights to transform our security service into something that resonated better with them by adopting a more intuitive name, enhancing the user experience, and improving its effectiveness through more frequent updates. The resulting product was even highlighted by Microsoft’s CEO at a conference.

With these new learnings and skills, I decided to drive change within engineering teams by becoming a Technical Product Manager at Starbucks. My primary focus was to accelerate the development of mobile experiences by introducing and leading the adoption of GraphQL among our product and menu services. In this journey I experienced that the way software systems communicate mirrors the communication patterns of the engineers who built them, and that building great software is not possible without being an excellent communicator and mediator. 

Today, I am a software engineer who enjoys solving complex, large-scale technical challenges and building reliable software solutions. My approach to software engineering involves building strong teams by pursuing engineering excellence through standardization, smooth developer experiences, and a metrics-focused mindset toward meeting organizational objectives. Leveraging my experience in product management, I strive to drive meaningful change in the organizations I work with. 

Outside of my profession, I spend time taking care of myself, pursuing self-development, and volunteering with my local community and the police department. I love to laugh and watch stand-up comedy, and I look forward to making others laugh with my own sets someday.