Marcos Alves

Full-stack developer. I build the product and the infrastructure that keeps it standing.

Before it was code, infrastructure was cables and people connecting the ends. These photos are from that history.

A person pointing a light pen at text on a 1969 monitor, next to a keyboard.

Interface

What people see and touch.

Hypertext Editing System console, Brown University, 1969.

An old electronic module with two vacuum tubes and dozens of coloured wires and resistors.

Back-end

APIs, queues and data: the logic nobody sees and everybody feels.

Electronic module from a Powers-Samas punched card computer, 1960s.

Infrastructure

Everything connected and up, at three in the morning too.

Operators at an international Bell System switchboard, 1940s.

A row of telephone operators plugging cables into a large switchboard.

About me

Marcos Alves smiling, wearing sunglasses, outdoors.

Hi, I'm Marcos. I've been writing software since 2013 and I like both ends of the job: the screen someone touches and the server that holds everything up at night. I talk plainly, document what I do and ship in small pieces, so you see it working early, not only at the end.

What I do

From the first prototype to a system in production, taking care of every layer.

  • Products from scratch

    From prototype to production, with front end, back end and deploy.

  • APIs and integrations

    Payments, messaging and talking to legacy systems.

  • Cloud and infra

    AWS or Google Cloud, with all the infrastructure as code.

  • Migrations

    From servers and VMs to containers and Kubernetes, without stopping operations.

  • Observability

    Metrics, logs and alerts, so you know something broke before your users do.

Today, November 14

  • 09:00Ana SouzaFollow-up
  • 09:30Bruno LimaFirst visit
  • 10:15Carla DiasExam
  • 11:00Diego RochaFollow-up
New slot
Illustration: a fictional feature, booking a slot, seen in three layers.

Booking a slot: Interface

How I work

From the first email to a system in production, these are the things I bring to every project.

What doesn't change

  • Conversation before code

    I understand the problem and the business before proposing a solution.

  • Small deliveries, working early

    You see the system running in days, not only at the end.

  • Infrastructure as code

    From day one, with no hidden manual configuration.

  • Automated deploys and monitoring

    Every change ships on its own, and I know when something breaks.

  • Everything documented

    Decisions, architecture and how to run it, in writing.

  • Clear agreements from the start

    Scope, deadlines and code ownership set in the contract.

Every project has its own plan. This doesn't change.

Tools change every year. The craft of connecting the ends is much older.

A 1950s IBM 705 computer: glass-fronted cabinets of vacuum tubes with a console in the middle.
IBM 705 vacuum tube computer. Computermuseum München.

Stack

Front-end
  • Reactdaily
  • Next.jsdaily
  • TypeScriptdaily
  • Accessibility (WCAG)always
Back-end
  • Node.jsdaily
  • Gooften
  • Pythonwhen it fits
  • REST and GraphQLdaily
Data
  • PostgreSQLdaily
  • Redisoften
  • Queues (SQS, RabbitMQ)often
Infra and cloud
  • AWSdaily
  • Google Cloudoften
  • Terraformdaily
  • Dockerdaily
  • Kubernetesoften
Continuous delivery
  • GitHub Actionsdaily
  • Argo CDoften
  • Automated testsalways
Observability
  • OpenTelemetryoften
  • Prometheus and Grafanaoften
  • Sentrydaily

Contact