Origins

I started my career as graphic designer aimed by my Arts Bachelor degree where I worked for a few assignments during my high school even some for the school itself. I also won a few design hackathons:

As a graphic designer, I was always interested in the digital world and websites in particular. I started to learn HTML and CSS by myself, and then I decided to study a technical degree in Interactive Communication, in UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona).

Interactive Communication

During my degree, I learned a lot about web development, design, communication... I also learned about video editing and photography with some opportunities to work in a few projects for real clients.

The first year of the degree I faced some technologies that I already knew as Python or PHP, I remember that I was the only one in the class that knew how to code in Python so I helped a bit the rest of the class, reaching the point that the teacher used my notes to correct the homework🤓 (it's searchable online).

I also learne about Photography and Communication Law, subjects that the first day I thought I would hate but I ended up loving and still using them in my day-to-day.

First steps in the labor market

The Photography teacher encouraged us to search real projects using the class knowledge, so with @Gerard and @Victor we started checking google maps to find companies that could need a photographer and we started to call them. We ended up working for a few car dealerships as photographers and video editors.

Thinking about expanding the small business that we had, I decided to create a website for having an online presence so I did a simple but fancy landing page with our portfolio, a contact form and a blog where we could post our latest projects. Some people started contacting but not for the photography services, they wanted a website like the one that I did for us.

Freelance web developer

I was the only one in the friends group that knew how to code so I started to submit proposals to the clients that contacted us. The average project was an easy wordpress landing and ecomerce website, so I learned Wordpress and Woocommerce to be able to do them. I also learned SEO and Google Ads to be able to offer a complete service to the clients.

Wordpress developer

The second year of the degree we did some PHP courses, I had some advantage because I already knew the language so I focused in checking a step further as MVC and OOP. I also learned MySQL and how to use them with PHP. And finally, I faced Laravel but was definitely too much for me at that moment.

SEO and Google Ads

A bit frustrated because I couldn't do the projects that I wanted with PHP, I started to learn Javascript and Jquery by myself and I started to do some projects with them. I also learned Bootstrap and SASS to be able to do better websites.

Javascript developer

Using PHP, HTML, SASS ans Jquery (a bit outdated but still the standard that year) I completed a fancy portfolio, class projects and small client projects.

Graphic designer

Once in my German language class, I met a guy that was working in a startup that needed a graphic designer, so I started to work for them. During the following 2 years, I worked there creating social media posts and general branding inside of the communication department. I also mastered Illustrator and Photoshop to be able to do better designs but after some tests we decided to use Figma as the main design tool.

As they were a small team, I had some free time while submitions, so I also focused in development to be able to be hired as a Software developer soon.

Fullstack developer

The third year of the degree we started modern frontend as Javascript and Databases, but the courses done in class were too basic for me so I started to learn React and Node by myself. I also learned PostgreSQL and Typescript to be able to do fullstack projects.

React and Typescript were a game changer for me, I started to do more complex projects and I started to learn NextJS and Gatsby to be able to do SSR and Static websites. I also learned Tailwind and Styled Components to be able to do better websites.

Using some personal project and small client projects I completed a fancy portfolio (previous to this one you are navigating on). Also, I worked as a fullstack developer inside of the university for a few months. There, I learned AWS and WebTV to be able to do a complete project where we had to do a Netflix like platform for the internal university projects.

Mesalvo

During those months, I found myself using my free time to create small frontend side projects, that reveled me that I was more interested in Frontend than just design.

While I was creating content for Nuwe, I decided to search a job as a Frontend Sofware Developer and I found one at Mesalvo, was a huge step for me because it was a full time job and I was still studying. In the last moment, I decided to accept the offer and I started to work there.

Full time Frontend developer

That huge step resulted in one of my best decision ever, I met incredible people and I mastered my skills as a Frontend developer. We created international products using React, Typescript, Redux, Tailinwd...

My division was a small team inside of the Innovation HUB of the company, so we had a lot of freedom to create new projects and to decide the technologies that we wanted to use. With @Francesco and @Emiliano we created an incredible ecosystem and it resulted in a high quality product.

Erasmus in Sweden

The second semester of the third year I did an Erasmus to Kalmar, Sweden where I focused my skills also in International Business and Marketing. I also learned a bit Swedish to be able to communicate with the locals.

Back to Spain

Once back in Spain, I focused even more in Mesalvo and I started playing with React Native to be able to do mobile apps. Also I did some projects using Astro and Svelte to be able to do Static websites and to discover these 'posible new Reacts'.

Studing in Salamanca

The first semester of the last year I did an Erasmus to Salamanca, Spain where I focused my skills also in Media and Advertising.

More a theoretical semester than a practical one, I had the oportunity to learn from high level teachers and to meet incredible people.

Using my Big Data and Knowledge Society I continued my Python skills to practice with Data Science and Machine Learning.

I also took part in a European Union project to support some European activities and social projects.

For some submittions I had written some articles and essays about Spanish Media and Advertising.

Last university year, thesis

The last months in UAB were focused in the development of my thesis, a UI library for React, I struggled a bit about what name to give to the library, but at the end it was a UI library made by me so I decided to call it Pol/UI.

I spent +1000 hours creating the project, the documentations, the written thesis and the presentation.

Pol-ui ended up being a complete library with +100 components, a complete documentation and multiple examples of how to use it.

It got a perfect score of 10/10 and it was awarded with a special mention by the university.

Germany

Once I finished the degree, I decided to move to Germany where the company that I was working for, Mesalvo, had the headquarters. I continued working there as a full time Frontend developer and I also started to learn German to be able to communicate with the locals.

I started opening to new technologies as Java, not to take more story points but to be able to understand the backend part of the projects that I was working on.