Hello World 🗺️

I’m André, a Mexican–Portuguese 🇲🇽🇵🇹 programmer with a deep love for Ruby and elegant code.
I wrote my first lines of Ruby when I was 15, during a bootcamp in Mexico called Codeacamp — and I was instantly hooked. That moment defined everything that followed.

📚 My Journey

I began studying Computer Science at ISCTE-IUL in 2020.
Despite consistently ranking at the top of my programming classes, I felt unfulfilled — I wasn’t learning the way I wanted to. University felt slow, repetitive, and disconnected from the creativity I sought in programming.

So after two years, I dropped out.

In 2021, I joined 42Lisboa, a decision that reignited my curiosity and drive. The peer-learning environment, the absence of teachers, the self-directed projects — it all clicked. Today, I continue that journey at 42Paris, where I’m constantly exploring, breaking, and rebuilding ideas to understand them better.

💼 Work & Projects

I’ve worked as a freelance developer, contributing to startups, open-source projects, and creative collaborations.
Some highlights include:

• Nilutorneo – custom tournament management system
• Youmats – e-commerce platform
• Abe – modern website for a local organization
• Optimism – Ruby gem (open source)
• Codethesaurus – collaborative code explorer (open source)
• RubyCaster – Ruby-powered screen casting tool
• Mancala Web AI Simulator – strategy game AI in the browser
• Ruby2D – open source graphics and game development library
• This website – entirely built by me, of course :)

I also worked at Slide Speak, where I contributed to projects that blended language models with web technology — a space I find endlessly exciting.

You can find more of my work on GitHub 🔗

🎓 Conferences & Community

I love being part of the developer community.
I’ve attended several conferences, including:

• EuRuKo (European Ruby Conference)
• Web Summit (Lisbon)

Every event leaves me inspired by the creativity and generosity of the open-source world.

💡 Beyond Code

When I’m not programming, you’ll probably find me:

• Riding horses 🐎 (Show Jumping)
• Diving deep into Middle-earth lore
• Solving jigsaw puzzles
• Building small web experiments just for fun

Programming is not just my career — it’s how I think, play, and express myself.
Every project, big or small, is a new way to learn and share something meaningful.

🌱 Always Learning

University didn’t work for me — but learning never stopped.
42 taught me to think differently: to embrace challenges, to fail productively, and to build things that matter.

“42 = life.”