My career began as a PHP developer at Hutchinson Porto’s IT department. In those initial years, I developed internal applications and managed the on-site infrastructure, laying the foundation for a lifelong passion for building reliable, scalable solutions. This early experience instilled in me the value of practical problem-solving and the drive to continuously learn and innovate.
Upon joining Critical Manufacturing, in 2017, I embarked on an exciting evolution. Starting as a Junior Software Engineer, I quickly advanced through roles of increasing responsibility—from crafting tailored software solutions for one of the world’s most advanced Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to taking on critical roles in software design and product customization. As I honed my skills in C#, .NET, and SQL, I became a trusted Technical Lead, ensuring high standards in code quality and guiding development teams through complex MES deployments.
A pivotal moment in my career came in 2019 when I co-founded the DevOps team at Critical Manufacturing, a game-changing initiative that reshaped how teams developed and delivered software. Until that point, project teams had been working in siloed, independent ways, each developing their own deployment and delivery processes. This lack of standardization led to inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and duplicated efforts across teams.
I played a central role in defining and implementing standardized CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps YAML, ensuring that all teams followed a unified and efficient deployment workflow. This shift was essential in streamlining the software delivery process, fostering collaboration, and significantly reducing deployment complexity and overhead. Additionally, I was instrumental in designing internal tools that improved the developer experience, automating routine tasks and enabling faster, more reliable releases. One of the most impactful contributions was my involvement in building the Critical Manufacturing Framework CLI, an open-source project that decoupled the deployment process from Azure DevOps, giving teams more flexibility and efficiency in managing deployments. I also created my own OpenSource project dotnet-test-rerun](https://github.com/joaoopereira/dotnet-test-rerun), underscoring my commitment to innovation and collaboration.
Today, as Platform Engineering Lead, I oversee a dynamic team responsible for ensuring the reliability, scalability, and efficiency of our infrastructure and development workflows. Our Platform Engineering team is divided into two specialized squads:
Platform Deployment and Support (PDS): Focused on seamless Kubernetes and OpenShift deployments for customers. Developer Platform and Tooling (DPT): Dedicated to improving automation, CI/CD pipelines, and developer experience across the organization. In this leadership role, I merge deep technical expertise with strategic vision, setting the roadmap for platform engineering initiatives while fostering a culture of collaboration, standardization, and continuous improvement.
Throughout my journey, my passion for innovation, automation, and process optimization has been the driving force behind my work. Whether leading DevOps transformations, optimizing developer workflows, or experimenting in my homelab, my mission remains the same: to create scalable, efficient, and future-ready solutions that empower teams and drive technical excellence.