My first steps

I was pretty handy at setting up websites in PHP, which the company appreciated, especially since, they weren’t interested in investing time and effort into using a framework. At the time, frameworks were few and often quite complex, like Zend Framework or Symfony. Compared to today, the developer experience back then was far less refined.

The company’s curious decision to avoid using a framework turned out to be an invaluable learning opportunity for me. While it may not have been the most efficient approach from a business standpoint, it was incredibly beneficial for my growth, especially during the early days of my career. Building my own tools from scratch forced me to dive deep into every challenge I encountered, essentially crafting a lightweight framework of my own. Thankfully, I had the extra time and space to explore these problems thoroughly.

Looking back, I’m truly grateful for that experience. It gave me a much deeper understanding of how things work under the hood and shaped the way I think about software design and problem-solving today.

Lights, camera, Hoyts!

Another enriching experience was being part of the development team behind several cinema websites, including Cinemark Hoyts in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as CCA Cinemacenter and Paseo Aldrey Cines in a nearby tourist city. Contributing to these high-traffic platforms gave me valuable insight into building robust, user-friendly digital experiences at scale, and deepened my understanding of performance, accessibility, and real-world user needs.

I was also involved in the development of what could be described as a “Cinema Hub” site MiBoleteria which allows users to browse and purchase tickets for most cinemas in the city. While I wasn’t part of the core development team, I contributed by resolving issues caused by the initial implementation and refining certain features, such as the seat selector. Although I don’t consider it my most polished work, being involved in the project gave me valuable exposure to maintaining and improving existing codebases. What amazes me most is that the site has remained largely unchanged since I worked on it —nearly twelve years ago— which speaks volumes about the lasting impact of even small contributions.

Offboarding

After five years of working in the company, a friend of mine notified me about big opportunity on a company in Capital Federal that was recruiting engineers at the time and I thought it was my time to go to find new horizons.

Referrals

• Alberto Quarleri - CEO