About
I build the layer other people build on
I'm Ava Reyes, a product & systems engineer. For the last seven years I've worked at the seams of systems — compilers, data platforms, and the tooling that makes them pleasant to use.
I like problems where the hard part is the engineering: a build that has to be fast, a sync that has to be correct offline, a fleet that has to re-plan in milliseconds. The kind of work where a clean abstraction earns its keep for years.
When I'm not shipping, I write about what I learned doing it — usually the parts that surprised me.
How I work
Four things I hold to
The data model first
Most bugs are just a data model that lied. I draw the shapes and their invariants before a line of UI.
Optimise the p99, not the demo
A feature that shines in the happy path and stalls under load isn't done. I budget for the tail.
Small, reversible changes
Every deploy is immutable and every step is one I can walk back. Momentum comes from safety, not speed.
Write it down
If it isn't written, it isn't decided. Design docs and honest changelogs are half the engineering.
Toolbox
What I reach for
Languages
Data
Frontend
Infra
Right now
- Based in
- Lisbon (UTC+0)
- Building
- Forge CLI v2
- Reading
- Designing Data-Intensive Applications
- Open to
- one or two projects a year
That's the short version. The long one is in the work.