About
The practical details
I started in 2007 writing Java Back-Ends. School systems, government work, and eventually airline loyalty at Hewlett-Packard. Eight years of that, and then AngularJS made the browser look like the interesting place to be, so I went. I stayed eleven years.
I keep ending up in fintech. Technical lead at J.P. Morgan, and now four core areas of Openbank's homebanking platform. I like money as a domain because it keeps you honest. When you get an interface wrong there, it costs somebody something and everybody notices the same day. J.P. Morgan is still the best place I've ever worked, and I'd go back tomorrow if the role could be remote. It can't be, and remote is the one thing I won't budge on.
I'm good at this work, and that's exactly why I'm deliberately being bad at something else for a while. Python on the server again, and shipping features that have a model inside them, which is a very different thing from having a model help me write the code. The comfortable option is to keep getting better at a smaller and smaller thing, and I don't want that.
Practice
Four strands. One I did for eight years, one I have done for eleven, one I am aiming at, and one I am building right now to get there.
Milestones
Newest first. Each role with the specific thing that was different afterwards.
Four core areas of Openbank's homebanking platform: accounts, deposits, contracting and customer profile. I moved the team's ESLint setup from v8 to v10 and added new rules to the internal plugin. Then I noticed the same code living in all four codebases, proposed a shared component library, and it got adopted right away. Which was nice.
I rewrote the MVP when I arrived and got a 60% performance gain out of it. Then I spent months convincing leadership to let me rewrite the whole thing, Front-End and Back-End. They said yes. I defined the layout and the product philosophy, directed the designer through Figma, specified the data contracts, and I'm now building the entire Front-End on my own. Launch is meant to be the end of 2026.
I overhauled two core areas of the product. Reported bugs dropped 90% in the two weeks after release. I also built a standalone Playwright and Cucumber project so the QA team could write their own regression tests without waiting on me.
Promoted twice here. I led three React developers, then six, through a Flex-to-React migration that killed every deprecated component in eight months. I also ran a six-developer internship programme from analysis all the way to production, cut local build time in half, and ran an internal React best-practices group.
I led an internal product and pushed standards across the team. Then I got contracted out to J.P. Morgan, and that work turned into a permanent offer. This is also where React stopped being a tool I happened to use and became the thing I was actually good at.
Fullstack work: API endpoints on one side, Front-End components and services on the other. AngularJS was making the browser look like the fun place to be, so I crossed over. Eleven years later I'm still here. That was never the plan.
Hewlett-Packard, FDV Solutions, GetSense, Cubika, Teracode. APIs, features and legacy migrations for airline and enterprise clients. People forget this part when someone says Front-End developer, and it's the reason I keep saying I'm going back to the server instead of starting over on it.
How it started
In 2007 I was writing software for Catholic schools in Europe. I've genuinely forgotten which country. After that, systems for the Italian government, and then a run of jobs I couldn't put in the right order today if you asked me to.
The one I remember properly is Hewlett-Packard, working on American Airlines' frequent-flyer programme. It sent me to Dallas Fort Worth twice, which I loved.
Then Redbee, where the Back-End took a step back (pun intended), AngularJS got the front row, and the browser slowly started looking prettier (I did it again). A few moves and a few trends later, I taught myself React from a course and there was no way back. Going back to Python now is me going back to where it all started.
Off the screen
正勝吾勝 · Masakatsu agatsu
True victory is victory over oneself.
I briefly trained in aikido many years ago, and read a lot more than I trained. Budo, bushido, all the philosophy behind the technique. Be better today than you were yesterday. It's the only kind of competition I've ever found useful.
円相 · Ensō
One stroke, left open.
An ensō is a hand-drawn circle, one stroke, left open. Open means imperfect, which means it can still change. Same as everything else... it could always be better, but something delivered beats perfection that never arrives.
Keeping current
The 2026 entries are me putting something behind the Python and AI claims.
Courses and certifications
What I'm after
Remote, in Europe, and fintech if I get to pick (been there, loved that). Ideally somewhere I can grow into Fullstack and AI. And I'm happy to talk to anyone else making the same move.
Available Open to Front-End, Fullstack and AI work · Remote, Europe
Colleagues
I had the chance to work with Ariel this past year in J.P.Morgan. He is a great leader and an amazing coworker. He is always eager to help and contribute with the team with his remarkable coding skills!
Analyst, J.P. Morgan
Ariel is a professional who seeks to always be at the forefront with the latest technologies, he likes to contribute ideas and research and contribute new knowledge, he is a very good colleague and likes to maintain a good work environment.
Senior Developer, Tecnosoftware
Working alongside Ariel has been an absolute delight. His dedication to crafting high-quality front-end solutions is unparalleled. Not only does he possess a deep understanding of the technologies he works with, but he consistently goes above and beyond to ensure that every component he touches is executed excellently.
Tech Leader, V3 Cybersecurity
