Hey there! I'm Matias. I was born and raised in Chile, but I now live in the UK (the weather is... an adjustment). I've been writing software professionally for over a decade, and I still love it.
What I do
I'm currently a Staff Software Engineer at Lendable, a London fintech. My primary expertise is PHP (yes, we still exist), though I also write Go, TypeScript, and occasionally Zig and Rust. I care about system design, domain-driven design, clean code, and making other developers' lives easier.
How I got here
I'm self-taught. My journey into programming started in an unlikely place: tweaking an open-source church management system called ChurchCRM. Not exactly Silicon Valley origin story material, but that early experience shaped how I think about software as something that serves real communities and solves real problems.
Open source
When I find time between work and family (which is almost never!), I maintain castor-labs, an organization where I build high-quality PHP packages. Some highlights:
- php-ext-identifier and php-lib-uuid: A PHP extension and library for working with UUIDs
- php-lib-ledgering: A ledgering library for financial applications
I also have a Fernet implementation and other projects on my personal GitHub.
Speaking
I occasionally speak at conferences (when I can get over the stage fright). You can watch my talk on Event Sourcing from DevFest Santiago 2019.
Beyond the keyboard
This blog isn't just about code. I also write about Christianity and philosophy: topics that shape how I see the world and (honestly) how I approach my craft.
When I'm not coding or writing, you'll find me cooking, working on DIY projects, spending hours tending my house garden (it's big!), or hanging out with my wife and two kids.
Get in touch
I'm open to speaking engagements, consulting, and collaboration (or just a friendly chat). You can find me on GitHub and LinkedIn.