Welcoming Gusttavo Castro, our new Developer Experience Engineer

Gusttavo Castro is a software engineer who loves both front-end and back-end.

Before joining Code.dev, he worked at Adaptworks, where he helped build their training platform for SAFe and Agile methodologies.

He also explored how gamification can help people learn data structures and algorithms (DSA) — the topic of his undergrad thesis.

More about Gusttavo

How did you get into software? Looking back, I was closer to it than I remembered. My first experience with programming was in school, during a Brazilian Informatics Olympiad (OBI). Total disaster. The code didn’t even compile. I froze. But that moment — without realizing — was the start of something.

A few years later, Gusttavo joined Etec during high school. Naturally curious, he was already tinkering with computers on his own. And pretty quickly, he realized he didn’t just like it — he was good at it. So good that, after graduating, he was hired by one of his own teachers to work at Adaptworks.

Why Code.dev?

As an engineer, I’m happiest when the stuff I build makes someone’s day easier — and Code.dev lets me do exactly that. I’ve been following the company since the beginning and was always impressed by the polish and care that goes into it.

When it was time to take the next step in my career, Code.dev had everything I was looking for: a product that matters, a culture that treats craftsmanship seriously, and teammates who care about the small details as much as the big picture.

Where do you find #inspiration?

Music. There’s something magical about how a song can shift my mood or spark an idea out of nowhere.

If you weren’t coding, what would you be doing?

I’ve always been fascinated by design, so I’d probably be working on interface design or something visual.

And if that didn’t work out — I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be a pro DJ and play at TomorrowLand.

What does your workspace/home screen look like?

Snoopy is my all-time favorite cartoon, so I like to keep a few Snoopy touches around me!

Favorite tool?

I love taking notes with Obsidian. It’s a simple yet powerful app that helps me organize my thoughts and study better.

Plus, the brain-style graph view is just awesome.

Favorite keyboard shortcut?

Alt + Space. I use it to trigger Raycast and basically do anything.

Favorite place to visit?

São Paulo, Brazil.

It’s where I’m from, where my family lives, and where my journey with programming began. I visit whenever I can!

Any advice for ambitious software engineers?

Read code.

We usually spend most of our time writing code, but reading code is one of the best ways to grow as a developer.

Reading exposes you to different architectural patterns you might not come up with on your own — and broadens your perspective. Start with well-known open-source codebases and pay attention to how experienced devs structure complex solutions.