Hello — I'm Marco Macarena.

Context

AI-driven media relations SaaS product connecting brands with journalists. Small, fast-moving engineering team serving a growing user base of PR professionals.

Problem

The product needed new feature development at speed while the existing codebase required refactoring for performance and maintainability. Both had to happen in parallel without disrupting the user experience.

Ownership

Full ownership across the stack: backend API design and implementation, frontend feature work, deployment pipeline, and performance optimization. Moved into a lead role coordinating technical decisions with the team.

Stack

• Django
• Django REST Framework
• React
• Docker
• Google Cloud
• PostgreSQL

Decisions & trade-offs

Prioritized incremental refactoring over rewrites — improving query patterns and API response times while shipping new features. Containerized the development and deployment workflow to reduce environment drift between staging and production.

Outcome

Sustained feature delivery alongside measurable performance gains. The product remained stable under growth while the codebase became more legible and maintainable for the team.

Context

Production company focused on educational and institutional content. Technology needs spanned internal operations, client-facing platforms, and e-learning delivery across multiple concurrent projects.

Problem

The company relied on manual processes for project and financial management, and lacked integrated tools for e-learning delivery. External platforms needed customization that off-the-shelf solutions could not provide.

Ownership

Dual role: managed projects end to end while building the software. Designed and developed in-house tools, built and maintained Moodle plugins, delivered documented DRF APIs, and managed WordPress-based sites.

Stack

• Django
• Django REST Framework
• Moodle
• WordPress
• PHP
• Python

Decisions & trade-offs

Chose Django + DRF for internal tools to get API-first architecture with solid ORM, even within a small team. Used Moodle for e-learning where institutional adoption was required, building custom plugins rather than fighting the platform. Documented APIs from ORM through endpoint to make future maintenance sustainable.

Outcome

Operational efficiency improved through custom tooling. E-learning delivery scaled across projects with reusable Moodle infrastructure. The API documentation practice enabled handoff and continuity.

Context

Two decades of client work across education, small business, and institutional organizations. Projects range from simple web presence to custom web applications and platform deployments.

Recurring problem

Clients with limited technical resources need reliable, maintainable web solutions — often on constrained budgets, with unclear requirements that evolve during delivery.

Ownership

End-to-end: requirements gathering, architecture, development, deployment, and often ongoing maintenance. Single point of contact for technical decisions.

Stack

• Python
• Django
• PHP
• WordPress
• Moodle
• JavaScript

Decisions & trade-offs

Technology choices driven by client context: WordPress where content ownership matters, Django where custom logic is needed, Moodle where institutional e-learning compliance is required. Prioritized solutions the client could maintain after handoff.

Outcome

Long-term client relationships built on trust, shipping under constraint, and clean handoffs. The freelance practice developed the instinct to match tools to real organizational needs, not personal preference.