Who I am
Rafaías Villán Salazar. Full stack developer and software engineer. I live in A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), and work remotely.
Between January 2025 and August 2026, I served as Corporate Head of Information Systems for a group of four international mobility companies in Spain, overseeing all technology operations.
Nineteen years of experience, since 2007
Nineteen years of continuous experience in technology, since January 2007, without interruption between roles.
I began in the IT department of a public health agency in Venezuela, developing new systems while maintaining existing infrastructure. Nineteen years later, I continue doing both.
How I work
I have participated across the full product lifecycle: requirement analysis, architecture design, development, integrations, infrastructure, deployment, documentation, and team coordination. I have never worked on just a single link in that chain, which shapes how I approach problems: I examine the underlying business process first, and only then the technical implementation needed.
A major portion of my work has involved modernizing legacy systems, automating manual processes, and connecting tools that did not previously communicate with each other. In other words: stepping in where something is broken or outdated and making it work reliably.
Invoice generation blocked by a module lacking source code, a national system whose codebase had been lost, websites stuck on obsolete versions due to an abandoned theme, an ERP that could not be modified because another vendor maintained it—these are challenges resolved through sound engineering judgment rather than just technology.
When I do not know something, I say so directly, and the next day I usually understand it. I learned C#, Yii, and Angular on the fly during active projects.
Technologies and Core Stack
The core technologies and tools I work with regularly and have the deepest background in are PHP and Laravel, present in almost every stage of my career since 2007. On the client side, JavaScript and TypeScript with React, and Node.js on the server. Relational databases—PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB—along with Linux and Docker for infrastructure, and REST APIs for integrations.
In recent years, I have incorporated automation with n8n, generative models, and AI agents connected to real corporate systems, utilizing semantic search and locally generated embeddings.
Leadership
Since 2010, I have led small engineering teams: three people at Imvinet, two at NeoSepelios, up to four at PortalWeb, and an external team of .NET developers in my own studio. At Imvinet, NeoSepelios, PortalWeb, and the Cucalón Estévez group, I reported directly to the CEO or company owner.
Remote work and international track record
Since 2014, virtually all my work has been remote: over a decade collaborating with companies across Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the United States, and Spain.
Education and training
Associate Degree in Computer Science (Técnico Superior Universitario en Informática) from Instituto Universitario de Gerencia y Tecnología (December 2009), and Technical High School Diploma in Computer Science (2004)—technical training starting in secondary school.
Three certifications from IBM Advanced Career Education: Java SE Programming Fundamentals (2006), Advanced Web Development with PHP (2006), and Java EE Application Development (2008).
In systems administration, a Postgraduate Diploma in Linux Server Administration from Instituto Universitario Tecnológico La Victoria (2008)—covering Apache, PostgreSQL, Squid, and BIND9—preceded by basic and advanced Linux courses in 2007. Prior to that, PC maintenance and hardware repair in 2001, where my hardware and support foundation began.
Before coding
My early years combined software engineering with visual design, and between 2013 and 2014 I ran my own creative studio. I have also worked professionally in architectural 3D modeling and rendering, completing nearly forty residential housing models for a US homebuilder. While not my primary focus today, it explains why design and visual communication come naturally in technical projects.