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Alberto AranaAA>_
portfolio.ts

Alberto Arana

PRINCIPAL_SOFTWARE_ENGINEER.js

Principal engineer in CARTO Professional Services — product-minded React/TypeScript geospatial apps and shared libraries for enterprise clients, 8+ years shipping at scale.

▸ pnpm run contactimport { resume } from './experience'
const profiles = {
  github: "github.com/aaranadev",
  linkedin: "linkedin.com/in/aaranadev"
};

About

@ export { about } from './profile'

I'm Alberto Arana — a Principal Software Engineer and frontend specialist with solid backend depth. My approach is product-oriented: I craft polished interfaces and the APIs, tooling, and architecture that make geospatial products usable for real customers. I enjoy the unglamorous parts of engineering — drawing clean boundaries, removing accidental complexity, and leaving a codebase calmer than I found it.

Remote · CET (UTC+1)

What I focus on

  • Product-oriented delivery

    Start from the user and the business outcome — ship geospatial apps that solve a concrete customer problem, not abstract platforms for their own sake.

  • Geospatial client apps

    React/TypeScript applications built on top of CARTO — maps, workflows, and UX tailored to each enterprise engagement.

  • Shared libraries & architecture

    Reusable packages, module boundaries, and design systems that keep Professional Services delivery fast and consistent.

  • Type safety end to end

    Strict TypeScript, expressive types, and contracts that catch mistakes before runtime.

  • Developer experience

    Tooling, conventions, and docs that make the right thing the easy thing for every engagement.

How I work

  • Clarity over cleverness

    Code is read far more than it's written; I optimize for the reader.

  • Small, reversible steps

    Ship in thin slices, keep the build green, learn quickly.

  • Accessibility and performance are features

    Not afterthoughts — this site targets 100/100 on both.

  • Calm precision

    Measured decisions, honest trade-offs, and no drama in the pipeline.

Projects

# import { case_studies } from '#/lib/projects'

[case_01]

CARTO Professional Services

Building client apps and consulting on top of CARTO — not the core product platform.

Problem
CARTO customers need production geospatial applications tailored to their data, workflows, and cloud constraints — often under tight delivery timelines and with varying team maturity.
Approach
As tech lead in Professional Services, I design and ship React/TypeScript applications on top of CARTO, lead technical consulting engagements, and translate product capabilities into solutions that fit each client's architecture and UX needs.
Challenge
Delivering reliable map-heavy apps across diverse enterprise stacks while keeping quality high, mentoring engineers, and staying aligned with CARTO's APIs without owning the core platform itself.
Outcome
Sustained leadership through Lead and Principal roles — client applications shipped in production, reusable patterns shared across engagements, and strong partner-style delivery for CARTO customers.

Differently: Would formalize shared PS tooling earlier so every engagement starts from the same tested foundation.

  • React
  • TypeScript
  • DeckGL
  • Geospatial
  • Professional Services
  • Consultancy
  • Client Apps
  • Tech Lead
[case_02]

carto-ps-lib

CARTO Professional Services Library — a monorepo of React maps, UI, services, and tooling for PS delivery.

repo ↗
Problem
Professional Services engagements repeatedly rebuilt the same maps UI, HTTP helpers, and quality configs — slowing delivery and drifting from consistent CARTO styling and best practices.
Approach
Built a Turbo monorepo of reusable packages: DeckGL React maps (`@carto/ps-react-maps`), React UI components (`@carto/ps-react-ui`), HTTP/data services, shared utils, and a style-guide for ESLint, Prettier, and TypeScript — with Storybook and generated docs for the team.
Challenge
Designing package boundaries that work across many client projects, keeping React / DeckGL stacks coherent, and preparing a private library for a near-term open-source release.
Outcome
A comprehensive PS library that gives the team ready-to-use geospatial components, services, and DX tooling so modern CARTO apps ship faster with consistent quality.

Differently: Would publish the open-source release path earlier with clearer versioning and adoption docs for external contributors.

  • React
  • TypeScript
  • DeckGL
  • Vite
  • Turbo
  • Storybook
  • Library Authoring
  • Monorepo
  • Geospatial
  • DX
[case_03]

aarana.dev

This site — a static, bilingual portfolio built as a production-quality product MVP.

demo ↗repo ↗
Problem
Need a single URL that converts recruiter scan-time into conversation — with evidence of craft, career narrative, and contact paths — not a template dump.
Approach
Astro 7 static site, content collections per locale, Tailwind v4 design tokens, terminal/IDE aesthetic, Person JSON-LD, hreflang, and accessibility-first interactions (theme, mobile dialog).
Challenge
Balancing a distinctive developer aesthetic with clarity for non-technical recruiters, while keeping Lighthouse scores near 100 and shipping EN/ES in parallel.
Outcome
Fully static bilingual site with strong SEO/a11y/performance baselines — the portfolio itself is a working sample of platform thinking and product polish.

Differently: Would add deeper CASE metrics earlier and tighten the project narrative around Professional Services work.

  • Astro
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Vercel
  • Portfolio
  • i18n
  • Accessibility
  • Performance

Tech stack

{} import { tech_stack } from '#/lib/skills'

[module_01]

JavaScript

Deep expertise across the modern JavaScript ecosystem — language fundamentals, async patterns, bundlers, testing, and the tooling that keeps teams shipping with confidence.

  • Modern JavaScript
  • Tooling
  • Testing
  • Performance
  • Ecosystem
[module_02]

React

React is my home base in the JS ecosystem — component architecture, hooks, composition, and production UIs from SPA to full-stack applications.

  • Hooks
  • Composition
  • State Management
  • SSR
  • Ecosystem
[module_03]

TypeScript

Strict typing, complex generics, and type-safe API integrations across the stack.

  • Type-safety
[module_04]

Frameworks

First-class fluency with TanStack Router, Next.js, and Astro — routing, data loading, SSR/SSG, and choosing the right framework for each product surface.

  • TanStack Router
  • Next.js
  • Astro
  • SSR
[module_05]

HTML & CSS

Expert in semantic HTML and modern CSS — responsive layouts, accessible interfaces, and the craft layer every great frontend is built on.

  • Semantic HTML
  • CSS Grid
  • Flexbox
  • Responsive
  • Accessibility
[module_06]

Node.js

Solid mid-level backend skills — REST APIs, service design, and Node.js patterns that complement my frontend work without pretending to be infra-first.

  • REST APIs
  • Express
  • Microservices
  • API Design
[module_07]

Design Systems

Component libraries, token management, and consistent UI/UX implementation at scale.

  • Tokens
  • Accessibility
[module_08]

Architecture

Expert in software architecture and open-source library design — published packages, library authoring, and systems that scale with teams.

  • Library Authoring
  • OSS
  • DX
  • Scalability
  • System Design
[module_09]

AI

Practical AI integration in product workflows — prompting, agentic tooling, and shipping reliable LLM-assisted features without sacrificing UX or engineering standards.

  • LLM Integration
  • Agents
  • Prompting
  • DX
  • Product AI

Experience

↻ fetch('/api/career_history')

  1. Principal Software Engineer

    company: "CARTO"

    2026 — Present

    Tech lead in CARTO Professional Services — setting technical direction for product-minded geospatial client applications, mentoring senior engineers, and growing shared libraries that keep enterprise delivery fast and consistent.

    • Mentors senior engineers and sets architectural direction across PS engagements
    • Drives reusable frontend standards for apps built on top of CARTO — not the core product platform
    • Continues the Lead → Principal arc with product-oriented delivery and shared PS tooling
    • Mentorship
    • Architecture
    • Professional Services
    • Geospatial
    • Tech Lead
    • Design Systems
    • React
    • WebGL

  2. Lead Frontend Engineer

    company: "CARTO"

    2019 — 2026

    Tech lead and engineering manager in CARTO Professional Services — scaled the team through a Series C, owned React/TypeScript delivery for client geospatial products, and shipped design-system adoption, shared patterns, and release quality across enterprise engagements.

    • Engineering manager and tech lead through Series C growth
    • Owned React/TypeScript delivery for product-oriented client applications on CARTO
    • Raised release quality across map-heavy geospatial apps and shared PS practices
    • Engineering Manager
    • Tech Lead
    • TypeScript
    • Design Systems
    • React
    • WebGL

  3. Senior Software Engineer

    company: "CARTO"

    2018 — 2019

    Senior frontend engineer during the Geographica integration — delivered high-impact spatial analytics features for customer-facing geospatial products, hardened performance on map-heavy workloads, and established frontend patterns still used in delivery today.

    • Shipped high-impact spatial analytics features during the Geographica integration
    • Hardened performance for map-heavy WebGL workloads
    • Established frontend patterns that still support product delivery
    • React
    • WebGL
    • Performance
    • Spatial Analytics
    • Product

  4. Lead Frontend Engineer

    company: "Footters / Portium"

    2017 — 2018

    Tech lead across Footters and Portium — built the Footters product UI from scratch for live Primera RFEF coverage, and owned Portium's web app architecture with a responsive, data-driven interface for sports content.

    • First frontend hire and tech lead for a greenfield sports product
    • Delivered a data-rich live coverage experience under performance constraints
    • Owned Portium web app architecture for sports content surfaces
    • React
    • Tech Lead
    • Greenfield
    • Sports Tech
    • Performance
    • UI Architecture

Contact

=> contact('aarana.dev')

Let's build something

Open to collaboration, architecture reviews, and hard problems.

githubgithub.com/aaranadevlinkedinlinkedin.com/in/aaranadev