About me

Autonomous developer advocating for free software, worker dignity, and ethical technology.

• Full Stack (Frontend, Backend and basic DevOps) and Computer Scientist;
• Can Design and Architect Software;
• Can Build APIs;
• Knows some, and is interested in learning more data structures and algorithms;
• Worries about UX;
• Worries about performance;
• Worries about privacy and security;
• Enjoys technical writing sometimes;
• Android knowledge;
• Relational Databases and SQL, but also experience with some NoSQL Databases (like a KV database like Redis/KeyDB);
• Finds Game Development interesting, specially the server side.

More things about me include:

• Loves and will preach for FLOSS;
• My favorite study fields:
  • Computer Science;
  • Mathematics;
  • Physics;
  • Also interested in Education/Pedagogy and Sociology, and would be satisfied if I could mix them with Computer Science somehow into one discipline;
• Ideas for my master degree (if I stay in this study field):
  • Systems Programming and OS;
  • Programming Languages & Compilers;
  • Distributed Systems & Networks & Cryptography;
  • Firmware & Minimal Embedded Systems;
  • Systems Security and Privacy Engineering;
• Likes to learn new languages;
  • Currently trying to (re)learn French and make it the same level as my English;
  • Learning Italian’s basics for a possible internship;
• First time I traveled outside my country was for an exchange program:
  • Figured out that I don’t really care about where I’m going to live as long as my routine is possible. So basically anywhere with a supermarket;
• I value well-organized remote work, transparent contracts, and labor practices that respect workers’ rights;
• Looking for roles that allow me to continue studying (maybe even while on a exchange program) and contributing to FLOSS and open infrastructure.

What I look for in a job:

• remote/hybrid;
• clear contracts with predictable schedules;
• respects FLOSS practices;
• respects labor rights, no non-paid extra hours;
• paid training;
• no involvement in advertising/speculative finance/weapons/surveillance;
• git and asynchronous workflows;
• workplaces aligned with principles of technological autonomy, worker cooperation, and social responsibility;

Principles:

• Knowledge must be shared freely — software, hardware, education alike;
• Opposes proprietary enclosures, surveillance capitalism, and extractive labor models;
• Sees programming as a tool for social liberation and critical pedagogy.
• Technology should serve people, not capital;
• Supports collective ownership, self-organization, and worker autonomy;

Name

João Augusto Costa Branco Marado Torres

Year of birth

2005

Nationality

Portuguese

Socials

Social Media	Username
GitHub	torres-engineer
GitHub	Marado-Programmer
GitHub	torres-developer
ORCID	0009-0008-6827-1030

Instant Messaging

SimpleX

[email protected]

Website

https://cravodeabril.pt/

Address

Beja, Portugal

Work Experience

1. Dimmersions & Lim9 — Digital Agency, Funchal, Portugal

   03/01/2023–28/03/2023

   Occupation/Position

   Software/Full-Stack Development Intern (AR/VR/XR & Cloud Infrastructure)

   Business/Sector

   Immersive Department

   IT; XR; Microservices/Cloud; Software Development

   E-mail

   [email protected]

   Work

   Contributed to the Madalia

   Activities and Responsibilities:

   • Review and refactor of legacy 3D model server into a more modular and extensible architecture;
     • Support for different 3D model formats and MIME types (USD and glTF);
   • Web browser frontend for adding and replacing textures and a texture editing and manipulation, similar to Microsoft Paint;
   • Web service for automated texture transformations using ImageMagick;
     • For example, recoloring dominant tones;
   • Designed and implemented Cloudflare Workers for request validation (via IP, HTTP Headers, tokens, encryption, HTTP Basic Auth) and secure temporary link generation;
   • Messed with Cloudflare R2 for 3D model storage;
   • Cloned AlvaAR for making image tracking possible via Node.js;
     • Used Puppeter in the early stages so it could run on a headless browser;
   • Implemented audio-based unique identifiers using Quiet.js;
     • There was a web interface to manage them, define how many times an audio could be used or an expiration time, who can have access to that audio (permissions), dynamic audio creation;
     • Could be used then to fire specific actions using inaudible audios during and immersive experience;

2. Lim9 — Digital Agency, Funchal, Portugal

   23/06/2022–29/07/2022

   Occupation/Position

   Software Developer Intern

   Activities and Responsibilities:

   • Created an API using Cloudflare Workers and Google Cloud TTS API;
     • A CRUD for different types of resources;
     • A way to create an audio file from plain text or SSML (given an language and a gender supported by the Google API).
     • Download of USD 3D models that come with an audio (the ones mentioned in the point above);
     • Models were stored in a Cloudflare KV;
   • The Workers had a very limited runtime, so I made an Node.js HTTP server to manipulate the 3D models using the USD toolsset;
     • Creation, edition, verification, and audio update;
   • Frontend for the Cloudflare Worker API;
     • HTML, SASS, JavaScript;
     • IndexedDB API;
   • Started a duplex communication web chat;
     • Global and private chats;
     • Using Cloudflare Durable Objects and WebSockets.

Education and Training

1. Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering
   Instituto Politécnico de Beja, Beja, Portugal

   29/09/2023–(Current but probably 12/07/2026)

   Title of Qualification
   Credential Awarded

   1^st Cycle of Studies under Bologna

   Level 6 EQF/NQF

   Organisation

   Address

   Rua Pedro Soares
   Apartado 6155
   7800-295 Beja

   Website

   https://www.ipbeja.pt/Paginas/default.aspx

   Field of Study

   Information and Communication Technologies

   Final Grade

   16.68/20 (Current)

   Type of Credits

   ECTS

   Number of Credits

   114/180 (Current)

   Main Subject / Occupational Skills Covered

   • Discrete Mathematics, Mathematical Analysis, Linear Algebra, Probabilities and Statistics;
   • Physics Applied to Computation;
   • Group Dynamics and Communication;
   • Information Systems;
   • Integrated Project;
   • Security in Communication Networks;
   • IT Regulation;
   • Marketing and Entrepreneurship;
   • System Administration;
   • Topics in Computer Science;
   • The rest was basically a review of what I learn in Cristóvão Colombo.

   Mobility and Exchange

   1. Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói — RJ, Brasil

      18/03/2025–26/07/2025

      Organisation

      Website

      https://www.uff.br/

      Main Subject / Occupational Skills Covered:

      • Programming Languages;
      • Human Computer Interaction;
      • Computer Networks 1 and Computer Networks 2;
      • Data Structures and Algorithms.

   2. Altınbaş Üniversitesi, İstanbul, Türkiye

      17/09/2024–19/01/2025

      Organisation

      Website

      https://altinbas.edu.tr/

      Main Subject / Occupational Skills Covered:

      • Computational Mathematics (Analysis of Algorithms);
      • Databases 2;
      • Software Engineering;
      • Introduction to Artificial Intelligence instead of Web Technologies and Mobile Environments.

2. Computer Programmer Technician
   Escola Profissional Cristóvão Colombo, Funchal, Portugal

   09/2020–13/07/2023

   Title of Qualification
   Credential Awarded

   Diploma of Secondary Education and Level 4 EQF/NQF

   Organisation

   Address

   Avenida do Infante nº6
   9000-015 Funchal

   Rua dos Aranhas nº 100
   9000-044 Funchal

   Website

   https://epcc.pt/

   E-mail

   [email protected]

   Field of Study

   Information and Communication Technologies

   Final Grade

   176/200

   Type of Credits

   hours

   Number of Credits

   3281

   Main Subject / Occupational Skills Covered

   • Information and Communication Technologies (TIC):
     • Web fundamentals: HTML, CSS, Bootstrap;
     • Office Suite (Microsoft Excel-focused);
     • Image editing and interface design with Photoshop;
   • Computer Architecture:
     • Internet protocols (DNS, TCP/IP stack, HTTP, FTP, SMTP, DHCP, SSH);
     • Network topologies and hardware components;
     • Logic operations (ALU: AND, OR, XOR, etc.);
     • Von Neumann and Harvard architectures;
   • Operating Systems:
     • GNU/Linux and Windows Server 2019 administration;
     • Configuration of local servers and user management;
     • Shell scripting and CLI utilities;
     • OSI model, transmission modes (simplex, half-duplex, full-duplex);
     • Introduction to C programming;
   • Databases and Backend Development:
     • SQL and MySQL: schema design, normalization, ACID properties, transactions;
     • ER diagrams and database modeling;
     • PHP (functional, OOP, and MVC with CodeIgniter 3);
     • Web integration and dynamic content generation;
   • Introduction to Programming:
     • Algorithmic logic and pseudocode;
     • Pascal, Java, and JavaScript programming;
     • Browser APIs, DOM manipulation, jQuery;
     • UML diagrams;
   • Advanced Programming
     • Node.js: http and net modules, sockets, REST APIs;
     • Web APIs integration (OpenWeatherMap, Google OAuth);
     • Mobile development: Android (Java), SQLite, JSON, background processing;
     • React.

   I felt like I got such a solid foundation in software development, networking, systems administration, and database design that I could design, implement, and document any type software projects, and learn what I didn’t by myself, which was kind of proven by my final project.

   Experience with both desktop and web applications, client-server architectures, and mobile systems.

   Professional Aptitude Test/Exam (Final Project)

   Name

   Bloqs Sites — Marketplace

   Website

   https://github.com/bloqs-sites

   A base model for a marketplace (e-commerce). A modular, open-source marketplace base model designed as both a proof of concept and a base model for decentralized, customizable e-commerce systems.

   Originally conceived as a simple marketplace website, the project evolved into a collection of interoperable microservices connected through REST (with the idea of a future GraphQL) API. Each service was developed to operate independently — including authentication, data storage, and image storage and optimization with ImageMagick — enabling scalability, maintainability, and freedom of deployment.

   This also allowed for the existence of several UI.

   An authorization and authentication system using JWT.

   I hope some day in the future I come back to this project.

   Key Features and Technologies:

   • RESTful API for flexible client integration;
   • Modular microservice architecture (auth, media, core API, UI client);
   • JSON-based configuration for instance customization;
   • Authentication and authorization with JSON Web Tokens (JWT);
   • Open and self-hostable architecture promoting decentralization;
   • Built with free and open-source software (FOSS-first approach);
   • Focus on accessibility (a11y), SEO, and standards compliance;
   • Experimentation with gRPC for service communication;
   • Browser-first client designed for extensibility and future AR/VR integration.

   Objectives and Vision:

   The project aimed to demonstrate autonomy, technical maturity, and ethical awareness in software design by applying professional skills acquired during the course and internships to a real-world system.

   • Promote software freedom and avoid vendor lock-in;
   • Enable user ownership through decentralization and customization;
   • Explore the integration of future-facing technologies (Blockchain, AI, immersive web);
   • Design a system capable of evolving into a federated network of independent marketplaces.

   Personal Learning Outcomes

   • Advanced understanding of API design and microservice orchestration;
   • Practical experience in backend engineering, DevOps concepts, and security (token-based auth, CORS, request validation);

Language Skills

Mother Toungue

Português

Other Languages

Language Proficiency.

Level Guidance

Levels: A1 and A2: Basic user; B1 and B2: Independent user; C1 and C2: Proficient user.

Language	Understanding		Speaking		Writing
	Listening	Reading	Spoken Interaction	Spoken Production
English	C2	C2	B2	C2	C2
Français	B1	B2	A2	A1	A2
Türkçe	A2	A2	A2	A1	A1
Italiano	A2	B1	A2	A1	A1

Sign Languages

N/A

Skills

Programming Languages

Comfortable with any language basically. I’m a programmer and don’t depend on a specific language.

Can also write SQL. Has worked a little with Cypher for Neo4j, and SPARQL.

Experience with gRPC, also good to mention.

Markup Languages

Comfortable with: HTML 5 (any XML) and CSS; LaTeX; GNU roff; Markdown; AsciiDoc. PlantUML.

Workflow

• Linux but comfortable with any FLOSS UNIX-like like OpenBSD;
• (neo)vim;
• SSH;
• tmux or a tiling window manager;
• Git;
• rsync;
• POSIX shell.

Soft skills

• Team coordination;
• Autonomy;
• Technical communication;
• Continuous improvement, transformation and learning;
• Deep analytical capacity;
• Strategic thinker;
• Likes to understand complex systems;
• Critically evaluate processes;

Social and Political Activities

While not really active (at least yet), I want to in the future to:

• Be more involved into the FLOSS community initiatives (online and IRL);
• Produce educational content on privacy, FLOSS;
• FLOSS isn’t enough, we need hardware and infrastructure to also be libre. I want to expand on that;
• Advocate for equitable access to knowledge, digital self-determination, and cooperative forms of technological production;
• Interested in community networks, self-hosted infrastructure, and collective education models;

Projects

You can explore my GitHub profiles and all, but here are some highlights.

Minerals House

A school project. A game made for you to learn what minerals do your day-to-day equipments use.

https://github.com/torres-engineer/minerals-house

SeUnem

A school project. For now, it’s just a sort of democratic event management platform that will be a way for me to study how technology should help with democratic participation.

https://github.com/torres-engineer/SeUnem

Splikan

Splikan is a platform that helps students in two ways:

• If you want to give tutoring for whatever reason, you can easily share your availability with your entire school community;
• If you want tutoring, there will be a list of other students in your school community who, as students, know what you are going through, and may be able to help you in a way that the teachers cannot.

It is still WIP. The idea is well-defined, I just need to finish the implementation.

https://github.com/torres-engineer/splikan/tree/develop

Bloqs

My final project on Cristóvão Colombo.

It consists of various modules and parts so you have a lot to see.

For example, there’s this library I made which gives an interface for the LibreTranslate web service, which I used for the frontend translations.

https://github.com/bloqs-sites

langid

A project I created to support a report paper I had to do.

Learning the basics of Machine Learning and exploring how we could identify in which language a phrase was written in.

The course was only theory, I made the practice.

https://github.com/Marado-Programmer/langid

https://github.com/Marado-Programmer/langid/blob/master/paper/paper.pdf

JustStudents & BetterOghma

Userscripts to improve our schools web platform. You would use it with Violentmonkey for example.

https://github.com/Marado-Programmer/JustStudents

https://github.com/Marado-Programmer/BetterOghma

Bouncing-Object

Where I tried to apply the physics I was learning at school to a visualization of a ball being thrown at the sky vertically.

It would be my first project.

More of the lore in the README.

https://github.com/Marado-Programmer/Bouncing-Object

Publications

1. Costa Branco Marado Torres, J. A. (2025). langid. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17502601

#curriculum-vitæ #personal