Curriculum Vitae

about

programming - core

Front-end

Back-end

design

data analysis

business management

languages

achievements

about

Hi, I'm Sergie Gerrits, a Web Developer.

I have been developing websites and web applications professionally for about 4 years. I am a full-stack developer who uses the JavaScript ecosystem to build projects, although I specialise in front-end development. My stack of choice is React JS, Next JS, Tailwind and TypeScript for the front-end and Supabase or Node JS, TypeScript, Fastify JS, Prisma JS and PostgreSQL for the back-end.

I previously come from a different background, having a Master's Degree in Business Management (graduated with honours), having studied in 4 different countries and being able to speak 5 languages on a reasonable level. During this time, I have obtained some prizes and 3 scholarships: 1) 3-week summer scholarship for a course on Chinese culture at the University of Beijing, China; 2) 6-week winter scholarship for a course on German language and culture at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; 3) Merit scholarship covering all my Master's Degree tuition fees and more, achieved after having obtained second place among all 11 Master courses at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra, Portugal.

Therefore, I have experience and interest in other fields outside of programming, including Business Management, Media, Foreign Languages and more. My typical day is learning, experimenting and creating different things.

programming - core

Programming - Languages & Ecosystems

  • JavaScript Ecosystem

    Javascript is my main programming language and as such I have a wide exposure to its ecosystem, including TypeScript, major Frontend frameworks (React, Vue and Angular), Backend with Node JS, and several relevant libraries

  • PHP Ecosystem

    I have used basic PHP for handling WordPress customisation and have studied how to use it with Laravel for basic APIs

  • Python Ecosystem

    I have studied the basics of Python and practiced on learning projects with it

  • SQL

    I experienced using SQL Databases both assisted by software like Microsoft Access, platforms like Supabase, ORMs like Prisma or standalone queries with PostgreSQL

  • NoSQL

    I have built API's with NoSQL using MongoDB and Mongoose and also interacted with external DynamoDB databases

Platforms & Tooling

  • Git

    Git has always been a tool present in my work both as a solo developer and collaboratively as part of a team

  • GitHub

    GitHub has always been my main collaboratively remote code repository tool, and a such, I have grown used to many of its features

  • GitLab

    I have used GitLab when I joined other developers on an existing commercial project that used it and experienced collaborative development with it

  • Supabase

    Utilised a range of features in Supabase to create and manage custom databases, handle security via RLS, authentication and more

  • Firebase

    Experimented CRUD operations with Firebase to power an application

  • Docker

    I have experimented a few times with Docker to run PostgreSQL databases with Bitnami's image, also using Docker Compose

  • WordPress

    Developed a commercial Wordpress website using both custom coded features as well as modules available in the Wordpress ecosystem, covering multiple pages, security, SEO, and more

  • Vercel

    Used Vercel to deploy several applications as well as other features such as domain management and analytics

  • AWS

    Experimented with some of AWS's main features, such as Route 53, S3 and Cloudfront

Automated Tests

  • Vitest

    Vitest is my tool of choice for Unit and Integration Tests, which I applied in some applications

  • Supertest

    For E2E testing, Supertest is what I chose to use in a few projects as I explored its functionalities

  • Jest

    I used Jest for unit tests in a few different projects, often combined with Testing Library for React tests

Best practices

  • Design Patterns and coding standards

    I often rely on proven patterns for many of the features I develop, such as SOLID principles, N-tier architecture and dependency injection, as well as design patterns like Facade, Factory, Command, Strategy, Observer, Adapter, Repository and others

  • Domain-Driven Development (DDD)

    I have explored DDD for creating API endpoints and find it to be a good way to structure API endpoints. I currently use a custom implementation of this practice for my projects

  • Test-Driven Development (TDD)

    I have experimented with TDD approaches in some practice projects and I currently choose a custom flavour of this approach for implementing tests in my projects

Others

  • Windows

    I have used Windows extensively on a professional level

  • MAC OS

    I have used Mac OS while working at a company and got used to common elements in that ecosystem, including Unix-based commands

  • VSCode

    VSCode is my IDE of choice. I have used in the vast majority of my projects and understand some of it inner mechanisms and custom settings

  • Visual Studio

    I have used Visual Studio experimentally to experiment developing in the .NET Ecosystem

  • Postman

    I have used Postman to facilitate developing and querying backend developers

  • Insomnia REST

    Similar to Postman, I have also made use of Insomnia REST for API development and querying

Front-end

JavaScript Ecosystem - Languages and Core Libraries and Frameworks

  • JavaScript

    Javascript is my main programming language and I have used it extensively across a range of projects, including ES6 features

  • TypeScript

    Typescript is currently a must in every application I create both in the front-end and the back-end for both personal and commercial projects, so all of my recent web work uses it

  • HTML5

    Used semantic HTML5 extensively in most projects I have worked on

  • CSS3

    Comfortable using modern CSS features, including the ones newly added in recent updates

  • Markdown

    I routinely used Markdown syntax for documentation, GitHub fields and other places which support it

  • React JS

    Widely explored a range of features all the way to React 19 from practice projects involving most little used hooks to commercial projects

  • Next JS

    Used Next JS in several projects including both the Page and App routers, as well as other tools from its ecosystem like Next Themes, custom fetch API, client and server components, server actions etc

  • Vue JS

    Used both Vue 2 and Vue 3 in multiple commercial projects, including both the Options and Composition API's. More than half of the websites of the football clubs members of the English Football League (EFL) and EFL's website were made in Vue with me being one of the developers working on it

  • Nuxt JS

    Used both Nuxt 2 and Nuxt 3 in multiple commercial projects, including projects using SPA, SSR and SSG. More than half of the websites of the football clubs members of the English Football League (EFL) and EFL's website were made in Nuxt with me being one of the developers working on it

  • Angular

    I am currently using Angular 18 to build a complex application from scratch

  • jQuery

    Used jQuery in personal and commercial projects for a better Dev Experience

JavaScript Ecosystem - UI Libraries

  • Tailwind CSS

    Tailwind CSS is currently my main choice of styling tool for the web. I designed a personal design system partially inspired by Shadcn UI, where I fully leverage Tailwind's customisation options to create a better Dev Experience and enable custom theming in an easy way. A partial example of this is the themes available on this website (check the settings menu)

  • SAAS

    SAAS has previously been my go-to choice for styling websites alongside the BEM naming convention. I often made use of several of its features like mixins, variables and more

  • Shadcn UI

    When it comes to UI Libraries, Shadcn UI is my favourite option and one that I have been using routinely for many applications. Shadcn UI's approach to theming served as inspiration for the system that I use on this website and in many other projects

  • Aceternity UI

    I explored some features of Aceternity UI as an alternative to Shadcn UI for fancy effects

  • Vuetify

    During one of my jobs, Vuetify was an important UI library to speed up development of components in some projects, so I used many of its components over time

  • Bootstrap CSS

    I have experimented with some components making use of Bootstrap for practice applications

  • Framer Motion

    I have used some features of Framer Motion to achieve smooth transition animations. Parts of this website use these concepts

JavaScript Ecosystem - State Management

  • Zustand

    I chose Zustand as my tool for Global State management and have since applied it in all my latest React applications

  • Jotai

    Jotai offers an interesting paradigm for global state management with the atoms approach, which is why I have used it in smaller React projects

Back-end

JavaScript Ecosystem

  • Node JS

    When it comes to Back-end development, my language of choice is also JavaScript and Node JS is my runtime of choice for that purpose, be it for standalone back-end applications or coupled in a Full-stack framework such as Next JS or Nuxt JS

  • TypeScript

    Typescript is currently a must in every application I create both in the front-end and the back-end for both personal and commercial projects, so all of my Node JS work uses it

  • Express JS

    Used Express JS to power some servers and routing with custom API's

  • Fastify JS

    Used Fastify JS to power some servers and routing with custom API's, including modules from its ecosystem like cookie, JWT, cors and swagger

  • Nest JS

    I have developed a practice project with Nest JS and understand some of the ways in which it organises code

  • Prisma JS

    I have employed Prisma JS and Prisma Studio as my main ORM in a few projects

  • Knex JS

    I have experimented using Knex as a Query Builder to power applications

  • Zod

    I often use Zod to validate data received in the request body of API routes, but also form data in the frontend

PHP Ecosystem

  • PHP

    I have used basic PHP for handling WordPress customisation and have studied how to use it with Laravel for basic APIs

  • Laravel

    I have created simple MVC applications using Laravel to handle developing simple APIs

Python Ecosystem

  • Python

    I worked on a few study projects with Python covering the fundamentals of the language

Databases

  • MongoDB

    MongoDB is a database I enjoy using occasionally for NoSQL databases, usually applying Mongoose as the ODM

  • PostgreSQL

    PostgreSQL is my tool of choice for SQL databases, so I have been experimenting with it on diverse projects, both with standalone uses with Docker or with Supabase as a PaaS

API Documentation

  • Swagger

    Swagger is my tool of choice for documenting API endpoints, and I have used it with Node JS, C# and Python

DevOps

  • Jenkins

    In a previous workplace, Jenkins was one of the main CI/CD tools used to deploy applications, which I routinely used to set up basic deployments following the company's standards

design

UI/UX

  • Figma

    I have worked with designers who use Figma for most of the web projects in a previous company. Moreover, I used the tool myself to create wireframes, mockups and design systems for many of my own projects

  • Sketch

    I have worked with designers who used Sketch for web projects and developed projects based on these

  • Whimsical

    I have used Whimsical several times to create UI elements, diagrams and Kanban boards for some projects

Graphic Design

  • Gimp

    I have edited images on Gimp to compose new images, add/remove elements and more

  • Adobe Photoshop

    While a member of the Marketing Department of a Junior Enterprise, I used Photoshop often to edit images for their social media, which involved things from colour correction to modifying images

  • Canvas

    I have experimented with Canvas to produce simple media assets

Video Editing

  • Davinci Resolve

    I have edited several videos with Davinci Resolve, from simple cuts to special effects using Fusion, including exclusive features from their premium version Davinci Resolve Studio

  • Adobe Premiere Pro

    Premiere Pro was the main video editing tool I used at a Junior Enterprise (JEEFEUC) to edit videos used on social media when I was part of its marketing and communication department

  • Adobe After Effects

    Used After Effects while doing work for a Junior Enterprise (JEEFEUC), creating simple custom animations for their social media posts

data analysis

Spreadsheets

  • Excel

    I started deepening my knowledge of Excel during my Master's degree in Business Management and it then became a tool I use routinely, including advanced concepts like formulas, charts and pivot tables

  • Google Sheets

    Google Sheets is my main choice of spreadsheet, being currently part of my daily life. I use it to log a range of personal data, manage daily workflows and tasks, manage my personal finance and more. I also use Google Scripts to automate some of the logging and reset values daily at the click of a button

  • Visual Basic for Applications

    I have used VBA for a few custom scripts which solved personal problems, mostly related to populating a table, setting values to specific cells and generating data derived from multiple cells

Statistics

  • IBM SPSS

    During my Master's Degree in Business Management, I have used SPSS regularly to perform many statistical analyses, such as Pearson correlation, linear regression and more.

  • Statistical analysis

    During my Master's Degree I have regularly used complex statistical analyses involving correlations, and regressions. Currently, I regularly use charts and simple statistics ofr a range of personal and commercial projects, either with Excel or via code

Databases

  • ER Diagrams

    I started doing ER Diagrams in my Master's Degrees at an Information Management class. Currently, I use it occasionally when planning cases of relational data for my projects which are a bit more complex

  • Microsoft Access

    I used Microsoft Access during my Master's Degree, learning how to fully create databases and diagrams for relational data

  • SQL

    I experienced using SQL Databases both assisted by software like Microsoft Access, platforms like Supabase, ORMs like Prisma or standalone queries with PostgreSQL

  • NoSQL

    I have built API's with NoSQL using MongoDB and Mongoose and also interacted with external DynamoDB databases

business management

Collaboration & Management

  • Notion

    I use Notion on a daily basis as a second brain (term by Thiago Forte) to manage most aspects of my life, from project management to travel planning. I heavily use their databases feature to structure data in a manner that's interconnected

  • Slack

    I have now used Slack in multiple companies as the main communication tool within the business for any purposes, making use of external integrations to increase productivity and the work experience

  • Jira

    Jira was the project management tool used by one of the companies where I have worked, applying agile methods to complete tasks in collaborative sprints

  • Monday.com

    Monday was the project management tool used by a company where I have worked at for a year, so I have experienced it regularly

Documental

  • Microsoft Word

    I have explored many of Microsoft Word's features over the years. As an academic, many papers required me to write dense article relying on proper formatting, which could be achieved effectively with specific features

  • Microsoft Outlook

    I have used Microsoft Outlook multiple times, both in personal and professional settings

  • Atlassian Confluence

    I used Confluence in a company setting for documenting code, features and processes within the company

Presentation

  • Microsoft PowerPoint

    My PowerPoint skills were greatly improved during my Master's Degree, when I specifically studied techniques to improve presentation quality. I have since used PowerPoint many times and became comfortable with many of its features

languages

Languages and Certifications

  • English

    Bilingual (TOEFL IBT 111 score 2018)

  • Portuguese

    Native

  • Spanish

    Advanced (DELE 2015 B2 certification)

  • German

    Intermediate (OnDAF 2016 B2 certification + Hochschulwinterkurs B2 score)

  • French

    Intermediate (French B1 course completed)

  • Italian

    Upper Beginner (A2 course completed)

  • Japanese

    Finished a 1-year course on fundamentals, can read/write Hiragana, Katakana, introductory Kanji and comprehend language fundamentals

achievements

Scholarships

  • Master Degree Scholarship in Portugal

    University of Coimbra, Portugal. After achieving 2nd place among all 11 Master's Degree Courses in the Faculty of Economics, I was awarded a full scholarship that covered all previous tuition fees for the 2 years at the University and more.

  • Full Winter scholarship in Germany

    Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Full Winter scholarship on German history, society and language - Hochschulwinterkurs 2017, awarded by the government of Germany, DAAD.

  • Full Summer scholarship in China

    Beijing University, China. Full summer course scholarship on Chinese society - Top China 2015 programme by Santander Universities.

Awards

  • Master's Degree - Graduated with Honors - 2nd Place of the Faculty of Economics

    University of Coimbra - 2020. I was awarded a prize and an honors graduation certificate for being among the top Master's Degree students at the University of Coimbra. I was the second student with the highest grades among all 11 Master's Degree Courses of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra.

  • Revelation Award

    Junior Enterprise of the Students of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra - 2019. Award given to members who have shown unique contributions and accomplishments during this academic year.

  • Academic Merit and Excellency Award

    Law Students' Academic Centre - 2016. The main student body responsible for matters regarding the nearly 1,000 Law Students at the University awarded me this prize for outstanding achievements throughout my course of study.

  • Top China programme - Best Presentations

    Chosen among best final group presentations at the Top China programme - 2015.

Accomplishments

  • Top Score in Master's Degree Dissertation

    Master's Degree dissertation on the topic of Data Literacy, graded Excellent - 2020.

  • Top Final Average Score in Master's Degree in Business Management

    Master's Degree in Management completed with a final average score of Excellent - University of Coimbra, Portugal, 2018-2020.

  • Highest Tier Score in Bachelor's Degree

    Bachelor's Degree in Law completed with a final score of 91%, placing in the highest tier of grades - Federal University of Pará, Brazil, 2013-2018.

  • Research Director at a Law Students' Association

    Selected as part of the board of directors for a student organization with over 80 members, leading several projects - LAJUPA, 2017-2018.

  • Class Representative

    Elected as class representative for most of my Bachelor's Degree - 2014-2018.

  • Director at the Students' Association of My Law University

    Chosen as part of the board of directors for the representative association of law students at my University - 2014-2015.

  • Increased Productivity of Administrative Tasks at a Law Court

    During my internship at the secretary's office of a Court of Justice, I suggested and implemented a design/management practice that increased the speed of locating lawsuit documents on shelves by 3 to 6 times - 2015.

  • Organized 14 Academic Events

    Participated in the organization of 14 academic events at various levels, from assisting with operations to full planning, contacting sponsors and lecturers, managing the team, mediating presentations, and administering ticket sales.

  • Coordinated Over 10 Study Groups Over 4 Years

    Appointed as group coordinator in various student groups, coordinating over 10 study groups over 4 years. Responsibilities included scheduling meetings with professors, liaising with the main academic institution, and reporting to them.

  • Over 10 Presentations at Conferences and Academic Events

    Presented research papers and delivered talks to university students and professors on various occasions during my Bachelor's Degree, discussing academic topics as well as sharing experiences about scholarships and unique opportunities obtained during my studies.