MK/CASTRO

Mike Castro — Full Stack Developer & Technical Leader

The full story

Full-stack developer, systems architect, three-time CTO. Ten years across fintech, enterprise SaaS, and consumer platforms — this is the person behind the shipping record.

Mike Castro profile photo

Metro Manila, Philippines

Who I am

Depth, not just breadth

I am a seasoned full-stack developer and systems architect with CTO-level experience leading complex projects across fintech, enterprise SaaS, and consumer platforms. I have designed and built high-performance APIs handling 300+ concurrent requests per second with sub-200ms response times, processing tens of thousands of events daily. My infrastructure work includes executing 100+ zero-downtime deployments, achieving PCI DSS and BSP regulatory compliance, and managing teams of up to 12 developers. I combine deep technical expertise in event-driven architectures, PostgreSQL, Redis, and AWS with strong business acumen—I understand stakeholder needs, not just code.

I have hired and trained developers, led technical workshops, and built engineering cultures focused on quality and delivery. I have revived abandoned platforms (doubling traffic post-relaunch), fixed critical production bugs causing revenue loss, and modernized legacy systems from Laravel 4.2 to 10. My experience spans the full spectrum from startup MVPs to enterprise platforms serving dozens of corporations. I bring depth across the full stack plus DevOps—not just breadth—and consistently deliver scalable, resilient systems that drive real business impact.

Get in touchView resume
/01

What I do best

Six fronts, one standard — everything ships, everything survives.

/01

Full-Stack Development

  • Architecting and implementing complete systems using Laravel, Node.js, React, Vue.js, and Next.js
  • Building modular frontend components with TypeScript, TailwindCSS, and modern state management
  • Designing scalable backends with clean domain separation and consistent API conventions

/02

Backend & Database Engineering

  • Building and maintaining database schemas using PostgreSQL and MySQL
  • Optimizing data flows, indexes, and migrations in performance-critical applications
  • Creating high-performance REST APIs with measurable response times

/03

DevOps & Cloud Infrastructure

  • Deploying and managing cloud infrastructure across AWS, DigitalOcean, and Linode
  • Building CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions and Bitbucket Pipelines
  • Containerizing applications with Docker for streamlined deployments

/04

Systems Architecture

  • Designing scalable, cloud-native platforms across fintech, marketing, and enterprise SaaS
  • Modernizing legacy systems while maintaining stability and reducing regression risk
  • Building event-driven architectures with pub/sub patterns and background workers

/05

Testing & Code Quality

  • Writing tests with PHPUnit, Pest, Jest, and Cypress following TDD practices
  • Enforcing code quality through static analysis, SOLID principles, and code reviews
  • Improving test performance and coverage across unit, feature, and E2E tests

/06

Leadership & Team Management

  • Leading engineering teams of up to 12 developers with CTO-level responsibilities
  • Hiring, onboarding, and training developers through tech workshops and best practices sessions
  • Managing project scope, timelines, and stakeholder communication across time zones
  • Translating complex business requirements into clear architectural decisions
/02

Philosophy

I believe great software is:

Understandable before it is clever

Observable before it is optimized

Simple in the best possible way

Great software is straightforward, easy to extend, and hard to break.

/03

Off the clock

When I'm not building systems, I'm very much still tinkering.

Working on cars — especially preparing them for long road trips, or simply tuning and improving them for the joy of it

Playing video games as both relaxation and inspiration for good UX, systems design, and balance

Taking care of my pets, who provide daily reminders that maintenance, patience, and consistency matter — in life and in code

The bottom line

Built to last

I thrive in environments where technical excellence meets real business impact. I'm at my best when solving hard problems, cleaning up messy systems, and leaving things significantly better than I found them. I build software that lasts — and I do it with intention, taste, and spine.

Say the wordSee the work