Chapter 1 · Opening
Hello — I’m Marco Macarena.
Most people shorten the name; the full one is Marco Aurélio de Araújo Silva. I’m a senior full-stack engineer who has spent years turning vague goals into software people actually use — often where teaching, product, and backend meet.
This page is a walk through that path: where I come from, what I’ve built with teams and clients, and the stack I reach for when it’s time to ship. Scroll (or use the numbers) to move between scenes — the page stays still; the story moves.
Chapter 2 · Roots
São Paulo, pedagogy, and curiosity
I’m based in São Paulo, Brazil. Before engineering was the day job, I studied Pedagogy at the University of São Paulo (USP) — a lens I still use when explaining systems, writing docs, or designing for learners.
That mix — classroom thinking plus builder habits — shows up in how I work with stakeholders, in e-learning platforms like Moodle, and in products where clarity matters as much as code. I care about the story users tell themselves when they open a screen, not only the schema behind it.
Chapter 3 · Thread
ImagineAgeTV and the long middle
For most of the 2010s I was at ImagineAgeTV — wearing both project manager and full-stack developer hats. The work was operational software, websites, Moodle plugins, and Django REST Framework APIs documented end to end.
Alongside that chapter I taught programming and robotics at MadCode / Cel.Lep, and I’ve freelanced since 2002 across PHP, Python, WordPress, Django, and Moodle — a thread of small teams, client trust, and shipping under constraint.
Chapter 4 · Hook
Press Hook — product at pace
Since 2022 I’ve been Senior Full-Stack / Lead Engineer at Press Hook, building features for an AI-driven media relations product with Django, DRF, and React, running in Docker on Google Cloud.
It’s the chapter where refactor and performance sit next to greenfield work — keeping the product legible for the team while users see a calm surface. The logo above is a stand-in until a brand asset lives here; the narrative is the real anchor.
Chapter 5 · Craft
What I reach for
Languages and frameworks are instruments. Lately the melody is Python, Django, DRF, JavaScript, and React — with Vue and PHP in the repertoire.
Delivery also means HTML and CSS, WordPress and Moodle, Docker, Git, and cloud targets such as Google Cloud. The illustration is a boilerplate; the list below is the honest inventory.
Chapter 6 · Gallery
Scenes from the work
Three postcards from the same practice — product, institutional depth, and freelance continuity.
- Press Hook — AI-assisted media relations: features and refactors in Django and React, containers on Google Cloud.
- ImagineAgeTV — in-house PM and dev: finance and project tools, e-learning delivery, WordPress, Moodle plugins, documented DRF APIs.
- Freelance — since 2002, client web apps across PHP and Python, WordPress, Django, and Moodle deployments.
Chapter 7 · Echo
If this resonated
I’m open to senior full-stack or backend-leaning roles, contract work, and collaborations in edtech or product teams — remote or hybrid in São Paulo. Native Portuguese; fluent English.