/now

Now

What I'm actively focused on right now — work, learning, and who I'm looking to talk to.

Last updated May 5, 2026 · Panama City, Panama

Day job

Working on

Operating the secure-message orchestrator I shipped at Telered (Sept 2025 → Jan 2026) — a Java + AWS service that brokers card-payment messages between issuers, our SVBankCore core-banking system, and IDEMIA card-personalization. We don't store or generate card tokens — staying out of PCI-DSS vault scope was a hard requirement; the orchestrator just keeps every message authenticated, encrypted in flight, and integrity-checked end to end.
Architecting OurMemories — a personal mobile app (iOS + Android) with a web companion planned to follow WhatsApp's web-companion pattern. Watching ourmemories.app for its November 2026 drop window; ourmemories.io is the fallback.
Iterating on this site (isaacvidal.dev) — soft-launched April 30, 2026. Currently doing a content truth-pass on the deeper project posts and writing a meta post about the build.

Reading list

AWS Cloud Solutions Architect Specialization (Coursera) — Specialization track complete, currently absorbing the architecture patterns into actual work.
Containers & Kubernetes Essentials (IBM via Coursera + Credly badge) — done. Next: hands-on with EKS now that the foundations are in place.
Microsoft Project Management, Google Project Management, Xbox Product Management — three parallel certifications in progress, all Coursera, all on weekends.
Self-Driving Cars Specialization (University of Toronto, Coursera) — pace project. Not for work, just for the joy of the math.

Job hunt

Senior backend, applications architect, or cloud engineering roles — full-time or contract.
Open to remote, hybrid, or relocation. US, Spain, and LatAm tech hubs are top of mind.
Especially interested in payments, fintech, platform teams, or anywhere the work involves bridging legacy systems into cloud-native architectures.
Visa sponsorship welcome but not a deal-breaker.