Elixir-first backend engineer
Anderson Espindola
I build backend systems with Elixir and Functional Programming, focusing on domain clarity, explicit effects, concurrency, and reliable production behavior.
- Elixir
- Functional Programming
- BEAM/OTP
- Distributed Systems
Primary stack
Elixir, BEAM, OTP
Engineering style
Functional, explicit, resilient
Background
Backend systems, SRE, cloud operations
About Me
I'm a senior software engineer with a background in backend services, distributed systems, cloud operations, and reliability work. My current direction is intentionally centered on Elixir and Functional Programming, bringing production discipline to software that needs to stay clear, scalable, and resilient over time.
What I Am Focused On
Today I am focused on backend architecture with Elixir, BEAM/OTP concepts, explicit data flows, immutable design, and functional boundaries between business logic and side effects. JavaScript and TypeScript remain part of my toolbox, but they are no longer the center of how I position my engineering work.
Experience
Software Engineer & SRE
May 16, 2024 - Present
Itau Unibanco
I work close to reliability, deployment flows, cloud operations, and the evolution of backend services in production. The role strengthened my engineering perspective around scalability, observability, operational discipline, and the behavior of critical systems under real-world load.
Software Engineer
May 3, 2021 - May 8, 2024
PicPay
I worked on backend services, GraphQL APIs, queue workers with Kafka, and data-intensive systems using Neo4j, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis. This period deepened my experience with distributed architecture, Docker, Kubernetes, legacy modernization, and the kind of operational complexity that naturally pushed me toward Elixir, OTP, and functional system design.
Education & Continuous Learning
Systems Analysis and Development
2024 - 2027
PUC MINAS
The current program reinforces software engineering fundamentals, architecture, backend design, and collaborative problem solving. It complements my professional path with more formal structure around systems thinking and engineering practice.
Systems Analysis and Development
2015 - 2017
Uninove
This earlier academic foundation helped shape my understanding of software construction, application structure, and the engineering discipline behind real-world systems.
Outside formal education, I am continuously deepening my study of Elixir, Functional Programming, and BEAM/OTP through hands-on implementation, architecture research, and production-oriented system thinking.
Skills & Technologies
Primary Language
Elixir
Additional Languages
JavaScript
TypeScript
Python
Rust
C#
Haskell
Runtime & Architecture
BEAM/OTP
Phoenix
Node.js Services
Distributed Systems
Event-Driven Design
Data & Messaging
PostgreSQL
MySQL
MongoDB
Redis
Neo4j
Kafka
RabbitMQ
Platform & DevOps
Docker
Kubernetes
AWS
CI/CD
Observability
SRE Practices
Tooling
Git
Neovim
Tmux
Fish Shell
Books
Books that shape how I think about backend architecture, functional design, resilience, and explicit system behavior.
Functional Thinking
Grokking Simplicity: Taming Complex Software with Functional Thinking
Eric Normand
A practical book for simplifying software design through explicit data flow, pure transformations, and a more disciplined functional mindset.
Elixir & FP
Learn Functional Programming with Elixir: New Foundations for a New World
Ulisses Almeida
A practical path into functional programming with Elixir, centered on immutable data, composition, and clearer business-oriented code.
Elixir
Elixir in Action
Sasa Juric
Practical Elixir foundations with a strong emphasis on maintainability, process modeling, and real application structure.
Distributed Systems
Designing Data-Intensive Applications
Martin Kleppmann
A solid reference for consistency tradeoffs, data flow, and architecture decisions in systems that need to scale cleanly.
Functional Design
Domain Modeling Made Functional
Scott Wlaschin
A strong guide for turning business rules into explicit types, pure functions, and clearer boundaries across a codebase.
Networking & BEAM
Network Programming in Elixir and Erlang
Andrea Leopardi
A strong reference for network-oriented systems on the BEAM, covering protocols, sockets, and the kind of distributed communication patterns that matter in production backends.
BEAM/OTP
Designing Elixir Systems with OTP
James Edward Gray II & Bruce Tate
Useful for building a deeper mental model around supervision, concurrency, fault tolerance, and resilient services.