01 / Build
@elgorditosalsero
Guido PorcaroEngineer& salsaDancer
Staff Software Engineer at Zendesk, where I have led three teams and now operate as a Group Tech Lead.
Eleven years in, and about as long on the dancefloor behind a set of congas.
Both taught me the same lesson about timing.
Two rooms.
One instinct.
In a band you don't play over the rhythm section.
You listen for a full bar, find the hole, and then you play.
It turns out that is also how you join a codebase, and how you join a team.
Read the room,
02 / Play
Hear the bar,
then hit.
01 / Engineer
What I've led
Zendesk
Staff Software Engineer · Group Tech Lead · Remote
- 4y 8m
- Counted live
- 3
- Teams led
Tech and Team Lead of three different teams at Zendesk.
Right now I am working on our next Agentic Analytics product.
Today I operate as a Group Tech Lead.
- Since Mar 2024Staff Software EngineerTech lead, Vega
- Dec 2021 to Mar 2024Senior Front-End EngineerTech lead, Stardust and Regulus
- Before thatSenior Front-End EngineerAt previous companies
How I work
Listen for a bar
I read the codebase and the team before I change anything.
Most bad code is a reasonable decision I have not understood yet.
Say it early
Progress, problems and bad news travel at the same speed.
Trust comes from the third one arriving on time.
Match the model to the task
I work with AI every day and switch between the players depending on the job.
Anthropic, OpenAI, z.ai, Moonshot and xAI.
Knowing when not to reach for one is part of it.
Alongside all of it I coach and mentor junior engineers, and I run technical interviews.
Watching someone go from asking permission to making the call is the reason I stayed in this industry.
02 / Dancer
What I play
Scan it, or tap to open on InstagramSalsa isn't a hobby I fit around the week.
It is the other half of it.
I dance it, and I play the percussion underneath it.
Congas. The part of the band you feel before you hear.
Campana. The bell that tells the floor the chorus arrived.
Clave. Five strokes everything else has to agree with.
And when neither the desk nor the floor will do, there's a motorbike and an open road. That one needs no explaining.
Building something?
Let's talk.
That's the main thing I'm here for.
And if you're earlier in your career and want an hour of someone's honest opinion, that door is open too.