DEV Community: Ricardo Jorge

How I delivered 2 MVPs in 30 Days

Ricardo Jorge — Wed, 21 May 2025 10:42:41 +0000

In 30 days I’ve delivered 2 projects to my customers as a solo developer, taking an average of 2 weeks per project.

Shipping SaaS has never been so swift, let me tell you my secret…

I don’t use agile methodologies, I don’t write tests, and I certainly don’t bloat my calendar with calls.

So how do I work?

I mastered a tech stack and leverage AI to build on top of it.
I rely on fast iterative feedback loops and customer acceptance.
I use my 10+ years of SWE experience to avoid all the pitfalls and drive straight to the solution.

And what exactly did I build?

The first project was an MVP for an up and coming GenAI startup in the medical field.
A responsive dashboard equipped with auth pages (login and multiple kinds of registration), dynamic sidebar for navigation, user settings and team management pages, pipeline trackers, data vizualization components, data tables and file managers.

The second project was production ready app for one of my year long partners in the cyber security field.
A new API documentation platform built on top of OpenAPI with a modern UI and a powerful search engine.
I took the raw openapi.json and enriched it with additional metadata and then used it to build a new UI that was more user friendly and intuitive than Swagger, on top of extra features and bespoke requirements.

Here’s the tech stack that I used:

TypeScript: Essential type safety and autocomplete
React 19: Quality of life of the new React Compiler
Next.js 15: Most improved version of the app router available
Tailwind CSS: With class variables for app wide theming
Shadcn UI: Main component library for modern UI
HTML + CSS + JS: The prerequisite knowledge for these frameworks
Biome.js: Lightweight linter and formatter all in one
semantic-release: Version control and changelog generation
Playwright: TS first e2e testing framework
GitHub Actions: CI/CD workflows
Vercel: Hosting, analytics, logs, insights.

Here are the goals for every single codebase that I build:

Clean codebase
Minimalistic tech stack
Low complexity code
Easy to maintain
Pleasant to work
High quality of life and developer experience
High leverage (AI, Ecosystem, StackOverflow)

Inline with the minimalistic approach I keep the system overhead to a minimum and compatibility to a maximum — no fancy runtimes or package managers, just the LTS Node.js / NPM.
No husky, no storybook, no monorepo. No unnecessary dependency management headaches. No unnecessary technical overhead.

If you are a startup founder looking to ship your MVP in a couple of weeks reach out to me directly or through my website and we will make it happen.

I deliver my project’s source code packaged with instructions on how to deploy, enable analytics, and hook release logs to your Slack.

The objectively best tech stack for your startup

Ricardo Jorge — Tue, 20 May 2025 15:14:55 +0000

Hey there fellow Startup Founder, are you looking to build a SaaS product but have no idea which tech stack you should go for? I got you covered!

The objectively “best” framework for your SaaS product in 2025 is without a doubt Next.js by Vercel.
This is not an opinion, this is not a recommendation, and this is not a sponsor (I wish). This is the highest leverage tool available to developers and you are doing yourself a disservice if you’re not using it.

“Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world” — Archimedes

What do I mean by “highest leverage”?

Great Documentation
Amazing Community
High Quality of Life
Top Performance
Best Developer Experience
Easy to Maintain
Pleasant to Work With
Low Barrier of Entry
High Skill Ceiling
Entire React.js Ecosystem
All the StackOverflow answers you need
And last but not least, AI code tools excel at it

“Cool, Next.js, got it! What else should I use?” — I’m glad you asked!

Here’s the full tech stack that I use and recommend for any new SaaS product:

TypeScript: Essential type safety and autocomplete
React 19: Quality of life of the new React Compiler
Next.js 15: Most improved version of the app router available
Tailwind CSS: With class variables for app wide theming
Shadcn UI: Main component library for modern UI
HTML + CSS + JS: The prerequisite knowledge for these frameworks
Biome.js: Lightweight linter and formatter all in one
semantic-release: Version control and changelog generation
Playwright: TS first e2e testing framework
GitHub Actions: CI/CD workflows
Clerk: Auth and user management
Stripe: Payment processing
Vercel: Hosting, storage, analytics, logs, insights.

That’s everything you could possibly need to build any kind of software in 2025 for free.

I never really liked the term “10x engineer”, here's a better term

Ricardo Jorge — Sun, 18 May 2025 12:06:11 +0000

I never really liked the term “10x engineer” for many reasons:

It’s more of a buzzword than a real thing
It doesn’t really measure growth or success
It’s thrown around way too much for it to be true in every case
I’ve never met a true “10x engineer” that called himself as such

There are people that write legendary code, avoid meetings, and outperform entire teams? Yes, but I prefer the term “Self Guided Missile”. You point them at a target and they figure out how to hit it on their own, no micro-management needed.

That’s why these people avoid meetings and dodge calls, they would rather keep their flow state, finish their task independently, and direct report when they’re done. (Definitely talking from personal experience here)

Excellent people select their goal and reach it independently
Strong people need to be shown the goal and reach it themselves
Average people need weekly guidance to reach goals
Below average people often don’t reach goals even with constant guidance

If you’re a startup founder looking to build your MVP quick and get to market fast, you don’t need a round of investment to hire a team of below average senior engineers. You need to partner with a single “Self Guided Missile” that can ship your product while you focus on the business and sales.

Yes the current job hunting landscape is a mess, here’s how you can play around it

Ricardo Jorge — Sat, 17 May 2025 20:44:58 +0000

First let me say that the reason I’m writing this is because I’ve read many posts of people struggling with the current job market, and I feel you. I just went through what you’re going through and I want to help you. I’m not preaching from an ivory tower and I’m not a guru selling you a service.

I applied for 500+ on LinkedIn and some other boards only to get the same automated rejection message over and over again.

Step 1 — Leave your ego behind, understand these were not actual people that misjudged you, and that it’s not a measure of your worth. If you know you’re good, you can’t let some bot email bring you down in any way.

That’s what 90% of these are, bot emails from automated rejections, many of them “powered by AI” that just checks some flags against some specifications. And if you’ve been around the block you know how bad hiring requirements are at reflecting the actual job / negotiable conditions.

From those 500+ applications I caught <5 interviews (which all of them were positive) in the first week, and some more opportunities trickled in eventually (which was just too late for me to even consider at that point).

Side-note for employers: I understand that you’re being flooded with hundreds of applications everyday, but that problem is for you to solve. If you’re gonna take weeks to even schedule the intro call you’re only gonna get the bottom of the barrel. Good talent won’t be available for long.

And even though they won’t say it, I could tell the main reason for being rejected was Salary Expectation. And that is just an uncomfortable truth you’re gonna have to deal with, the market and the economy are not the same as they were in 2021–2023. People are being laid off left and right, companies can’t grow, founders can’t raise, and AI is taking over.

If you’re looking for a job because you need the money my best advice for you is to start that side-gig you always wanted for some extra change, and look for a healthy work environment even if it pays less that what you’re used to.

I’ve read many posts about people struggling to pay their bills and support their families, I know how much that sucks in the short run. But your wellbeing is more valuable than cash, and will allow you to keep going in the long run. We will leave this discussion on the economy for another day.

So how do you find a healthy work environment? Through other people, not through applications and job boards. Ask your peers how they feel about working on their current company and ask for referrals.

Cold DM the CEOs, CTOs, Eng Leaders of the companies you applied for with a positive message and a direct link to your portfolio or some work you did that can immediately reflect your worth. Most will want to hire you even without looking at your CV, and sometimes even without a technical task. If they can’t hire you, they will gladly to refer you to someone who will.

In some ways it has never been easier to find a good job like this, it’s so rare for people to take this approach and you will skip hundreds of other applicants just by having the balls to do it.

That’s how I’ve been doing it 10+ years, and that’s how I did it just this month. As soon as I found a good fit everything clicked in place. It took less than 3 days for the entire hiring process, everything felt right, natural, and genuine. And I wish the same for you.

Now let’s talk recruitment / consulting / outsourcing / nearshore companies. They are still a reliable alternative and you should be opening up processes with them even if you don’t expect to close.

It will give you a better perspective of the current landscape, in terms of salaries, tech, or projects available. They usually also have plenty of benefits to compensate for the lower gross salary and will keep you warm for the “real” interviews.

We could call all of this “outbound marketing” but instead of selling a product, you’re hunting for a job. But ask any marketer and they will tell you that the best leads are inbound, so also take the time to start creating some for yourself.

Create a personal brand TODAY, launch a website where people can contact you directly TODAY, and everything else you do you will post about it online TODAY.

That side-gig I mentioned earlier -> build it in public

That code you wrote to learn a new framework -> open source it

That idea that has been in your head for a long time -> publish it

You need to get a snowball rolling, and you have to do it sooner rather than later. It probably won’t help you find a job today but I promise it will help to never be in the same position you are today ever again.