Diel Duarte is a software engineer with 13+ years of experience building web applications and SDKs. He specializes in developer experience, focusing on API design that prioritizes clean ergonomics. He believes the best APIs are the ones that simply get out of the way, allowing developers to focus on building.

More about Diel

How did you get into software?

It started with a childhood dream of becoming a musician, but my father was quite worried, as it is a difficult profession to pursue. So we agreed on I would first find a more stable career, and then I could invest in music.

I attended a technical school called Cotemig, where I learned how to program and studied the basics of computers. I had so much fun! I felt in love with programming, it was so interesting to understand how computers work, and from there, it was a natural path to follow. I still play instruments as a hobby, but I cannot imagine my life without computers.

What does your desktop/home screen look like?

Why are you at Resend?

I’ve been following Resend since the early days, and I'm a user myself, and even before Resend, following Zeno’s work in the open source world. Resend has become one of my biggest references for DX and Craft, the results speak for themselves.

During the interviews, it was another big surprise, I was surprised how human the whole process and the team were, I felt welcomed since the beginning, and I felt like people really wanted to know me and not just what I can produce, I could finally understood why the team ships that much quality work, because it is really about working with people you respect and want to stay together.

Where do you find #inspiration?

I find inspiration by intentionally consuming a lot of content and experimenting with different ideas, new languages and new APIs.

A few years ago, I recreated my Twitter account after an RSS reader I used to love shut down. I intentionally started following people who were creating and sharing on the platform, and it worked quite well. It’s pretty much a live news feed with lots of great ideas being shared and discussed. I intentionally block out everything else there.

I also spend quite some time navigating through Dribbble and Pinterest, and I’m fortunate enough to be surrounded by great friends who are creators themselves, so I’m always learning and discussing random ideas with them.

If you weren't programming, what would you be doing?

You guessed it right, probably a musician. However, over the years, I have also become quite interested in interior design. I love planning which room to renovate next or designing my home office layout. I spend hours on Pinterest, perhaps there is something there for me.

Favorite tool?

Warp terminal! Any tool capable of moving me out of Iterm2 after so many years deserves praise. Warp leveled up the game for terminals, it has a great DX, it's fast, it just works, and it did what was previously considered impossible DX improvements.

Favorite hotkey?

Cmd + space to open my warp terminal on top of any application.

Favorite place to visit?

My first time in Japan was incredibly special. I visited to celebrate my 30th birthday, a place I had always dreamed of seeing for its food and culture. Surprisingly, it was also a very emotional experience, I suppose turning 30 really makes you reflect on a lot of things. I can't wait to go back!

Advice for ambitious software engineers?

Experiment with everything if you can, learn what makes you happy and gives you the most pleasure, double down on it. Repeat.