Hi, I'm Hugo Soares▍
Six years across learning platforms — now building and running my own private AI stack.
hugo@vesta:~$ apply a constraint, watch the system react
A bit about me
Developer. Problem solver. Always learning.
I've spent the last six years building and running software for learning — from the University of Warwick's VLE to the platforms at TES and Chichester. The day-to-day is PHP, Python and Docker: keeping large systems up, making them faster, and quietly removing pain from the processes people use every day.
Outside of work I run my own private AI stack: one home server, several quantised models, no cloud. It's where I learn what agentic workflows actually look like when you own the whole stack — and when I'm not debugging inference, I'm playing guitar or out for a run.
- ›Running private LLM stacks
- ›Agentic workflows and MCP tooling
- ›Learning platform architecture
Git archaeology
A timeline of my career — each role a commit, each decision a change.
Leading the technical management and enhancement of the University's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), including Moodle and the Lecture Capture System (Echo360), along with digital learning tools such as Mahara ePortfolio. Specialising in developing and integrating these platforms, troubleshooting issues, and collaborating with internal stakeholders and external vendors to deliver a seamless, robust service.
Development and maintenance of core software solutions using PHP for Moodle and Totara. Streamlined backend database operations with PostgreSQL. Played a crucial role in major version upgrades and custom theme design for Totara.
Lead developer responsible for developing custom plugins for Moodle, whilst maintaining microservices and other University applications.
Developing microservices and working alongside a senior developer. Helped maintain Moodle and other larger services for the University.
Academic background
Where it all started.
What I work with
Tools and technologies I use every day.
System architecture
Select a component to explore related skills and experience.
Select a component above to see related skills and experience.
The stack behind this site
No cloud, no managed service. This site was drafted and shipped on the stack below.
5900X · 128 GB · RTX 3090 + 3060
Qwen3.8 27B (int4, 150k context) at ~115 tok/s — the model that helped build this site lives here.
github.com/hugoacfs/vesta-harness
The agent loop that drafted this site — long-running sessions, scheduled routines, and Telegram pings for finished turns. Built as additive packages, so upstream stays in sync.
Let's connect
Interested in working together, or just want to say hello? I'm always open to interesting conversations.