Education infrastructure · Portugal · 2020–21
42 Lisboa
I helped turn Portugal’s first 42 campus from a network blueprint into a working school, building the Rails tools, access controls, candidate journey, and launch operations behind its first cohorts.
The challenge
Turn a proven network model into a working Portuguese campus before the first candidates arrived.
42 does not run like a conventional school: there are no lectures, teachers, or fixed timetable. Even so, the campus needed applications, check-ins, Piscine selection, access, peer evaluation, staff permissions, and support to work as one coherent journey. Lisboa also had to stay compatible with the wider 42 Network before a launch date that could not move.
How it worked
Network stack, localized
I adapted the 42 Network’s Rails-based student and campus tools for Lisboa, including authentication, administration, staff workflows, and the connections needed to run them locally.
Candidate-to-student journey
I built and supported the path from application and check-in through Piscine onboarding and daily student life, so candidates and staff could see each person’s status and next step.
Permissions for a live campus
I implemented role-based access control across the campus management system so candidates, students, administrators, volunteers, and support staff could use the same operational platform with appropriate permissions.
Operations as product feedback
I stayed close to daily student management, volunteer coordination, and technical support during launch. Repeated friction in the building became direct input for software and workflow fixes rather than a separate support backlog.
My role
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01
Owned the technical setup from the 42 Network handoff through the first live cohorts, rather than contributing one isolated feature.
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02
Built and maintained the Rails-based candidate, student, staff, authentication, and administrative tooling required to operate the Lisbon campus.
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03
Designed onboarding and check-in workflows around the real applicant journey, then supported them through the first Piscines.
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04
Ran launch operations alongside the software: daily student management, volunteer coordination, platform support, and the fixes surfaced by live campus use.
What changed
From an unlaunched campus to two live intakes, more than 300 students, and an initial 20,000 online applicants.
The result was a working campus, not just a launch website. Contemporary reporting announced a first 150-student programme for February 2021. By January 2022, 42 Network reported that Lisboa had completed two intakes, grown beyond 300 students, and handled an initial wave of 20,000 online applicants. Those are school-level outcomes; my responsibility was the technology and day-to-day operations that helped the founding team turn that demand into a live campus.
- The Portuguese campus moved from setup into its first 150-student programme in February 2021.
- Within its first year, 42 Lisboa had run two intakes and grown to more than 300 students after an initial 20,000 online applicants.
- Applications, permissions, onboarding, campus operations, and technical support were connected into one launch system that could improve under live cohort pressure.
Tools and technologies
Sources