Best 17 Software Developers in the Philippines
Meet the top software developers from the Philippines, handpicked for their skills, innovation, and impact in the tech world. ↓
Explore the most outstanding and active software developers in the Philippines.
They include competitive programming champions, open-source innovators, startup founders who still code, influential tech content creators, and engineers at top global companies. Each person below has made remarkable contributions – from winning international contests to building communities and cutting-edge software – all while proudly representing Filipino talent in tech.
- Devlin Duldulao
- Rico Sta. Cruz
- Lanz Vincent Vencer
- Dean Michael Berris
- Stephanie Sy
- Tim Joseph Dumol
- Kevin Atienza
- Gabby Dizon
- Brian Chan
- Niel Dagondon
- Anne Aaron
- Marte Soliza
- Isabel Sieh
- Rem Lampa
- Albert Padin
- Calen Legaspi
- Dexter Ligot-Gordon
Now, let’s delve deeper into their remarkable contributions and careers:
Devlin Duldulao
Turbopack – Rust-based successor to Webpack.
Devlin is a Filipino software developer and tech evangelist based in Norway.
A polyglot coder and cloud expert, Devlin has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for Developer Technologies and an Auth0 Ambassador. He works as a Senior Consultant at Inmeta, where he builds full-stack applications and cloud solutions. Outside of work, Devlin is an active conference speaker and trainer – frequently presenting on Angular, .NET, and Azure at international tech events. He has also authored programming books and courses, sharing his knowledge globally.
Through his blogs and talks, Devlin champions modern best practices and often mentors new developers. His accomplishments abroad highlight the world-class expertise of Filipino developers in enterprise software and cloud computing.
- LinkedIn: Devlin Duldulao
- X (Twitter): @DevlinDuldulao
- GitHub: webmasterdevlin
- Website/Blog: devlinduldulao.pro
Rico Sta. Cruz
Rico is a prominent open-source developer known globally for his contributions to web development tools.
He is the creator of several hugely popular projects: the pnpm package manager, the DevHints cheat-sheet collection, and the NProgress progress bar library. These tools, each with tens of thousands of GitHub stars, have made developers’ lives easier worldwide. Rico has over 6k followers on GitHub and is revered in the community for his clean, well-documented code. Based in Manila, he also shares knowledge through his blog and speaking, embodying the Filipino spirit in open-source leadership.
- GitHub: rstacruz
- Website: ricostacruz.com
- X (Twitter): @rstacruz
Lanz Vincent Vencer
Lanz is a data science prodigy who has earned the rare title of Kaggle Double Grandmaster.
Competing on Kaggle (the premier platform for machine learning contests), he attained Grandmaster status in multiple categories – a feat achieved by only a handful of experts worldwide. Lanz has applied his skills as an AI/Machine Learning Engineer at fintech company Maya, all while continuing to top Kaggle leaderboards under aliases like “Gengar” and “Raijin”. He holds 7 AWS certifications and has authored award-winning AI solutions. Lanz’s success in global ML competitions highlights the Philippines’ emerging excellence in AI research and development.
- LinkedIn: Lanz Vincent Vencer
- Kaggle: lanzvencer (Raijin)
Dean Michael Berris
Dean is a seasoned software architect and open-source contributor who spent a decade at Google and now leads projects at Microsoft.
He is best known as the founder of the Cpp-Netlib project and a contributor to the Boost C++ Libraries, co-authoring the Boost.Asio networking library and others. A Filipino engineer from Tarlac, Dean was one of the first Google software engineers hired from the Philippines. His expertise in high-performance C++ networking earned him recognition in the C++ standards community. Today, as a Principal Engineer at Microsoft Azure, Dean continues to build robust distributed systems, while mentoring and blogging about modern software engineering.
- LinkedIn: Dean Michael Berris
- X (Twitter): @deanberris
- GitHub: deanberris
Stephanie Sy
Stephanie is a Filipina data scientist and entrepreneur making waves in AI.
She is the Founder and CEO of Thinking Machines, a data science startup based in Manila and Singapore that builds AI solutions for enterprise and social good. A Stanford alumna and former Google engineer, Stephanie was named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia for Enterprise Technology. Under her leadership, Thinking Machines grew to an 80+ person team tackling projects from climate data analysis to COVID-19 response analytics.
Stephanie is also a Google Developer Expert in machine learning, and a frequent speaker advocating for women in STEM. Her success demonstrates how homegrown talent can lead Asia’s AI revolution.
- LinkedIn: Stephanie Sy
- X (Twitter): @stefsy
- GitHub: stefsy
Tim Joseph Dumol
Tim is a full-stack engineer and competitive programmer who has played key roles in Filipino tech startups.
Tim was the Chief Software Engineer at Kalibrr, where he built the platform’s infrastructure from the ground up. A University of the Philippines graduate, he dominated local programming contests (winning the ICPC Philippines and placing top 10 in ICPC Jakarta Regionals). He also contributed to open-source math software (Sage) early in his career. Now a founding engineer at logistics AI startup Expedock, Tim designs scalable data systems. He remains active in the coding community, coaching and sharing tips with young coders. Tim’s blend of theoretical skill and practical startup experience makes him one of the country’s top developers.
- LinkedIn: Tim Dumol
- X (Twitter): @timdumol
- GitHub: TimDumol
- Website: timdumol.com
Kevin Atienza
Kevin is a competitive programming legend and one of the Philippines’ most celebrated coders.
A former Google Code Jam silver medalist (placing 2nd globally in 2016) and ICPC champion in Southeast Asia, Kevin has consistently ranked among the world’s top competitive programmers. He was also a founding software engineer of Kalibrr (a Philippine recruitment startup), where he applied his algorithmic expertise to real-world software. Kevin continues to inspire aspiring Filipino programmers through his contest wins and problem-setting activities, proving that local talent can compete on the world stage.
- GitHub: kcvajgf
Gabby Dizon
Gabby is a pioneer of the Philippine game development industry and now a leading figure in blockchain gaming.
With over 20 years in tech, Gabby co-founded Altitude Games in 2014, one of Southeast Asia’s first mobile game studios. He later co-founded Yield Guild Games (YGG) in 2020, the world’s largest play-to-earn gaming guild that invests in NFT games. Under Gabby’s leadership, YGG has built a global community that allows gamers (many in the Philippines) to earn income through blockchain games. Gabby is also known for evangelizing game development locally – he chaired the IGDA Manila chapter and mentored many young devs. As a Web3 entrepreneur and coder at heart, he continues to put the Philippines on the map in the metaverse era.
- LinkedIn: Gabby Dizon
- X (Twitter): @gabusch
- Website: Gabby D.
Brian Chan
Brian is the founder and chief architect of Liferay, one of the world’s leading open-source enterprise platforms.
A Filipino-Chinese software engineer, Brian started Liferay in 2000 as a passion project and grew it into a global company with 1000+ employees and 24 offices. Liferay Portal, under Brian’s technical leadership, became a popular Java-based portal system used by Fortune 500 firms for building intranets and digital experiences. Brian remains hands-on as Liferay’s Chief Software Architect, guiding its open-source community and product roadmap. His journey from being “last in his class” to a CEO/CTO of a major tech firm inspires many Filipino developers to dream big in tech entrepreneurship.
- LinkedIn: Brian Chan
- X (Twitter): @brianchandotcom
- GitHub: brianchandotcom
Niel Dagondon
Niel is often hailed as the pioneer of the Philippine game industry.
In 2001, at just 22, Niel founded Anino Games, the country’s first game development studio. He led Anino to create award-winning games (like the Anito series) and paved the way for the game dev community in Manila. After Anino was acquired, Niel ventured into education technology – co-founding CIIT College of Arts and Technology to train future developers, and launching Edusuite, an AI-powered school management platform. Despite moving into tech entrepreneurship and academia, Niel remains a programmer at heart, occasionally prototyping games and apps. His contributions over two decades – from entertainment software to ed-tech – have been instrumental in growing the Philippines’ software talent pool.
- LinkedIn: Niel Dagondon
Anne Aaron
Anne is a Filipina engineer recognized for her work in video streaming technology.
She is the Director of Video Algorithms at Netflix, where she leads the team optimizing Netflix’s video encoding and quality. Armed with a Stanford PhD in Electrical Engineering, Anne has authored influential research on distributed video coding. At Netflix, her innovations (like better compression for 4K and HDR content) helped the service stream to millions efficiently. Anne’s leadership earned her a spot in Forbes 50 Top Women in Tech. She frequently speaks about video engineering and women in STEM.
Anne’s story – from Philippine Science High School to Silicon Valley – showcases Filipino excellence in core tech research and development.
- LinkedIn: Anne Aaron
- X (Twitter): @AnneMargotAaron
Marte Soliza
Marte is a veteran software engineer known for his algorithmic skills and leadership in tech teams.
He was an ACM ICPC World Finals competitor in college and a multi-hackathon champion. Marte later co-founded Insync, a cloud storage application for Google Drive, where he served as CTO and helped scale the product to a global user base. He has also acted as CTO for startups (like Betterteam) and led engineering teams in building web and mobile applications. Marte remains active in the community by mentoring developers and participating in local coding competitions. He exemplifies how a “coding geek” can evolve into a successful tech leader.
- LinkedIn: Marte Soliza
- X (Twitter): @myrtactle
Isabel Sieh
Isabel is known as the Philippines’ youngest startup founder in tech.
At just 10 years old, Isabel taught herself programming and went on to start Girls Will Code, an organization encouraging young girls to learn to code. Now in her late teens, she has become a role model for youth in STEM – running coding workshops in schools and speaking at forums like TEDx. Isabel’s initiative has introduced hundreds of Filipina kids to coding through fun, inclusive activities. She has since interned as a software engineer at Waymo (Google’s self-driving car project), proving her skills on an international stage.
Isabel’s early achievements earned her recognition as a “STEM youth ambassador” and she continues to expand her company while pursuing higher education.
- LinkedIn: Isabel Sieh
Rem Lampa
Rem – popularly known as “Kuya Dev” – is a community leader and content creator in the Philippine developer scene.
Originally an electrical engineer, Rem transitioned into software development and now works as a lead JavaScript developer. He founded the “Tech Career Shifter Philippines” community and hosts the Kuya Dev Podcast, where he shares career tips for aspiring coders. Through blogs, YouTube videos, and a TEDx talk, Rem offers guidance to those learning programming or switching from other fields. He’s respected for candid advice and for championing self-taught developers.
As an active speaker and mentor, Kuya Dev has built an inclusive support network for Filipino programmers – living up to his moniker as the “big brother” of newbies in tech.
Albert Padin
Everything we are now is a reflection of what we are individually and as a company, to compare us with Google is actually a compliment, but no, we are not trying to be Google. We are trying to be Symph.
Albert is a Google Developer Expert (GDE) in Cloud and AI and the co-founder/CTO of Symph, a Cebu-based software development firm.
He was the first Filipino to be recognized as a GDE for Google Cloud Platform back in 2014. Under Albert’s technical leadership, Symph has built web and mobile solutions for clients worldwide. He’s a passionate tech community organizer – conducting free Google Cloud workshops to train developers, which is how he earned the GDE title. Albert has spoken internationally on topics like App Engine and TensorFlow, sharing his expertise in scalable architecture. As an active angel investor and mentor, he also helps local startups.
Albert exemplifies the homegrown talent from Cebu’s growing tech ecosystem, bridging Philippine innovation with the global stage.
- LinkedIn: Albert Padin
- X (Twitter): @albertpadin
Calen Legaspi
Calen is the co-founder and CEO of Orange & Bronze Software Labs (O&B), one of the Philippines’ leading software development firms specializing in Java and open-source technologies.
Since 2005, O&B has been a training ground for Filipino developers and a contributor to open-source projects. Calen is a longtime open-source advocate; he has served on the board of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) since 2008 and has pushed for using free/open-source software in enterprise. He also collaborates with academia (as a member of CHED’s technical committee for CS) to improve computer science education.
Through his leadership, Calen has helped raise the standards of software engineering and promote a culture of knowledge-sharing in the country.
- LinkedIn: Calen Legaspi
Dexter Ligot-Gordon
Dexter is a Filipino tech founder who has played pivotal roles in the startup scene.
He co-founded Kalibrr in 2012, which became the first Southeast Asian startup to be accepted into Y Combinator (Winter 2013). As Kalibrr’s Chief Product Officer, Dexter oversaw the development of its job-matching platform that has since helped hundreds of thousands find jobs. After Kalibrr, he founded Swarm, a platform connecting startups with freelance tech talent, where he is CEO. Dexter leverages his technical background and Silicon Valley experience to mentor early-stage founders on product strategy and growth.
He is also active in civic tech projects like Tayo, an information service he led the development of for the Filipino diaspora.
- LinkedIn: Dexter Ligot-Gordon
- X (Twitter): @dexmarksthespot
Wrap Up
These legends represent exceptional talent, making them extremely challenging to headhunt. However, there are thousands of other highly skilled IT professionals in the Philippines available to hire with our help. Contact us, and we will be happy to discuss your hiring needs.
Note: We’ve dedicated significant time and effort to creating and verifying this curated list of top talent. If you intend to share or make use of it in any way, we kindly ask that you include a backlink to the original source – EchoGlobal.
Tags: coders, developers, engineers, outsourcing, Philippines
Lou Reverchuk IT Entrepreneur