Pawel Borkowski, Developer in London, United Kingdom
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Pawel Borkowski

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Architecture Developer

London, United Kingdom

Toptal member since September 25, 2020

Bio

Pawel's specialty is growing complex web and mobile apps from scratch to feature-rich products that are a joy to use. He does this by leading small yet highly impactful teams and as an individual contributor. Over the past decade, Pawel has worked with companies ranging from startups and game development studios to FTSE 100 corporations. Broad exposure to seemingly unrelated industries allows Pawel to identify useful patterns quickly and find connections that are not immediately obvious.

Portfolio

flat.social
JavaScript, TypeScript, Next.js, HTML5, HTML Canvas, Firebase, React...
Shell
Express.js, Node.js, React, Next.js, TypeScript, CI/CD Pipelines, UX Design...
Newcross Healthcare Solutions
JavaScript, Redux, React Native, React, UX Design, React Redux, HTML, Git, CSS...

Experience

  • JavaScript - 8 years
  • Node.js - 7 years
  • Architecture - 6 years
  • Technical Leadership - 4 years
  • React - 4 years
  • Software Architecture - 3 years
  • Next.js - 3 years
  • TypeScript - 2 years

Availability

Full-time

Preferred Environment

Screen.so, Trello, Jira, Sketch, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Google Hangouts, Git, Slack, MacOS

The most amazing...

...thing I've developed recently is a side-project experimental app that allows users to set up video conferences in a 2D world governed by server-side physics.

Work Experience

Technical Founder

2021 - PRESENT
flat.social
  • Invented and architected an audio and video virtual meeting platform used by over 35,000 people, including teams from companies like Walmart, Google, GitHub, and Ford.
  • Developed the core solution from scratch to a fully functional and feature-rich platform through multiple iterations with a group of beta users and early adopters.
  • Built a back-end instance that allows for highly-optimized spatial audio and video conferencing within a game-like environment and can support large meetings and virtual events at a low cost.
  • Created a performant video-meeting rendering view using PixiJS and HTML5 canvas that achieves 60fps on a majority of devices while mixing game-like interactivity with collaboration and video-meeting functionality.
  • Built static website components using Next.js, React, and styled-components. Optimized the pages for SEO.
  • Integrated online payments via Stripe for monthly subscriptions and one-off payments.
  • Built a highly granular access-control system that allows for the management of large virtual events with multiple user roles.
Technologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, Next.js, HTML5, HTML Canvas, Firebase, React, Express.js, Node.js, Optimization, Game Development, Video Streaming, WebRTC, Audio Streaming, Video Conferencing, Game Physics, Algorithms, Sockets, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Blender, Stripe, Chrome Developer Tools, Styled-components, Page Speed Optimization, User Interface (UI), User Interviews, Mediasoup, Software Architecture, WebGL, Full-stack Development, Architecture, REST, Web Development, MySQL, Technical Leadership, Front-end, Solution Architecture

Teach Lead and Senior Software Engineer (Contract)

2018 - 2021
Shell
  • Led and architected a mobile app and legacy integration project that impacted the existing process with a 3.1x improvement. Built back-end services from scratch that handled integrations, push notifications, and REST APIs.
  • Rapidly developed MVPs of web applications for multiple business branches, using React, Node.js, REST, GraphQL, and CosmosDB, along with native mobile solutions, using Swift.
  • Set up CI/CD and deployments to Kubernetes clusters hosted in Azure, using Docker, Helm, and CircleCI.
  • Took an active role in interviewing developers and data scientists.
Technologies: Express.js, Node.js, React, Next.js, TypeScript, CI/CD Pipelines, UX Design, REST APIs, Full-stack, Product Leadership, React Redux, HTML, Back-end, Git, CSS, Jest, GitHub, Software Architecture, API Development, APIs, Architecture, MVP Design, Leadership, HTML5, Software Engineering, Full-stack Development, Figma, Visualization, Dashboards, Enterprise Architecture, Azure, REST, Web Development, GraphQL, MySQL, Technical Leadership, Agile, API Integration, Front-end, Mobile Development, Solution Architecture, Python

Senior Software Engineer (Contract)

2017 - 2017
Newcross Healthcare Solutions
  • Built a mobile app that allowed Newcross staff to move from multiple paper-based processes to a single digital process. It was built using React Native and Redux.
  • Ensured a high test coverage for the solution using Jest and Enzyme.
  • Integrated analytics that provided clarity on how the app was used.
Technologies: JavaScript, Redux, React Native, React, UX Design, React Redux, HTML, Git, CSS, Jest, GitHub, HTML5, Software Engineering, Full-stack Development, REST, Web Development, Agile, API Integration, Front-end, Mobile Development

Senior Software Engineer (Contract)

2016 - 2017
Barchick Concierge
  • Led the development and distribution of Barchick's native iOS app (Swift), used by 3,000 passionate users. The main features were a chat/concierge, curated content, and "near me" functionality.
  • Developed a custom, internal business data metrics system and tools for managing app content.
  • Built core features for chat messaging (Docker, Node.js, and Firebase) and a web admin interface (React).
Technologies: PostgreSQL, React Native, React, Firebase, Node.js, Docker, Core Data, UIKit, Swift, UX Design, Full-stack, HTML, Back-end, Git, CSS, GitHub, MVP Design, Software Engineering, Full-stack Development, Visualization, Dashboards, REST, Web Development, Front-end, Mobile Development

Software Engineer (iOS)

2014 - 2015
Mailcloud
  • Built the first MVP (JavaScript and Cordova) of the mobile app and did several product presentations, allowing us to receive early seed funding.
  • Turned the first initial version into a feature-rich native app (Swift) used by 4,000+ beta users. The most interesting features included a full-featured email client, real-time chat, and a file management solution with cloud integrations.
  • Handled automated builds, app distribution, and analytics.
Technologies: Core Data, Fastlane, JavaScript, Auto Layout, UIKit, Swift, UX Design, Git, GitHub, MVP Design, Software Engineering, REST, Agile, API Integration, Front-end, Mobile Development

Game Developer

2012 - 2014
WeR Interactive Ltd
  • Developed a mobile game that acted as a second screen source of entertainment for football matches.
  • Worked heavily with HTML5 Canvas, optimizing the performance of the gameplay experience.
  • Developed several real-time data visualizations and internal tools.
Technologies: HTML Canvas, D3.js, iOS, JavaScript, HTML, Back-end, Git, CSS, Canvas, HTML5, Software Engineering, Full-stack Development, jQuery, REST, Web Development, Agile, Front-end, Mobile Development

Flat.social | Spatial Video Meetings

https://flat.social
Flat.social is a playful video-meeting app in which guests can fly around a virtual hangout space and speak with others around them in real-time. The entire experience is powered by server-side physics, self-hosted audio and video, and a WebGL graphics engine.

A demo can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO9o1DobMzs

Glot.space

https://glot.space
Glot.space is an AI-powered online language learning platform. Main features include vocabulary training, grammar exercises, and a vast grammar database.

The content is AI-generated using ChatGPT API endpoints.
2008 - 2012

Bachelor of Science Degree (Hons) in Artificial Intelligence

University of Aberdeen - Aberdeen, United Kingdom

Libraries/APIs

Node.js, Firebase Web SDK, WebGL, jQuery, React, Socket.IO, WebRTC, Matter.js, REST APIs, API Development, OpenCV, D3.js, React Redux, Sockets, Stripe

Tools

GitHub, Canvas, Figma, Auto Layout, Fastlane, Slack, Git, Google Hangouts, Sketch, Jira, Trello, Blender, Chrome Developer Tools

Languages

JavaScript, HTML, CSS, HTML5, Swift, TypeScript, Python, GraphQL, C++, SQL

Frameworks

PixiJS, Next.js, Redux, React Native, Jest, UIKit, Core Data, Express.js

Paradigms

REST, UX Design, Agile, Mobile Development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Platforms

Firebase, Mixpanel, Kubernetes, Linux, Docker, iOS, Azure, MacOS, DigitalOcean, Dokku, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

Storage

MySQL, PostgreSQL, Cassandra, MongoDB

Other

Web Development, Full-stack, Back-end, MVP Design, Software Engineering, Full-stack Development, Dashboards, API Integration, Front-end, Algorithms, Software Architecture, Styled-components, Mediasoup, Architecture, Technical Leadership, CI/CD Pipelines, Product Leadership, APIs, Leadership, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Visualization, Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, HTML Canvas, Screen.so, SaaS, Optimization, Game Development, Video Streaming, Audio Streaming, Video Conferencing, Game Physics, Page Speed Optimization, User Interface (UI), User Interviews, OpenAI GPT-3 API

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