Patryk Kabaj

Full-stack Engineer • Frontend Developer • Product Manager • Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, PL

Full Stack Development

Front-End Development

Analytics

Product Management

Product Strategy

Web Analytics

Optimization

Product Design

Google Analyics

Technology

Growth

Available for hire fromNegotiable

Contracts

Full-stack dev with experience in React, Node.js, web 3D, product instrumentation, analytics, web apps, difficult bugs, speed improvements, tech SEO,

I am a former developer looking for contract dev work to get back to coding again. I've spent last 7 years developing a B-Series startup I cofounded (Packhelp), where for the first two years I co-coded it with my CTO, then led the tech team for a year and eventually led the whole product as a CPO. Earlier, I worked as a full-stack dev in London, Paris. I was a skilled, passionate, ultimately a very good developer who was able to solve complex issues with little or no guidance. My tech experience: JS/React/Angular/Backbone, Node.js, PHP, Pearl, Wordpress, 3D on the Web, product instrumentation, web analytics, integrations (Asana, Iterable), Ruby on Rails. Perhaps unusual: I enjoy bug fixing, overcoming difficulties, speed improvements.

Projects

Packhelp's Website

Packhelp's website is based on Wordpress but supercharged with lots of features, little use of external plugins (we developed our own to guarantee performance) and couple of integrations. Today's version is the sixth one. Over the course of 8 years it has seen 5 different designs. My contributions (in terms of coding): - Versions (designs) from 1 to 4 - Embeded React apps, such as configurators - Internationalisation (7 languages and locales) - Integrations with Intercom, Segment - Algolia-based Search on Help Site - Plugin syncing Algolia and our site - Animations - Technical SEO - Semantic HTML - Plugin pulling in translations from PhraseApp, creating keys in PhraseApp - Plugin generating alt-tags based on criteria and related content At Packhelp it was the Product team who took care of te site so after I stopped developing I was one of the go-to-people in terms of technical aspects of the site. I had big influence on how technically this site is evolving. We have rarely used any external plugins (only some cache plugins) in order to retain performance despite its complexity. The site pulled in product data from the core Rails server and cached it. It had a dev, staging and production environment and we needed to manage migrations between these envs. Despite the fact that it was Wordpress, it was a demanding project lasting years. I loved it!See More

Packaging 3D Editor

Packhelp got to be known initially for its 3D Packaging Editor that me and my co-founder and CTO coded up. It had a front-end bundle that also ran in the backend environment. The project was very demanding due to the complexity of the UX, limitations of the web, requirements coming from the print industry, writing for the front-end and back-end at the same time (running headless), showcasing 2D designs on a 3D object along with shadows and renders of a real-looking box. The editor evolved under my guidance over the years and I stayed close to the tech part when I was the CPO. Designs created in the editor were then automatically converted to PDFs server-side (I describe it in a different project). See More

Internal Production Management System

I designed (UI) and developed (code) the interface of the core system at Packhelp. Internally it's called The Platform and it is a critical app used by: - Production Managers - Sales Team - Accounting Team - Customer Support - DTP Operators (people verifying designs to print) The design stage involved: - Designing approx. 20 views in Sketch in hundreds of different states - Developing a DSL system of components - Complete understanding of all cases, all different states that orders can be found in - UX and UI that is going to grow and get extended as we grew As a developer, I have: - converted some major parts of the UI from design into Code (mostly ERB templates with SCSS but also some jQuery micro-apps) - wrote helper libraries in Ruby on Rails helping to resolve classnames for the front-end - extended some controllers to pull in more data for the front-end It's in use until today, in many place extended per my initial design. Some parts have embedded React apps and normal, non-dev people have no idea. I designed the whole system in about 5 days. It's been a lot of fun. See More

PDF Generating Microservices

I developed queue-based micro-services (Node.js) which: - Generated almost* print-ready PDFs from the designs in the 3D Packaging Editor on the web. - Generated and updated thousands of Artwork Templates uploaded to S3 and published on the site for off-the-web design (in tools such as Adobe Illustrator). - Resized required graphics server-side. I also worked and extended some other micro-services, including: - Automating the process of creating impositions (duplicating designs on a single print sheet) *It took us 5 more years to end up and 100% print-ready versions. I lead the development as a technical PM during my tenure as a CPO of the company. See More

Iterable (CRM) <> Rails Integration

In Ruby on Rails I developed an integration synchronising contacts and permissions between Iterable (Marketing Automation CRM) tool and the core app at Packhelp: Ruby on Rails. It synchronised permissions to be contacted via email or phone. During my development I discovered and disclosed a bug in Iterable's API which resulted in consecutive API calls race condition. I had to figure out the solution to the problem which Iterable wasn't willing to fix in a short time but acknowledged its existence.See More

Wordpress Site (one of many)

I developed a website for a known cook in Poland. I formed a team of two devs who helped me set it up. It's an example of one of many sites developed by me on Wordpress.See More

Work History

Chief Product Officer & Co-founder

PackhelpAug 2015 - Sep 2022 • 7 yrs 2 mosCo-founder and product leader of Packhelp, an online marketplace for custom packaging. Ultimately, managed a portfolio of six highly-integrated websites and apps. Scaled product org to a team of 32. Oversaw product management, growth, design, marketing automation and data science teams. Pitched to investors, deployed company-wide tools and processes.

Full-Stack Developer / Product Designer / Team Lead

FreelanceSep 2015 - Dec 2019 • 4 yrs 4 mosDuring the initial years at Packhelp, I took on side-projects and provided services in areas such as: R&D, UI/UX design, software development and project management. I built a team of freelancers to help me deliver as I progressed in my product role at Packhelp. As a team, we delivered multiple Wordpress sites, coded up Squarespace templates, extended 3D web apps, defended sites against hackers and developed plugins. Individually, I acted as a freelance Product Designer for my previous London-based employer OpenAsset. On the technical side, I loved and excelled at tackling hard-to-fix bugs my clients came to me with. I got to be known for quality, reliability and easy-to-work-with attitude.

CTO

Les Petites TablesMay 2015 - Sep 2015 • 5 mosMy second startup experience. I got invited to become a technical co-founder and help Les Petites Tables get into the NUMA Accelerator programme in Paris 2015. We got in. The idea was to create a listing for delicious, authentic restaurants in France for less than 10 Euro and (somehow) monetise the large traffic coming to the site.

Full Stack Developer & UX Lead

OpenAsset (Axomic)Jan 2013 - Jun 2015 • 2 yrs 6 mosI led transformation from feature-driven development towards design-driven one. After two years, took on an extra role of UX Lead, ran workshops with customers (for example with Fosters & Partners) and designed features and then coded them up. Axomic was where I learned the art of great programming.

Full-Stack Developer / Co-founder / Media Production Director

Collaborative Arts NetworkOct 2009 - Sep 2012 • 3 yrsMy first startup experience. The goal was to build a social network dedicated to young creatives and connect them with agencies to help find jobs and/or projects. I wore many hats there: ranging from software development to leading a team of media producers helping us promote our talent pool through video, short film festivals and artistic events.

Education

University College London (UCL)

MSc, Computer ScienceSep 2011 - Aug 2012

Goldsmiths, University of London

BA, Media & CommunicationsSep 2008 - Aug 2011

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