About me

Hi! I'm Dawid, a senior developer with over 13 years of experience building web applications and leading engineering teams. My journey in tech has taken me from solo freelance projects to leading teams at scale, always with a focus on delivering meaningful impact through well-crafted software.

These days, I spend my time as a Senior Frontend Engineer and Technical Leader at Caraway, where I've been since 2022. One of my proudest moments was leading our platform migration from Gatsby to NextJS - we pulled it off in just 3 months, right before the Black Friday shopping season, and it played a key role in the company's record-breaking holiday sales. I'm responsible for some of the most critical parts of our e-commerce platform: how customers browse products, complete purchases, and discover upsells. Beyond coding, I enjoy mentoring teammates on architecture decisions and finding ways to make our systems both faster and more cost-effective.

Before Caraway, I spent a year at CKSource as a Technical Leader, working on the open-source CKEditor platform that millions of developers use worldwide. This role really pushed my technical boundaries - I dove deep into core engine architecture and built real-time collaboration features that let multiple users edit documents simultaneously. It was incredibly rewarding to solve complex technical challenges that directly impacted such a large developer community.

Prior to that, I led a team of 8 developers at HYD Software House from 2019 to 2021. This was a fast-paced environment where we delivered multiple projects every month for major European brands. The challenge wasn't just about shipping new features - it was about maintaining and evolving legacy systems while meeting tight deadlines. This experience taught me how to balance technical excellence with business realities and how to mentor developers in high-pressure situations.

My technical toolkit centers around modern JavaScript technologies. I work primarily with React, TypeScript, and NextJS, though I'm comfortable across the full stack with Node.js and various backend technologies. Over the years, I've developed particular expertise in system architecture, performance optimization, and building real-time collaborative systems. I'm also passionate about accessibility and making sure the products we build work for everyone.

Beyond my day job, I'm active in the developer community as a conference speaker. I love sharing knowledge about modern web development practices and have presented at numerous conferences and meetups. You can see my full speaking history here - it's been an incredible way to give back to the community that has given me so much.

According to Codersrank, I'm in the top 3% of developers worldwide - a recognition that reminds me of how far I've come since my early freelancing days:

If you'd like to connect or see what I'm working on, you can find me on GitHub or LinkedIn. I'm always interested in connecting with fellow developers and discussing interesting technical challenges.

The Early Days

My professional journey began back in 2012 as a freelancer, where I learned the ropes of web development while building solutions for local businesses. This led to positions at various companies including WPDesk, underDEV, InSaneLab, and Xfive, each offering unique challenges and learning opportunities. I also worked with Coderbyte on their platform and still maintain my own small web development business, Webastik, for occasional projects that catch my interest.

WordPress & WooCommerce Background

Earlier in my career, I spent several years specializing in WordPress development, eventually becoming a certified Codeable expert - a distinction held by only the top 2% of WordPress developers worldwide. This period was foundational in understanding how to build scalable, maintainable systems that serve real business needs.

During this time, I became the first external developer whose plugins were featured in WP Desk, the largest Polish WooCommerce plugins marketplace. I created plugins like Google Merchant and Paczka w Ruchu that are still in use today. I also contributed to the open-source community with plugins like WooCommerce Last Purchased and LiveHelpNow Help Desk, which helped businesses better serve their customers.

While I've moved on to focus on modern JavaScript frameworks and larger-scale systems, this WordPress experience taught me valuable lessons about building for real users, understanding business needs, and the importance of maintainable, well-documented code.