Borut Balazek
Hey there!
I'm Borut Balazek.
I'm a Full-Stack Developer.
In my 12+ years of professional experience, I have developed scalable platforms and apps used by millions of users worldwide.

About Me

My journey as a web developer began nearly two decades ago, fueled by a fascination with simple HTML websites. Over time, this passion evolved into crafting themes and plugins for popular CMS frameworks and later custom web solutions.

My professional career began in 2011, freelancing for diverse clients on websites, e-commerce shops and CRM systems. Early successes included creating custom WordPress themes and plugins, plus creating Facebook prize games and campaigns for major brands. I then joined a UK-based EdTech startup, where I played a key role in scaling products used by millions and mentored developers while leading the E2E testing initiatives. For more details, check out the Work section below.

My daily toolkit includes Typescript, Next.js, NestJS, React, React Native, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Cassandra, RabbitMQ, Kafka, Docker, Kubernetes, Turborepo, Cypress and much more.

Beyond my day job, I'm driven to experiment with the latest tools and technologies - this includes: Python, Go, MongoDB, ClickHouse, TimescaleDB, Grafana, Elasticseach, AI/ML (years* before* it* was* cool*). My passion for interactive experiences extends to WebGL with Three.js and Babylon.js.

For a more comprehensive list of my skills, please check out my CV. If you're feeling adventurous, visit my skills or projects page. You can also explore my GitHub account, where you will find over 40 projects, including several libraries, boilerplates, and numerous side projects I've worked on over the years.

I am fluent in English and German alongside my native Slovenian language. My main personality traits are being proactive, reliable, dedicated, detail-oriented and self-motivated.

When I'm not coding, you might find me watching Formula 1, playing sim-racing titles, printing 3D mugs, taking pictures of birds and producing the next summer hit. Otherwise, I also enjoy walking my 2 dogs and watching tech news with my 2 cats.

My Professional Journey

During my time as a freelancer, I have worked, either directly or indirectly, with numerous companies and agencies. These include names such as: Philips, RWE, Innogy, Dannon, Einrichtungspartnerring VME, LesMills, Radenska, Union, Medex, Diggit, Planet Tus and many others.

For the past 8+ years, I have been with a UK EdTech company. Joining as the first developer after the CTO, I have contributed to growing the product from tens of thousands to millions of users. In addition to implementing a significant portion of the features, I also lead the E2E, frontend and mobile app development areas of the products. Furthermore, I was responsible for onboarding and mentoring newly joined and junior developers, as well as instructing and guiding our QA team in the use of Cypress for E2E testing.

What People Say

Here are a couple of messages from people that I have worked with during the years:
“ I worked with Borut for 7 years, he was our longest serving developer and he was an excellent person to work with. Borut always feels & displays a high level of responsibility to the project and the team and brought immense value to what we were trying to achieve, he understood our vision & grew with our codebase to become a hugely valued developer who you could rely on & would always deliver. Time keeping, attention to detail & working with others were never a problem. Borut worked on each of our products, working with different team members, platforms and codebase & responsibilities. I have zero hesitation in recommending Borut as he is an intelligent & hard working individual with a good sense of humour and liked by the rest of the team - he was a huge asset! ”

Duncan Wilson, CEO at Edukey Education

“ Borut is an amazing developer who throws himself at all different types of challanges and has been our very own secret James bond, because only we know how awesome he is, while the rest of the business are obvious of the impact he has, but now it's time to change that! ”

Valter Cunha, Tech Lead

“ Hey Borut, just a quick one to say thank you for everything. You're one hell of a developer and honestly I don't think we'd be where we are without you. ”

David Williams, Product Manager

“ It's been fanstastic working with you. You are so talented and nothing is ever any trouble. Unfortunately, because you are so brilliant, I now have high expectations! ”

Grace Evans, Project Manager

“ It has been an absolute pleasure working with you over the past five years. In 25 years of coding, you are one of the most gifted developers I have ever worked with and an all round great guy. ”

Simon Beckett, Senior Software Engineer

“ At this point I have to draw my breath, because Borut is amazing and I have worked with him for more than half a decade, he is simply dynamite! ”

Steve Murphy, QA Engineer

“ Finally I can confirm from my personal experience that Borut has been an indispensable enabler for the QA team. He has worked with me and my colleague to develop and maintain the automated test environments including the Cypress infrastucture. ”

Russell Scott, QA Engineer

“ Borut bas been an irreplacable member of the team and an undervalued asset to the business. He definetely deserves recognition for all of his hard work. ”

John Beer, System Operations Manager

“ He has been a vital member of the team during difficult times. Borut is always approachable, willing to listen and collaborate on solving problems. ”

Jamie Beer, System Operations

“ Borut is an incredibly hardworking member of the development team. He is efficient, getting his work completed quickly and efficiently. ”

Peter Meldrum, Project Manager

Interested in working together?

Not sure yet? You can read more about how I tick right here!
Get in Touch
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