I’m Robert Michalak — a professional problem solver for early-stage and small engineering teams, with over twenty years in software. I’m not selling enterprise programmes or DevOps retainers; I help when you’re stuck on architecture, greenfield builds, or delivery — and I’ll get in the diffs when that’s what moves things forward.
Who it’s for
Founders, CTOs, and engineering leads who need someone experienced who still reads the code: hard migrations, architecture decisions, delivery bottlenecks, or a few weeks embedded in the codebase.
What I help with
- Hard technical problems — system design, trade-offs, reviews, and unblocking on structure that will survive the next 12–18 months
- Delivery when you’re stuck — how the team works day to day: PRs, quality, iteration, and keeping process light enough to ship
- Hands-on when it counts — pairing, prototyping, and owning critical paths when the team needs capacity, not another meeting
How I work
I bias toward clarity, small iterations, and work that compounds. Engagements are usually a mix of conversations, focused reviews, and embedded hands-on work — scoped to what moves the product forward next week.
Background
Over twenty years in software engineering: staff engineer at Vendr, engineering leadership at Trilogy (Crossover), architecture and team lead roles at Bravura Solutions, and earlier product engineering including Academica — a national digital preservation system for the National Library of Poland. I am also the founder of nestd.ai, an AI property platform I built end-to-end.
Outside client work, I run a home automation setup and contributed a Digiplex/EVO alarm binding to openHAB — originally built to integrate my own alarm system.
Selected work is on the projects page. Full timeline: resume (PDF).
What people say
Colleagues describe me as versatile on hard problems, strong in architecture and code review, and reliable on delivery. Six recommendations from Vendr, Bravura Solutions, and earlier teams are on the recommendations page — newest first.
Get in touch
Email [email protected] with a short note: team stage, what you are stuck on, and timeline. I will reply from my personal inbox.
For nestd.ai (product, demos, trials), visit nestd.ai or schedule.nestd.ai — separate from client work inquiries.