Güngör Koçak
Fullstack (Web) Software Engineer
I am a Software Engineer with 15 years of experience, mainly focused on Web.
Professionally, I am deeply interested in Elixir, Gleam, real-time systems and IoT.
SKILLS
HOBBY
Elm
Creative Coding
3D Printing
PROTOTYPE
IoT
Nerves
AtomVM
Kubernetes
Unreal Engine
Machine Learning
PRODUCTION
Elixir
Phoenix
LiveView
Gleam
Lustre
Tailwind
GraphQL
LLMs/AI
AT SCALE
Nextjs
Typescript
GraphQL
Ruby on Rails
PostgreSQL
Docker
EXPERIENCE
Self Employed - Freelancer | Creative Technologist
Feb 2024 - Present
After shutting down of informed and getting laid off, I switched to freelancing and continued working with informed cofounders on a new AI based project, part time. With rest of my time, I started switching my focus to transitioning into Creative Technologist.
informed copilot | Built initial MVP of informed copilot webapp and its admin panel, using Phoenix LiveView, postgres, docker, tailwind and fly.io.
informed copilot | Developed and maintained initial web extension with LiveView (iframe based) for all major browsers.
informed copilot | After pivot, developed v2 of web extension with Gleam, Lustre as full SPA (web component), and integrated it with Elixir and Phoenix Backend.
informed copilot | Integrated fine tuned open source LLMs like Llama and Mistral to informed copilot.
informed copilot | Integrated custom hosted ChatGPT (on Azure), whisper and flux.pro with context aware (e.g. RAG) dynamic prompt building and intermediate level agentic workflows.
art installation | Developed an AI bot plugin in Unreal Engine Blueprints for an art installation, Relate with me.
art installation | Built a small screen console that plays animation and displays text using Nerves and Elixir.
informed News | Senior Backend Engineer
June 2022 - Sept 2023
informed is an early stage startup that bundles and summarizes the best news in one app, simplifying your news experience.
Designed and built a well-tailored CMS using Phoenix LiveView for our curation and editorial pipelines.
Supported frontend and mobile app by building day-to-day backend features and exposing it via GraphQL.
Built components and pages for the Nextjs+Typescript frontend.
Built features and maintained backend services like notifications, emailing, editorial in our Elixir umbrella app backend.
Built various AI tooling and automations like summary generation, entity recognition etc. using OpenAI APIs.
Experimented with edge serving with a fine tuned BERT model using Bumblebee in Elixir.
diesdas.digital | Senior Backend Engineer
Sept 2020 - May 2022
diesdas.digital is a well-known digital product studio in Berlin that specializes in design, code and strategy. Its clients include many well known brands like Red Bull, Miele and Zeit Online.
Built and led the efforts for Red Bull's smart support assistant(chatbot).
Maintained and supported backend needs for Red Bull's game retainer.
Built a real-time social game that uses Elixir, Phoenix, fly.io and WebRTC as a part of Red Bull's game retainer.
Built features and maintained mycountrytalks.org with Ruby on Rails; in collaboration with bitcrowd.
Supported strategy and prototyping efforts for revamping of Arolsen Archives' online archive.
Built integrations for Holmes Place to fully digitalize their membership and subscription process.
Marley Spoon AG | Engineering Team Lead
Feb 2020 -> Sept 2020
Marley Spoon is a Meal Delivery Kit Startup based in Berlin. Currently it operates globally in many countries.
Led the technical efforts for expanding into new countries and regions.
Led efforts on delivering new Taste Profile Wizard.
Maintained and developed API services with GraphQL connecting three other teams as frontend, mobile, and cookbook.
Managed and led Customer Experience(CX) team.
mindhood | Senior Software Engineer
May 2019 -> Dec 2019
mindhood.io is a bite-sized learning platform providing knowledge in a chatbot like conversational experience. As a first round engineer, I participated in every step of product development from ideation to production, as well as rewriting critical parts of old codebase.
Participated in designing new features and built up a concrete design system in collaboration.
Designed, built and shipped WYSIWYG Editor SPA for chat bot like experience, using Hyperapp V2, Styled Components and Styled System.
Rewritten backend and api endpoints in RESTful manner, using Node.js, Express, and MongoDB.
Improved product delivery rows using CircleCI and Dokku.
LeventOfis Teknoloji | Lead Software Engineer
Aug 2017 -> May 2019
LeventOfis Teknoloji is a Digital Product Agency, and I joined the company as a Lead Engineer to a team of four.
Maintained client relationships; planned, organized and delivered product strategy.
Built and maintained web products using Ruby on Rails, Node.js, Next.js, Socket.io, PostgreSQL, React and Redux; both in monolith and microservice architectures.
Prototyped and built an internal CMS platform, using Nodejs, Docker, Kubernetes and MongoDB.
Mentored and trained junior engineers by supervising and allowing them to take ownership.
Universiteplus | Tech Lead
Feb 2014 -> May 2016
Universiteplus is an online learning platform. I joined the company in early stages as a contractor. After shortwhile, company secured a good seed funding, then I have taken responsibility as CTO and built a product team.
Planned and built new features of the web platform, using Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Backbone.js and SCSS.
Built and managed a product team of three.
VNGRS | Ruby on Rails Developer
Mar 2013 -> Feb 2014
VNGRS is a Digital Product Agency and Engineering Outsourcing Company, working with clients worldwide. I have joined the company as a Ruby on Rails Developer for Bookish Project.
Delivered new features for backoffice and storefront products using Ruby on Rails, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, AWS ELB/EC2 and Backbone.js.
Built a small service for integration with flipboard application, using PubSubHubbub, Play Framework and Scala.
Created and maintained an internal library which integrates with Ruby on Rails apps to improve QA process and better error propagation, using Ruby and TDD.
EDUCATION
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Engineering
Isik University | 2007 - 2011