# Ihar Ivaniuk — independent software engineering consultant

I am a software engineer and independent consultant. I design, build, and modernize production systems for companies that need senior judgement and delivery, not a large outsourcing team. The commercial work is international; I am based in Gdańsk, Poland, and operate as a sole proprietor registered there.

## What I do

I take end-to-end ownership of software work: finding the real constraint, deciding what should exist, proving the risky assumptions on a vertical slice, then building for production. That includes product engineering in React and Next.js, services and APIs in Node.js, staged CMS and commerce migrations, and AI integrations that are not allowed to be a demo.
I also provide technical consulting and mentoring when a team needs leverage — architecture reviews, sequence, and pairing — rather than another full-time hire.

## How long, and doing what

I have been delivering client software independently since 2017. That is nine-plus years of professional product work, not nine years of tutorials. The work has included SaaS, FinTech, EdTech, content platforms, and AI-backed GTM and retrieval products.
In 2023 I co-founded Exosoft in Gdańsk and ran client work, operations, and direction. In 2024–2026 I worked as a senior engineer at EPAM Systems on an enterprise LLM benchmarking platform and on live migrations onto headless Next.js stacks, then continued as an independent consultant.

## How I decide

Start with the constraint. Decide what should exist. Prove it. Then build for production. Deterministic logic stays the default. Models enter where the task is ambiguous enough to earn their cost, with contracts, observability, and a human fallback.

## Selected milestones
- 2017 — Independent full-stack: Client products delivered end-to-end — architecture, interfaces, APIs, and direct communication.
- 2023 — Co-founded Exosoft: Ran a software company from Gdańsk: clients, operations, and strategic direction.
- 2024 — AI-native platforms: Genie (GTM copilots) and TIVA (voice and text retrieval) — models inside existing work, not beside it.
- 2025 — EPAM, senior track: LLM benchmarking, then enterprise migrations onto headless Next.js stacks — without switching the system off.
- Now — Select projects: Architecture, AI integration, and shipping when the path is still a set of competing guesses.

Canonical: https://ihar-ivaniuk.com/en/about