Zimbabwean-born · Johannesburg, South Africa
George Chakama
Software Engineer · Systems Architect · Community Builder
I'm a Zimbabwean-born software engineer, systems architect, and technology innovator with over five years of industry experience building scalable platforms across logistics, accessibility, fintech, ESG, and social good.
I specialize in turning complex operational requirements into resilient infrastructure — whether orchestrating real-time geolocation streams with Google Fleet Engine, building idempotent APIs for fintech ecosystems, or engineering accessibility tools that change how people communicate.
Beyond engineering, I actively mentor developers through Google Africa Developer Scholarship and WeThinkCode, and speak at conferences like Google DevFest and Build with AI about applied AI and scalable system design. I believe technology should be intentional, human-centered, and impactful.
Experience
- Jul 2023 – PresentSouth AfricaFull-time
Software Engineer · Etapath
Scaling Etapath's transportation and trip-dispatch platform across React, React Native, Ruby on Rails and Google Cloud — mobile, backend and the technical leadership around it: ADRs, SonarCloud quality gates and reviews across ~18 teammates' PRs.
- Rebuilt the Etapath Driver App from the ground up in React Native/TypeScript — Google Navigation SDK, Fleet Engine Driver SDK, FCM, background GPS tracking and passenger geofencing
- Led the migration to Expo SDK 56, React Native 0.85 and React 19 on the New Architecture, moving Fleet Engine to TurboModules and retiring 3 native patches
- Re-architected the mobile data layer across 147 files with TanStack Query and resilient WebSockets — ~3,600 lines of obsolete code removed, test suite doubled; introduced Sentry, EAS Observe and a 25-flow Maestro E2E suite
- Eliminated a Google Fleet Engine production error storm (~675 Sentry events in 6 weeks) with idempotent task creation, deterministic IDs and a retry/discard architecture adopted fleet-wide
- Owned ~27 API routes and ~70% of the 12k-line Team Manager booking platform, and fixed a driver double-booking race with row locking, transactional guarantees and ~700 lines of regression tests
- Designed fleet-scoped RBAC across 12 policies (97 tests, 100% new-code coverage), closed IDOR, LIKE-injection and OTP brute-force holes, and built an AI support-triage system across WhatsApp, Gemini and ClickUp
- Jun 2025 – Oct 2025United KingdomContract
Software Engineer · TDi Sustainability
Built and delivered enterprise ESG and supply-chain risk tooling — system architecture, data integration, user experience and scalable delivery.
- Designed and built the Strategic Roadmap platform: a multi-step materials risk workflow from Bills of Material through API-driven risk scoring to actionable roadmap reports
- Architected a unified ESG risk dashboard bringing TEDD, Global Risk Tool, ICAT, Search 360 and Entities/Materials into a single interface
- Secure, scalable architecture with token-based authentication, RBAC, multiple API integrations and Convex-backed data workflows
- Rich data visualisations in Next.js, TypeScript, Mapbox, Recharts, Radix UI and Tailwind CSS, delivered to production on Kubernetes with Helm
- Sep 2022 – Aug 2025Harare, Zimbabwe
Community Manager · Built Different
Ran the Built Different developer community in Harare alongside full-time engineering work.
- Feb 2023 – Jun 2023Cape TownContract
Software Engineer · Restio Labs
Built scalable web applications and intelligent integrations with Node.js, Angular, REST APIs and cloud platforms.
- Built and integrated bot-driven workflows, connecting conversational interfaces with backend services and business processes
- Designed and consumed RESTful APIs integrating frontend applications with distributed backend services and third-party platforms
- Deployed on AWS and Azure for reliable application delivery and scalable infrastructure
- Contributed across the full lifecycle — system design, implementation, testing, optimisation and production delivery
- Jan 2023 – May 2023Harare, ZimbabweContract
Full Stack Engineer · Velocity Tech Inc.
Digital agency delivering web and emerging-technology solutions for clients across multiple industries — several projects at once, each with its own stack and workflow.
- Contributed to a large-scale job portal in Vue.js — frontend features, user workflows and integrations
- Worked on a blockchain and NFT project, building Web3 functionality inside a production project
- Delivered features across multiple client projects with designers, developers and stakeholders
- Sep 2022 – Feb 2023Berlin, GermanyContract
Frontend Developer · Codum.cc
Frontend for a platform matching developers and technology enthusiasts with accountability partners to learn, collaborate and build projects together.
- Built and enhanced the React.js frontend — reusable components, responsive interfaces, maintainable architecture
- Integrated with Python backend services and PostgreSQL, and added Stripe for secure payment workflows
- Shipped core matching, collaboration and project-building features, and improved performance and cross-browser consistency
- Feb 2022 – Oct 2022NigeriaContract
Lead Software Developer · Kerapay
Led engineering for a fintech platform that lets employers give employees flexible financial benefits — salary-on-demand, perks and utility discounts.
- Led and mentored a team of developers across TypeScript, React, Node.js and React Native
- Architected the financial-benefits platform for scalability, reliability, security and maintainability
- Delivered core features across web and mobile, from technical design through to production release
- Set engineering standards — code reviews, technical decisions and continuous architecture improvements
- Jul 2021 – Jan 2022Los Angeles, CAContract
Frontend Developer · orbit
Frontend for high-quality, scalable web applications and polished user experiences across client projects.
- Built and maintained production React and Redux applications with GraphQL and Apollo Client
- Designed responsive, accessible interfaces in SASS from product and design requirements
- Improved performance and responsiveness across devices, with code reviews, testing and debugging as routine
- Jan 2020 – Apr 2021Harare, ZimbabweContract
Web Developer · Benthos Technologies
Designed and delivered websites and digital experiences for clients — responsive design, usability and reliable content management.
- Built and customised WordPress sites — themes, layouts, plugins and content-management workflows
- Responsive interfaces optimised for desktop, tablet and mobile
- Owned projects from requirements through development, testing, deployment and ongoing support
- May 2018 – Jan 2020Harare, Zimbabwe
Web and Print Designer · Covenant
Web and print design for clients — where the journey started.
Engineering notes
Reliability · Etapath
Idempotent task creation to end a Fleet Engine error storm
- Context
- Google Fleet Engine task creation was producing an error storm — ~675 Sentry events in six weeks — as retried and duplicated dispatch requests collided with tasks that already existed.
- Decision
- Made task creation idempotent: deterministic task IDs so a retry resolves to the same task, behind one shared retry/discard architecture that every Fleet Engine integration now goes through.
- Trade-off
- One more layer every integration must pass through, and the discard rules have to be exactly right — get them wrong and a genuinely new task is dropped as a duplicate.
- Outcome
- The storm stopped, and the same path was adopted fleet-wide, so new integrations inherit retry safety instead of re-solving it.
- Google Fleet Engine
- Ruby on Rails
- Sentry
Data integrity · Etapath
Row locking over optimistic checks for driver bookings
- Context
- Two dispatchers could book the same driver for overlapping trips: concurrent requests both passed the availability check before either had written, so the conflict only surfaced in the field.
- Decision
- Serialised bookings with database row locking and transactional guarantees, backed by ~700 lines of regression tests and a conflict-detection UI that explains why a booking was rejected.
- Trade-off
- Locking serialises writes on a hot row, so bookings for a busy driver queue briefly instead of racing — a small latency cost accepted in exchange for never double-booking.
- Outcome
- That class of bug is gone, and the regression suite keeps it gone.
- PostgreSQL
- Ruby on Rails
- React
Mobile architecture · Etapath
Re-architect the Driver App data layer on TanStack Query
- Context
- Hand-rolled fetching, caching and socket handling had spread across 147 files of the Driver App; stale state and reconnect bugs were a recurring source of field issues.
- Decision
- Re-architected the data layer on TanStack Query with one resilient WebSocket handler — removing ~3,600 lines of obsolete code and doubling the test suite — shipped alongside the move to Expo SDK 56, React Native 0.85 and React 19 on the New Architecture.
- Trade-off
- A large, risky change across 147 files landing with a runtime migration, so regressions had to be caught by the expanded unit tests and a 25-flow Maestro E2E suite rather than a gradual rollout.
- Outcome
- Less code, more coverage, and a data layer that recovers from dropped connections by design; Fleet Engine moved to TurboModules and three native patches were retired in the same push.
- React Native
- Expo
- TanStack Query
- Maestro
Access control · Etapath
Declarative, fleet-scoped RBAC instead of per-endpoint checks
- Context
- Team Manager serves many fleets on one platform. Permission checks were scattered through controllers, where one missed check is a cross-tenant data exposure.
- Decision
- Designed fleet-scoped RBAC as 12 declarative policies evaluated centrally, with 97 tests and 100% new-code coverage — alongside fixes for IDOR, LIKE-injection and OTP brute-force findings and committed credentials.
- Trade-off
- Every new endpoint has to be expressed as policy before it ships — deliberate friction, since the failure mode is another fleet's data.
- Outcome
- Authorisation is one system you can read, test and audit, instead of a pattern each engineer has to remember.
- Ruby on Rails
- RBAC
- Security
Product architecture · TDi Sustainability
One ESG risk dashboard over five separate tools
- Context
- Supply-chain risk work lived across TEDD, Global Risk Tool, ICAT, Search 360 and Entities/Materials; analysts stitched an answer together by hand.
- Decision
- Architected a unified ESG risk dashboard that integrates all five sources behind one interface — token-based auth, RBAC and Convex-backed data workflows — plus a multi-step Strategic Roadmap flow from Bills of Material to risk-scored roadmap reports.
- Trade-off
- Five upstream tools means five contracts to keep in sync; a change in any of them shows up in the dashboard first.
- Outcome
- Delivered to production on Kubernetes with Helm — one place for materials risk assessment instead of five.
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Convex
- Mapbox
- Kubernetes
What I reach for
Frontend
- React
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
Backend
- Node.js
- Ruby on Rails
- PostgreSQL
- Express
- MongoDB
Mobile
- Expo
- React Native
- EAS Build
- Flutter
Cloud
- Google Cloud
- Vercel
- Heroku
- Firebase
- Cloudinary
AI
- Gemini AI
- AI Studio
- Agents
- LangChain
- TensorFlow Lite
- Core — first choice
- Regular — in rotation
- Exploring — learning
Now building
Oddah
In betaA digital companion for modern couples committed to nurturing meaningful relationships.
- React Native
- Expo
- Node.js
- Gemini AI
- MongoDB
SubTrack
In developmentTrack every subscription and renewal on one clean calendar.
- Next.js
- Auth.js
- Drizzle
- Postgres
- Expo
- Railway
Pushlog
In developmentA focused push-up training app that turns your goal into an adjustable plan. Created by Ngonidzashe Mangudya; I contribute upstream.
- Flutter
- Cloudflare Workers
- D1
- Firebase
Poof
In developmentLet go of what you don't need — a swipe-to-clean camera roll.
- Expo
- React Native
- TypeScript
Tinnymix
In developmentA Spotify companion for people who think in mixtapes.
- Next.js
- Spotify API
- Gemini AI
- Vercel
More projects
Kanso
Ngonidzashe Mangudya's local-first Markdown notes app in Rust on GPUI, with end-to-end encrypted sync on Cloudflare. I contributed locked notes with Touch ID, and the notebook icons and colours.
- Rust
- GPUI
- SQLite
- Cloudflare Workers
VS Code Theme Collections
Two VS Code theme extensions — 25 palettes anchored to Zimbabwean cities and African countries, dual-published to the Marketplace and Open VSX by GitHub Actions.
- VS Code API
- TextMate grammars
- GitHub Actions
WA-TUI
A keyboard-driven terminal UI for WhatsApp Web — QR pairing, fuzzy search, read receipts and native notifications, installed via Homebrew, npm or npx.
- Node.js
- neo-blessed
- whatsapp-web.js
Site Lock
Manifest V3 browser extension that password-protects distracting sites — five block modes, bcrypt-hashed master password and no server anywhere.
- TypeScript
- React 19
- Chrome Manifest V3
- Playwright
Lockr
A local-first CLI that keeps API keys in a single AES-256-GCM vault with Argon2id key derivation and OS-keychain caching. No accounts, no sync, no servers.
- Go
- Cobra
- AES-256-GCM
- Argon2id
Awards
Junior Chamber International · 2023
JCI TOYP — Ten Outstanding Young Persons
Honoured as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World for developing HearMe — a mobile application empowering individuals with speech impairments in Zimbabwe to communicate more effectively and integrate into society.
30 Under 30 · 2023
30 Under 30 Top Tech Innovator
Recognised for contributions to building impactful technology solutions across healthtech, fintech, and accessibility-focused applications.
Speaking
- Google DevFestApplied AI Integrations & Advanced Architectural Patterns
- Google Build with AIIntegrating Gemini AI into Real-World Applications
- Community Developer EventsScalable System Design & Tech Education in Africa
Mentorship & community
- Google Africa Developer Scholarship (GADS)Mentoring aspiring African developers on software engineering, career paths, and Google Cloud technologies.
- WeThinkCodeSupporting junior developers through coding challenges, project reviews, and career guidance.
- Built DifferentCommunity Manager — organising tech meetups, mentorship sessions and engineering events that grow Zimbabwe's developer ecosystem.
Education
- TreehouseFront-end Web Development & Full-stack JavaScript
- Zimbabwe Open UniversityBachelor's degree, Computer Software Engineering
Technology should be intentional, human-centered, and impactful. The goal isn't just systems that scale technically — it's systems that improve how people communicate, work, move, learn, and connect.