2024 — Present · Founding Engineer
STDNT GEAR
B2B apparel commerce platform — built solo, end to end.
View case study
- 27-table schema
- ~70 API endpoints
- 3,000+ products
- End-to-end build
ReactNode.jsPostgreSQLSystem Design
Software Engineer · Cape Town, South Africa
Kwena Komape
I build production software end-to-end. I design and ship full-stack products — from database schema to the interface users touch.
About
I'm a software engineer based in Cape Town, South Africa, who enjoys solving complex engineering problems and building production software from end to end. I design systems across the entire stack — from database schemas and API contracts to performant user interfaces and the small interaction details that shape great user experiences. I believe good software comes from thoughtful architecture, pragmatic engineering decisions, and an obsession with quality.
Currently Software Engineer at NewIQ, and founding engineer on STDNT GEAR — a B2B apparel platform I built end to end. UCT Computer Science graduate.
- BSc Computer Science, UCT
- Software Engineer, NewIQ
- Founding engineer, STDNT GEAR
Experience
Where I've built software — from solo founding engineer to enterprise team contributor.
Mar 2026 — Present
Software Engineer · NewIQ
Building enterprise SaaS for Beverage Intelligence, a B2B platform supporting a wines & spirits distributor across ~25 African countries. Led the Customer Success Dashboard — aggregation APIs unifying MongoDB, SQL Server ERP, and Open edX into health scores, revenue and budget-pacing analytics, CSV exports, and the data layer for an AWS Bedrock AI assistant — and shipped a gamified, offline-capable training PWA with AI-scored spoken assessments, live leaderboards, and manager tooling for venue staff.
Apr 2024 — Present
Founding Software Engineer · STDNT GEAR
Designed and shipped a production B2B custom apparel platform covering the full journey from discovery and quotation to invoicing, production, and fulfilment. Architected a React storefront, React staff portal, and Node.js/Express REST API on PostgreSQL — including a quotation engine with variants, artwork, and personalisation; Google OAuth 2.0 / JWT auth with refresh rotation and rate limiting; quote-to-order workflows with PDF generation, invoicing, and transactional email; contextual search across 3,000+ products; and a vendor catalogue ingestion pipeline with batched upserts, concurrency control, and deadlock retry.
Jul 2024 — Jun 2025
Software Engineer Intern · Sports Science Institute of South Africa
Designed and built full-stack internal platforms for healthcare booking and IT asset management. Delivered Carbon, a React/Node.js/Express/MySQL booking system with JWT role-based auth, appointment and reporting APIs, Vonage/Infobip SMS and email notifications, Winston logging, and SQL schemas with triggers; and RefTab, a responsive multi-location IT asset app with reusable React dashboards, categorization, and modular routing.
Selected work
Case studies with architecture, decisions, and production screenshots — proof behind the summary above.
Engineering philosophy
Own the outcome, not the ticket
Build complete products, not isolated features.
Being the primary engineer on a production platform taught me that users don't care which layer a problem belongs to — they care that it works. I approach every feature as a complete system, from database schema and API contracts to frontend interactions and deployment. Whether I'm designing a quote engine, building authentication, or refining the final UI, my responsibility is delivering a reliable product, not just completing a task.
Correctness is non-negotiable
Enforce business rules where trust is won — on the server.
Production software should behave correctly even when users make mistakes or clients send unexpected requests. I design systems that enforce business rules on the server, protect sensitive operations, and keep data consistent. Whether it's pricing logic, authentication, financial workflows, or API validation, I optimize for correctness before convenience because production systems need to be trusted.
Performance is a feature
Design for scale before users have to ask for it.
Performance isn't something I leave until users complain. I think about scalability while designing the architecture, whether that means optimizing database queries, reducing unnecessary API calls, caching expensive operations, or simplifying frontend rendering. Good performance isn't just about speed — it creates software that feels reliable and enjoyable to use.
Translate ambiguity into software
Turn vague ideas into decisions a team can ship on.
Real requirements rarely arrive fully defined. My job is understanding the business problem, asking the right questions, and turning vague ideas into clear technical decisions. Whether building a custom quote workflow, customer management system, or internal tooling, I enjoy transforming uncertainty into software that teams can confidently use every day.
Great engineering is invisible
The best products feel effortless — the work disappears.
The best software doesn't make users think about the software. I care about reducing friction through thoughtful workflows, intuitive interfaces, meaningful feedback, and small details that make products feel polished. Good engineering isn't only about writing clean code — it's about creating experiences that feel effortless for the people using them.
Technical expertise
The technologies I rely on to design, build, and ship production software — not a list of everything I've ever touched.
Frontend Engineering
- React
- Vue
- TypeScript
- Next.js
- Tailwind CSS
- TanStack Query
- Framer Motion
Building responsive, accessible interfaces with modern state management and production-ready user experiences.
Backend Engineering
- Node.js
- Express
- REST APIs
- JWT
- OAuth 2.0
Designing scalable APIs, authentication systems, integrations, and business logic that hold up in production.
Data Engineering
- PostgreSQL
- MongoDB
- Redis
- SQL Server
Designing schemas, optimizing queries, indexing data, and building reliable persistence layers.
Cloud & AI
- AWS
- Bedrock
- S3
- Transcribe
Deploying applications and integrating cloud and AI capabilities into production products.
Let's talk about what you're building.
Open to full-time engineering roles and select freelance projects. I reply to every message — happy to walk through a product demo when useful.
kwenakomape2@gmail.com