Résumé

Tjakoen Stolk

Engineering leader | Senior Technical Team Lead at Career Team

I direct, Claude types.

Message LinkedIn GitHub

Philippines (remote, GMT+8) tjakoen.s@gmail.com +639175095793 linkedin.com/in/tjakoenstolk tjakoen.github.io github.com/tjakoen

Professional summary

I am a teacher, engineer, and manager. I treat students as adults, go straight at the hard parts, and automate mechanical grading so I can spend more time teaching. I hold the architecture and quality bar, and keep direction legible to whoever opens the file next. I grow people first and deliver goals through them. I lead 15 to 25 engineers and product specialists at Career Team, teach college-level software engineering to 150 to 300 students each term, and have completed one year in the classroom. I also build the BREAD stack.

Areas of expertise

Professional experience

  1. Senior Technical Team Lead

    United States (remote from the Philippines)

    Manage and mentor 15 to 25 Software Engineers and Product Specialists, and lead the team's AI-first development culture.

    • Spearheaded scalable full-stack solutions with Next.js, NestJS, and MongoDB on AWS microservices for U.S. government and education clients.
    • Rolled out AI coding assistants, set review standards for AI-generated code, and integrated AI-assisted workflows into delivery.
    • Turned social-impact goals into technical specifications with product, design, and leadership.
  2. Part-Time Instructor

    Angeles City, Philippines

    Teach college-level software engineering to 150 to 300 students a term across up to seven classes. One year in the classroom completed.

    • Lecture and mentor 150 to 300 students each term across up to seven classes on software engineering, modern frameworks, and architecture.
    • Designed full-stack web and mobile curricula with React, Vue, Node.js, Express, PHP, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.
    • Built a GitHub-native course platform with signed QR attendance and human-reviewed AI grading. AI drafts; I sign. Student data stays off servers.
    • Spoke on responsible AI-assisted development at the GDGoC General Assembly in August 2026.
  3. Chief Technology Officer

    Philippines (remote); joined through Broadheader's full-team acquisition

    Built a new platform from zero with the CEO and grew the founding team.

    • Set the technology roadmap and built a new platform from zero, working directly with the CEO.
    • Ran the product from idea to launch, hands-on to unblock engineering and ship.
    • Recruited, scaled, and mentored the founding engineering and leadership team.
    • IT Director and Co-Founder

      Angeles, Philippines

      Co-founded and built the agency's engineering arm.

      • Co-founded and built the agency's engineering arm; the team was later acquired by PH Live Music.
      • Designed technical strategy and system design for greenfield client applications.
      • Set the initial engineering culture and standards: git-flow workflows and agile tracking.
      • Operations Manager

        Angeles, Philippines

        Built operations from scratch and scaled to onboard a large BPO client.

        • Built operations from scratch and scaled infrastructure to onboard and support a large BPO client.
        • Designed business-process systems that cut operational bottlenecks.
        • Directed procurement, resource allocation, and cross-functional leadership against client SLAs.
        • Led go-to-market and marketing during growth phases, connecting operations to business development.
        • Sales and Marketing Lead

          Angeles, Philippines

          Built the first sales and marketing setup and a repeatable pipeline.

          • Built the company's first sales and marketing setup from scratch, with a client-acquisition system that gave the business a steady, predictable pipeline.
          • Started the company's social presence and paid-ads strategy, running the first campaigns to find and convert enterprise leads.
          • Standardized the sales lifecycle: the sales process, client proposals, and service contracts.
          • Ran the corporate WordPress site to bring in inbound traffic and leads.
          • Recruited, trained, and managed a small sales and marketing team, aligned to the company's growth targets.
          • Sales and Marketing Manager, Co-owner

            Zambales, Philippines

            Co-ran a family resort's operations and its whole digital footprint.

            • Co-managed resort operations and commercial strategy with family stakeholders, growing bookings and the guest experience across the seasons.
            • Built the resort's digital footprint from scratch: the official website and a strong organic social presence.
            • Ran the resort's paid-ads strategy, with campaigns that turned social engagement into steady bookings.
            • Set up and integrated a central booking system across Airbnb, OTA platforms, and direct channels.
            • Associate Software Engineer

              Clark, Philippines

              First job, recruited before graduation onto an enterprise software team.

              • Recruited in my third university year, before graduation, onto a fast-paced enterprise software team.
              • Learned production practice: version control, clean architecture, and agile methods.
              • Worked on core software components and took part in rigorous code review.
              • Balanced a full course load with the job before shifting to a family business.

              Open source and selected projects

              BREAD Stack Creator of an open-source, no-build, server-rendered hypermedia stack in Bun and TypeScript. It powers this site.
              GRAIN An AI-interaction design system where people and AI use the same controls, and human review marks AI-authored content.
              Course Console A GitHub-native course platform with signed QR attendance and reviewed AI grading. Student data stays off servers.

              Education

              1. Professional Science Master's (PSM) in Cybersecurity

                  • BS Computer Science

                    • President of LOOP, the official Computer Science student organization.
                    • Top 3rd-year student for academic and technical performance.
                    • Best Thesis award for research, architecture, and implementation.

                    Technical proficiencies

                    Frontend and Mobile

                    Next.js · React · Vue · Flutter · Dart

                    Backend and Frameworks

                    NestJS · Node.js · Express · PHP · RESTful APIs

                    Databases and Storage

                    MongoDB · MySQL · PostgreSQL · Supabase · Firebase

                    Cloud and Infrastructure

                    AWS microservices

                    AI and Developer Tooling

                    Claude Code · GitHub Copilot · Apache DevLake

                    Tools and Methodologies

                    Git · Agile/Scrum · Jira · Notion

                    Certifications and languages

                    • Developing on AWS (EnterOne), Oct 2025
                    • Cloud Foundations (AWS), Jul 2026

                    Languages: English (native) · Filipino (fluent) · Dutch (conversational)

                    The dated history also sits on LinkedIn. The code is on GitHub. The honest long version, failures included, is in the notes.

                    Part of tjakoen.github.io, built with itself.

                    AI helps me write and review. I direct the work, test the result, and answer for what ships. How I work with AI →