I picked PHP first because the agencies in 2014 paid for it. Then Laravel, because the PHP I was writing deserved better bones. Then Python and Django because data work was creeping in. Node because the frontend kept asking for a real backend. React because everyone's frontend is React now. Twelve years later, I'm not loyal to a stack. I'm loyal to the right tool for the job, the one the client can still hire for later.
Postgres for anything serious, MySQL when I've inherited it, Redis when something has to be fast. Hosting depends on the budget: Hetzner when money's tight, a managed cloud when compliance asks, Kubernetes only once the scale actually earns the headache.
The new layer is AI. Claude, Gemini and the OpenAI APIs are in my daily flow. Not something I'm selling you, just how the work actually gets done now. If you haven't worked out where they fit yet, I'll tell you what's real and what's marketing.
Toptal-vetted. Async-friendly. Hate meetings that could have been a PR description.
laravel django node react typescript postgres mysql redis claude gemini n8n
now
current build a django service with claude in the middle
reading designing data-intensive applications (again)
shipping postgres migrations, the unsexy kind
learning rust, slowly, badly
listening changelog, syntax.fm
drinking chai
hours 10:00–19:00 pkt, flexible