[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":384},["ShallowReactive",2],{"experience-en-cealis-tech-studio":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"company":366,"description":347,"extension":367,"location":368,"meta":369,"navigation":376,"path":377,"period":378,"seo":379,"slug":380,"stem":381,"summary":382,"__hash__":383},"content/en/experience/cealis-tech-studio.md","Lead Software Engineer, Cofounder & CTO",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":346},"minimark",[9,14,18,21,24,28,35,41,47,53,59,63,68,73,76,81,84,89,108,113,116,119,123,127,130,134,137,141,158,162,165,167,171,175,178,182,185,189,203,207,210,214,218,224,230,236,242,244,248,253,258,263,268,272,278,284,290,296,300,303,306,309,313,333,337,340,343],[10,11,13],"h2",{"id":12},"context","Context",[15,16,17],"p",{},"CEALIS TECH STUDIO was a software engineering studio I co-founded to deliver custom software products for clients across Central Africa and the diaspora. The studio operated as a lean team — a small group of engineers taking on high-complexity projects requiring full-stack development, product strategy, and genuine technical leadership.",[15,19,20],{},"The studio's value proposition was quality software built to international standards, delivered from Cameroon. Clients ranged from entrepreneurs with early-stage product ideas to companies needing reliable internal tooling. Projects spanned construction technology, sports data analytics, deep-link infrastructure, and client-facing web products.",[15,22,23],{},"As CTO and Lead Software Engineer, I was responsible for every layer of the technical operation: architecture decisions, direct development work, client communication, team hiring, mentorship, and delivery.",[10,25,27],{"id":26},"my-role-ownership","My Role & Ownership",[15,29,30,34],{},[31,32,33],"strong",{},"Product & technical decisions"," — I owned the technical direction for every project the studio took on. This meant assessing requirements, defining architecture, choosing the stack, scoping the work, and making build vs. buy decisions. I was the primary technical contact for all clients and translated their business needs into implementable specifications.",[15,36,37,40],{},[31,38,39],{},"Backend / API / database"," — I implemented backend services and APIs for both client projects and internal products. For the sports data analytics platform, I designed and built the full backend infrastructure from scratch.",[15,42,43,46],{},[31,44,45],{},"Frontend / product interfaces"," — I designed and built the front-facing applications for the studio's internal deep-link product and contributed to client-facing web products. I also contributed to UI/UX prototyping for some projects before moving to implementation.",[15,48,49,52],{},[31,50,51],{},"Deployment / infrastructure"," — I set up development infrastructure for the studio: repositories, CI/CD pipelines, environment configurations, and deployment processes.",[15,54,55,58],{},[31,56,57],{},"Team / client collaboration"," — I recruited and onboarded junior developers, trained and mentored a junior frontend developer, conducted code reviews, and maintained quality standards across the team's output. I managed direct communication with clients throughout project lifecycles.",[10,60,62],{"id":61},"projects-i-worked-on","Projects I Worked On",[64,65,67],"h3",{"id":66},"sports-data-analytics-platform","Sports Data Analytics Platform",[15,69,70],{},[31,71,72],{},"Problem",[15,74,75],{},"A client needed a platform to collect, process, and surface sports performance data for analysis. The system had to handle structured data ingestion from multiple sources and present it in a way that was useful for analysts and coaches.",[15,77,78],{},[31,79,80],{},"What I Built",[15,82,83],{},"I implemented the full backend services and related infrastructure for the platform — data ingestion pipelines, API layer, database design, and deployment.",[15,85,86],{},[31,87,88],{},"Technical Work",[90,91,92,96,99,102,105],"ul",{},[93,94,95],"li",{},"Designed the data model for multi-sport, multi-event performance data",[93,97,98],{},"Built data ingestion pipelines to process and normalize input from different sources",[93,100,101],{},"Developed the REST API layer consumed by the frontend analytics interface",[93,103,104],{},"Set up the cloud infrastructure and deployment pipeline",[93,106,107],{},"Implemented authentication and access control for analyst and admin roles",[15,109,110],{},[31,111,112],{},"Impact",[15,114,115],{},"Delivered a functional, production-ready backend that the client could build on and extend. The system handled structured data at scale and provided a reliable API foundation for the analytics interface.",[117,118],"hr",{},[64,120,122],{"id":121},"internal-deep-link-product-front-facing-clients","Internal Deep-Link Product (Front-Facing Clients)",[15,124,125],{},[31,126,72],{},[15,128,129],{},"The studio developed an in-house deep-link product — a tool for generating smart links that route users to the correct destination on mobile apps or web, depending on their device and context. It needed a polished front-facing client interface for end users and an admin configuration layer.",[15,131,132],{},[31,133,80],{},[15,135,136],{},"I designed, architected, and implemented the front-facing client applications for the deep-link product.",[15,138,139],{},[31,140,88],{},[90,142,143,146,149,152,155],{},[93,144,145],{},"Designed the application architecture for the client-facing interface",[93,147,148],{},"Implemented the link generation and routing logic in the frontend",[93,150,151],{},"Built the configuration and management interface for link rules and redirect behavior",[93,153,154],{},"Ensured cross-device compatibility and fallback handling for unsupported environments",[93,156,157],{},"Contributed to UI/UX design for the product interface",[15,159,160],{},[31,161,112],{},[15,163,164],{},"The studio had a usable, well-architected internal product that could be demonstrated to clients and used as a foundation for commercial offerings.",[117,166],{},[64,168,170],{"id":169},"client-custom-builds","Client Custom Builds",[15,172,173],{},[31,174,72],{},[15,176,177],{},"Multiple clients came to the studio with specific product needs: internal dashboards, booking systems, and custom web applications. Each required scoping, architecture, and delivery from a small team.",[15,179,180],{},[31,181,80],{},[15,183,184],{},"I acted as lead architect and senior developer on these projects, working directly with clients to define requirements and delivering production-ready software.",[15,186,187],{},[31,188,88],{},[90,190,191,194,197,200],{},[93,192,193],{},"Conducted requirements gathering and technical scoping for each project",[93,195,196],{},"Defined architecture and made stack decisions adapted to each client's constraints",[93,198,199],{},"Led development and reviewed all code produced by junior team members",[93,201,202],{},"Managed deployment and handoff for each delivered project",[15,204,205],{},[31,206,112],{},[15,208,209],{},"Delivered four high-impact projects over approximately two years. Each project was shipped to production and handed off to clients who could operate them independently.",[10,211,213],{"id":212},"technical-challenges","Technical Challenges",[64,215,217],{"id":216},"building-a-software-studio-with-a-small-team-under-delivery-pressure","Building a Software Studio with a Small Team Under Delivery Pressure",[15,219,220,223],{},[31,221,222],{},"Challenge"," — Running a studio with a lean team meant simultaneously managing client expectations, technical delivery, team development, and internal product work. There was no buffer: delays in one project affected capacity for others.",[15,225,226,229],{},[31,227,228],{},"Why it was difficult"," — The challenge was not purely technical. It required constant prioritization, honest scoping conversations with clients, and ensuring that junior developers were learning while still delivering.",[15,231,232,235],{},[31,233,234],{},"How I approached it"," — I invested early in setting up shared infrastructure and engineering standards: repository conventions, code review processes, and shared components that could be reused across projects. This reduced per-project overhead and kept quality consistent across deliveries.",[15,237,238,241],{},[31,239,240],{},"Result"," — Delivered four client projects to production over two years while developing the studio's internal tooling and growing a junior team member to become independently productive.",[117,243],{},[64,245,247],{"id":246},"architecting-for-reuse-across-diverse-projects","Architecting for Reuse Across Diverse Projects",[15,249,250,252],{},[31,251,222],{}," — Each client project had different requirements, but building each one entirely from scratch was unsustainable for a small team.",[15,254,255,257],{},[31,256,228],{}," — Identifying the right abstraction level for shared modules is non-trivial. Too abstract and the modules are hard to use; too specific and they don't generalize.",[15,259,260,262],{},[31,261,234],{}," — I identified the core shared concerns across projects — authentication, authorization, tenant isolation — and built shared modules around those. I kept the interface contracts explicit and documented, which made it possible for team members to use them without fully understanding the internals.",[15,264,265,267],{},[31,266,240],{}," — New projects started from a working base rather than from zero, which meaningfully reduced time-to-first-working-build.",[10,269,271],{"id":270},"architecture-engineering-decisions","Architecture & Engineering Decisions",[15,273,274,277],{},[31,275,276],{},"Studio infrastructure"," — Early investment in shared tooling paid off. Standardized repository structure, CI/CD templates, and a shared component library meant that new projects launched faster and maintained consistent quality.",[15,279,280,283],{},[31,281,282],{},"Frontend architecture"," — Nuxt was the default frontend framework for studio projects, providing SSR capabilities and a consistent development model. Vue component libraries were reused across projects where applicable.",[15,285,286,289],{},[31,287,288],{},"Deployment approach"," — Each project had its own deployment pipeline, configured consistently using the studio's established conventions. This reduced the operational overhead of managing multiple live products simultaneously.",[15,291,292,295],{},[31,293,294],{},"Team knowledge transfer"," — I treated documentation and code review as primary tools for knowledge transfer. Junior developers were expected to read and understand architecture decisions, not just implement tasks.",[10,297,299],{"id":298},"collaboration-leadership","Collaboration & Leadership",[15,301,302],{},"I co-founded the studio and held both the CTO role and the lead engineering role simultaneously. This meant I was the sole person responsible for technical direction while also producing a significant portion of the code.",[15,304,305],{},"On the team side, I recruited and onboarded developers, trained and mentored a junior frontend developer from early-stage to independently productive, and ran code reviews for all team output. I set the quality bar and was accountable for it.",[15,307,308],{},"On the client side, I managed all technical communication: requirements gathering, architecture presentations, progress updates, and delivery handoffs. Clients trusted me directly, which meant I had to balance technical honesty with delivery confidence.",[10,310,312],{"id":311},"results-evidence","Results & Evidence",[90,314,315,318,321,324,327,330],{},[93,316,317],{},"Co-founded and led the technical operation of a software engineering studio",[93,319,320],{},"Delivered four high-impact client projects to production over approximately two years",[93,322,323],{},"Designed and implemented the full backend for a sports data analytics platform",[93,325,326],{},"Built the front-facing client applications for the studio's deep-link product",[93,328,329],{},"Recruited, onboarded, and mentored junior developers",[93,331,332],{},"Established engineering processes (CI/CD, code review, component libraries) that the team operated under",[10,334,336],{"id":335},"what-this-experience-proves","What This Experience Proves",[15,338,339],{},"This experience demonstrates my ability to operate as a technical leader at the founding level — making architecture decisions, delivering software, building a team, and managing clients, simultaneously.",[15,341,342],{},"It demonstrates that I can build organizations and processes, not just code. Setting up a studio from scratch required defining how the team works, how quality is maintained, and how knowledge is transferred — on top of the engineering work itself.",[15,344,345],{},"It proves I can manage multiple products and projects in parallel, maintain delivery quality under resource constraints, and translate ambiguous client requirements into shipped software.",{"title":347,"searchDepth":348,"depth":348,"links":349},"",2,[350,351,352,358,362,363,364,365],{"id":12,"depth":348,"text":13},{"id":26,"depth":348,"text":27},{"id":61,"depth":348,"text":62,"children":353},[354,356,357],{"id":66,"depth":355,"text":67},3,{"id":121,"depth":355,"text":122},{"id":169,"depth":355,"text":170},{"id":212,"depth":348,"text":213,"children":359},[360,361],{"id":216,"depth":355,"text":217},{"id":246,"depth":355,"text":247},{"id":270,"depth":348,"text":271},{"id":298,"depth":348,"text":299},{"id":311,"depth":348,"text":312},{"id":335,"depth":348,"text":336},"CEALIS TECH STUDIO","md","Yaounde, Cameroon",{"tags":370},[371,372,373,374,375],"Technical leadership","Full-stack ownership","Product delivery","Team mentorship","SaaS architecture",true,"/en/experience/cealis-tech-studio","June 2024 – March 2026",{"title":5,"description":347},"cealis-tech-studio","en/experience/cealis-tech-studio","Co-founded a software engineering studio and led all technical decisions, architecture, delivery, and team development across client projects and internal products.","3JDTZQHxHa-itH7RUq86Nwbbpx4vz-5WudhS4ZnVZKE",1780680734296]