Duncan I. Mwangi

About

Who I am, what I do, and why it matters

Summary

Duncan I. Mwangi

I've spent over a decade building production systems that real teams and customers depend on—from fintech and email marketing to retail analytics, investment management, and SaaS. My work centers on clean architecture, testable code, and systems that scale: APIs handling millions of requests, event-driven pipelines, CRMs that streamline workflows, and integrations that just work.

I've led backend teams, mentored engineers, and shipped integrations with Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, Zapier, and Twilio. I collaborate effectively across time zones with Product, Data, and Business Development, and I'm at home in both Agile and waterfall environments.

Core Expertise

Technologies and practices I lean on every day

Laravel & PHP

Backend architecture, REST APIs, queues, and testing. SOLID principles and OOP design for codebases that stay maintainable as they grow.

REST APIs

Designing, documenting, and consuming APIs. Building integrations with Stripe, PayPal, Twilio, Zapier, and third-party platforms.

WordPress & WooCommerce

Custom plugins, theme development, eCommerce flows, subscriptions, and multi-site setups. Extending WordPress to fit complex business needs.

Databases

MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB. Schema design, query optimization, indexing strategies, and working fluently with Eloquent ORM.

JavaScript & Front-end

React, Vue.js, Node.js, Livewire. Full-stack when the project calls for it—APIs, SPAs, and server-rendered interfaces.

DevOps & Infrastructure

Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, AWS. Container orchestration, CI/CD pipelines, and keeping systems running reliably.

Quality & Process

TDD, BDD, code reviews, and raising test coverage. Prioritizing reliability and maintainability over quick fixes.

Experience by Technology

Years of hands-on production experience across the stack

14 years

PHP, HTML, CSS

12 years

JavaScript

10 years

WordPress

10 years

Laravel

4 years

Vue.js

Education

BSc, Computer Software Engineering

Kenyatta University · 2007–2011