Christos Hrousis
Software engineer specialising in robust, user experiences. From
engaging UIs to complex app architecture.
Code, Creativity & Collaboration.
Learnings
User-Centric Always
The user's experience is the ultimate measure of success. Empathy is the core of good design and development. Empathy is about trying to experience through the lens of others.
Premature abstraction is definitely the root of all evil
Premature abstraction can also exist in non-coding contexts. Duplication informing abstractions is actually a good thing, relax.
Accessibility as a quality metric
Accessibility impacts everyone. Building accessible (a11y) products is a fundamental responsibility, not an afterthought. It ultimately results in a well refined product, that is easier to test!
Agency, empowerment, autonomy, and get out of the way
Engineers do their best work in trust-based environments, where we empower them to make decisions, and get out of the way.
Never Stop Learning
This industry moves fast. Stay curious, experiment with new tech, and never be afraid to be a beginner again.
Own It, Ship It
Take full ownership of your work from concept to production. Sweat the details, test rigorously, and deliver value. As leaders, we need to encourage this, and create the environment where it is possible.
Published ideas are the ghosts of done
There is no editing stage, everything is a draft. Laugh at perfection, it keeps you from being done. Failure counts as done. Destruction is a form of done. Once it's done, you can throw it away. Done is the engine of more.
Domain trumps technical prowess
My take on Conway's Law, is that understanding the business domain of your problem space will accelerate your technical ability and help sharpen a sense of outcomes focused delivery over playing with toy's in a playpen.
WORK
HISTORY
As a consultant at DiUS, my work involves placements with various clients. Due to confidentiality agreements, all client names have been redacted.
Corporate Gym Membership Portal
Engineering Consultant (Jan 2025 - Present)
Served as technical lead of a squad for [REDACTED], drove digital transformation from zero to a tech-first organization. Migrated legacy authentication to a compliant AWS Cognito solution. Transitioned from multi-repo to pnpm/turbo mono-repo. Delivered a ShadCN-based Design System with React Web Components upon a legacy AngularJS 14 integration. Participated in establishing engineering foundations including Datadog observability and GraphQL IaC patterns for modern NestJS, domain-aligned services, migrating away from a complex stack of 400+ .NET 6 lambdas.
Major Australian Digital Lender Startup
Engineering Consultant (Jan 2024 - Dec 2024)
Served as tech lead for the squad at [REDACTED], driving technical excellence while delivering the 3 major initiatives, using NextJS and Webflow. Architected a long-term authentication strategy, built a scalable Vite-based build system for embeddable widgets, transitioned to an NX mono-repo with comprehensive visual regression (Storybook/Chromatic) and E2E testing (Playwright), all within a cost-optimized CI/CD pipeline on Github Actions. Then to close-off, successfully scaled the squad then coached a successor.
Red Bullseye Megastore
Engineering Consultant (June 2023 - Dec 2023)
Contributed to re-platforming [REDACTED] e-commerce website to NextJS, focusing on performance optimization and quality assurance that reduced page load times from 8,000-15,000ms to consistent sub-2,500ms. Exceeded all Core Web Vitals and translating to measurable revenue uplift. Led the migration of QA CI tasks from Jenkins-X to Github Actions, reducing pipeline time from an inconsistent 20-30 minutes to a consistent sub-8 minutes. Established a visual regression testing culture with Playwright across the NX mono-repo housing 3 NextJS/React applications.
Top-5 ASX Listed Tech Company
Engineering Consultant (July 2022 - June 2023)
Led a 3-person DiUS consulting cohort into a squad within [REDACTED]. Delivered two micro-frontend projects recognized for delivering outcomes faster than any other squad. Built an embeddable investor order entry system using React/TypeScript Web Components with Mock Service Worker for rapid prototyping. Later consolidated 10 legacy workflows into a modernized feature screen. Pioneered the adoption of Stryker mutation testing, Playwright E2E testing, and feature toggling within the division. Implemented comprehensive CI/CD pipelines with BuildKite and infrastructure on AWS using Terraform.
Mutasaurus
Open Source I'm currently tinkering with
Mutation testing library written with Deno
Teacher Feedback Tech
Engineering Consultant (Nov 2021 - June 2022)
Re-platforming and modernization of the [REDACTED] student wellbeing survey system, which spanned across 26 repositories. Established a comprehensive testing culture with Jest and Cypress. Unifying CI/CD on CodeFresh. Implemented an event-sourcing dual-database architecture (DynamoDB with Serverless RDS) for improved analytics capabilities. Developed critical features including CSV-based user management and owned the authorization/RBAC domain. Enabled a scalable system that issued upwards of 150,000+ surveys across hundreds of APAC schools and captured thousands of student distress events bettering the wellbeing of students in need.
P2P Money Matching Service
Frontend Engineering Consultant (Aug 2021 - Nov 2021)
Designed and developed a complete white-label portal frontend application for [REDACTED]. Vue 3 and TypeScript. Enabled small business users to manage credit lines and request drawdowns through Partner-branded applications. Established a culture of testing with Jest and Cypress. Introduced a Lerna-based monorepo for common libraries. Integrated AWS Amplify/Cognito authentication flows. Multi-tenant branding system using CSS variables with DatoCMS for Partner-specific customization.
Corporate Crystal Ball Platform
Engineering Consultant (Nov 2020 - Aug 2021)
Designed and developed the core Ruby on Rails web application for [REDACTED]. Implemented a Svelte with Sapper user interface as part of the 'SaaS-ification' of an internal software suite. Delivered a cloud-based solution on AWS ECS utilizing a multi-language stack including Julia, Python, Ruby on Rails, and Svelte.
Fancy Car Shuffling SaaS
Frontend Engineering Consultant (Oct 2020 - Nov 2020)
Led the development of a new realtime, decoupled React-based WebApp client for a valet management platform called [REDACTED]. Split out the API architecture and built the foundation using React and React Redux. Extended the Ruby on Rails backend feature set and patched existing functionality to support the modernized frontend architecture.
[redacted] - Pilates startup
Web Application Developer (Aug 2020 - Oct 2020)
In a two-person team, architected and delivered the complete technical infrastructure including a Hasura GraphQL API over PostgreSQL, Firebase user management, and a Gatsby-based web application for managing exercise programs and physiotherapist access. Accelerated development using the AntD design system and GraphQL Code Generator with Apollo to generate fully typed operations from Hasura-generated schemas.
Mustard Creative
Lead Developer (Jan 2018 - Oct 2020)
Led the scoping, pitching, development, and management of web-based solutions as Lead Developer, utilizing skills across all aspects of web development. Delivered highly interactive products using a proprietary VueJS and PHP framework with integrated CMS capabilities, while also building bespoke solutions with Gatsby, React, and JavaScript for clients requiring higher levels of interactivity.
Shoji App
React Native Developer (Aug 2017 - Jan 2018)
Developed and managed the Android build of a React Native mobile application serving tens of thousands of concurrent users, built internal admin tooling, and contributed to a white-label dating app solution based on the underlying Shoji technical stack. Additionally explored IoT device integration in retail contexts to deliver innovative customer experiences using proximity-based connection metrics.
Blender Media
Frontend Engineer (Oct 2015 - Aug 2017)
As a core frontend engineer, led the inception and development of Piknic.ca, a templating product, while delivering multiple client projects for IPO and Pre-IPO company marketing websites. Developed various internal tools and mini-projects using a mix of proprietary and open source technologies to create both bespoke and cost-effective solutions for investor relations clients.
ProjectProject
Full Stack Engineer (Feb 2014 - Aug 2015)
Served as a core member of the engineering team, responsible for full-stack development across the entire Ruby on Rails stack. Built web and mobile applications for startup sector clients, focusing on projects with high societal impact and working collaboratively to deliver scalable solutions.