SOFTWARE · CLOUD · AI — FULL-STACK ENGINEER
I build productsthat ship.
McDarsene M Mwale — full-stack engineer and founder of Mvalex, a Shanghai-based technology studio. I design, build, and operate digital products end-to-end: from the first commit to production traffic.
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About
Building useful technology, not just impressive demos.
I'm McDarsene M. Mwale, a full-stack engineer who builds software across the stack, from architecture and data models to interfaces, infrastructure, and production systems. My work spans web and mobile applications, backend platforms, cloud infrastructure, and AI systems, including retrieval pipelines, agents, and tool-use workflows. I enjoy taking an idea from its earliest technical shape through to something people can actually use, maintain, and rely on.
I care about the details that make software hold up in the real world: clear interfaces, thoughtful user experiences, reproducible builds, observability, security, and sensible infrastructure costs. I'm drawn to the difficult, often invisible parts of engineering because they are usually what separates a working demo from a dependable product. For me, good software is not just about writing code, it is about making sound decisions, shipping consistently, and building systems that continue to work long after launch.
Selected Work
Things I've built
Engagements
How I can help
Five practice areas covering the full lifecycle of a digital product — from the first commit to the production deploy and beyond.
Software Engineering
End-to-end product work — architecture, implementation, testing, and delivery for web, dashboard, and mobile.
- Full-stack web apps (Next.js, React, Node)
- Internal dashboards and admin tools
- Mobile apps (React Native, Flutter)
- API design and integration
Cloud Engineering
Cloud platforms designed for cost, reliability, and the team that has to run them.
- Cloud architecture and infrastructure as code
- Infrastructure as code (Terraform, CDK)
- CI/CD pipelines and release automation
- Observability, alerting, and cost tuning
AI & ML Engineering
AI systems that survive contact with production — retrieval, agents, evals, and guardrails.
- Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
- LLM agents with tool use and human-in-the-loop
- Fine-tuning, distillation, and eval harnesses
- Vector stores and semantic search
Automation
Removing operational toil — the workflows that should never have needed a human.
- Business process automation
- Integration between SaaS tools and internal systems
- Scheduled jobs, webhooks, and event pipelines
- Data sync and reconciliation
Prompt Engineering & AI UX
Prompts as interfaces — versioned, tested, and reviewed like any other production artifact.
- System prompt design and evaluation
- Chain-of-thought, tool use, and structured output
- Prompt regression testing and A/B evaluation
- Human-in-the-loop workflows and guardrails
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Years shipping code
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Repos on GitHub
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CI/CD workflows
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Mobile apps
Capabilities
The stack I build on
Four disciplines I keep sharp — covering the surface, the systems, the motion, and the persistence layer of a modern product.
Frontend
Typed, tested interfaces — web apps, dashboards, and marketing sites that feel fast because they are.
TypeScript · React · Next.js · Tailwind · Framer Motion
Backend & Data
APIs, schemas, and pipelines designed to be changed safely by people who aren't you.
Node · Postgres · Drizzle · tRPC · dbt · Airflow
Cloud & Platform
Infrastructure that fails predictably, recovers automatically, and costs what the invoice says.
Terraform · Docker · GitHub Actions · Vercel · EAS
AI & Automation
LLM systems and workflow automation — from prompts and evals to agents that run unattended.
Claude · OpenAI-compatible · GitHub Actions · TypeScript
FAQ
Questions, answered
What kinds of engagements do you take?
Founding engineering, platform builds, and AI integrations. Most projects run 6–16 weeks. I work solo or with a small team from Mvalex, depending on scope.
Do you work with existing engineering teams?
Yes, often. I embed as a senior IC or tech lead, ship alongside the team, and leave behind runbooks, ADRs, and tests.
How do you handle AI projects?
Same as any other software: clear problem, measurable outcome, versioned prompts, an eval harness, and a fallback path for when the model gets it wrong.
What's your stack?
TypeScript and React on the front-end, Node and Postgres on the back-end, GitHub Actions for CI/CD, and Claude or OpenAI-compatible models for LLM work. React Native or Flutter for mobile, depending on the team.
Do you build mobile apps?
Yes — React Native and Flutter. I pick based on the team that will maintain it, not personal preference.
Where are you based and what time zones do you work with?
Shanghai. I keep overlap with Asia-Pacific daily and with Europe and North America by arrangement.
How do projects start?
A 30-minute call to understand the problem, then a short written proposal scope, milestones, and price. No discovery theatre.
What does a project cost?
Engagements typically start around $12k for a focused build. Fixed-scope, milestone-billed. I'll tell you if the budget and the goal don't match.
Contact
Let's build something that ships.
I take on a small number of engagements each quarter — founding engineering, platform builds, and AI integrations. Tell me what you're working on and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right fit.
What's your name?
So I know who I'm talking to.
No payment now. We confirm goals and next steps on the first call.