// about me
Systems engineer. Developer. Data scientist in the making.
I started in network administration and systems infrastructure. Today I operate ATM hardware at Checknocrats and ship full-stack software. Tomorrow — data science and data engineering. A deliberate progression, not a pivot.
I'm Moses Kalunga, a full-stack software engineer based in Kinshasa, DRC. I design and build scalable web platforms, REST APIs, and the deployment infrastructure that makes them run reliably. My work sits at the intersection of systems engineering and modern application development.
My path into software started at ESIS, where I spent five years studying systems administration, networking, and Linux infrastructure. That foundation gave me something most developers lack early on: an understanding of how software actually runs — on real machines, real networks, with real operational constraints. It shaped how I think about every system I build today.
In 2022, I transitioned into application development through an intensive bootcamp at KADEA Academy, then spent two years as a software engineer at CINOLU building and maintaining production web applications. I learned what it means to own a system end to end — not just to ship features, but to keep them running.
Today I work simultaneously as a freelance full-stack engineer and in ATM technical operations at Checknocrats. The operational side — troubleshooting live infrastructure, managing uptime, responding to incidents — keeps my engineering thinking anchored to the realities of production systems. The two roles reinforce each other in ways I didn't expect: I write better software because I've had to keep it running.
// what I value
Engineering principles
The beliefs that shape how I approach every problem and every line of code.
Clarity over cleverness
Code is written once and read many times. I optimize for the engineer who maintains it six months later, not for the one who writes it today.
Systems thinking
Before writing a line, I ask how it fits the whole. Backend, infrastructure, data model, and business context are one interconnected system — not separate concerns.
Production-first
The real metric is what runs reliably under load. Deployment, observability, and failure modes are design concerns from day one, not afterthoughts.
Depth over breadth
I go deep on fundamentals. Understanding why a tool works the way it does leads to better decisions than knowing ten tools superficially.
// what I find interesting
Technical focus areas
The domains I gravitate toward — where I go deep and keep learning.
Backend Systems
REST APIs, service design, clean architecture
Infrastructure Engineering
Linux, Docker, Nginx, VPS deployments
Database Engineering
Schema design, query optimization, ORMs
System Reliability
Process management, monitoring, uptime
TypeScript & Type Safety
Strict typing, advanced patterns, DX
Distributed Systems
Architecture patterns, event-driven design
// right now
Currently
A snapshot of what I'm working on, learning, and thinking about.