Basil Francis Alajid
Lead Product Engineer at Polar Peer | Building systems that ship
Polar PeerSkills
- TypeScript (CORE, proficiency 95%): Core language across all projects. Strict mode. Zero any types.
- React / Next.js (FRONTEND, proficiency 95%): Primary frontend. App Router. RSC. SSR/SSG.
- Rust / WASM (SYSTEMS, proficiency 70%): Systems-level computation compiled to the browser via wasm-pack.
- Python (SCRIPTING, proficiency 75%): AI/ML pipelines, API backends, training data evaluation.
- React Native (MOBILE, proficiency 80%): Cross-platform mobile with Expo. Offline-first architecture.
- Node.js (BACKEND, proficiency 85%): Server-side JavaScript. REST APIs. Real-time systems.
- PostgreSQL (DATABASE, proficiency 75%): Relational database. Drizzle ORM. Prisma. Data modeling.
- Docker (DEVOPS, proficiency 70%): Containerization. CI/CD workflows. Linux deployment.
- Playwright (TESTING, proficiency 85%): E2E browser automation. CRX harness. Spec-to-defect tracing.
- Git (TOOLS, proficiency 90%): Version control. Branching strategy. CI/CD triggers.
- Three.js / R3F (CREATIVE, proficiency 70%): This constellation. WebGL rendering. React Three Fiber.
- AI / LLM Engineering (AI, proficiency 85%): Native Claude tool-calling, RAG, and streaming — this site's assistant is the proof.
- Redis (CACHE, proficiency 70%): In-memory store powering this site's chat memory, rate limits, and share links.
- Tailwind CSS (STYLING, proficiency 90%): Utility-first styling across this site and every recent client build.
- Java (LANGUAGE, proficiency 65%): Custom SME software delivered across 5+ years of freelance builds.
- Motion (GSAP + Framer) (ANIMATION, proficiency 85%): Scroll-driven GSAP timelines and Framer Motion interaction design across the site.
Engineering Principles
Basil Francis Alajid
Lead Product Engineer at Polar Peer
7+ years shipping production software — enterprise workflow systems, test automation frameworks, and full-stack applications. I design and deliver deterministic systems that scale, manage complex state and integrations, and remain stable in production. I operate end-to-end, from architecture and implementation to testing, observability, and optimization, with a focus on reliability, performance, and long-term maintainability.
I've been around computers for as long as I can remember — I was playing video games before I even knew the alphabet. I have a thing for watches too, and I wear mine like they're part of me, not accessories. My partner gets the full experience of how my brain works: I'll randomly go off explaining system design ideas, then somehow end up building something over the top, like an entire epidemiological simulation, to make up for it. And yeah, Luka and Nala are basically my first two kids at this point. Any actual children I have later are coming in third and fourth. They'll just have to accept that.
Cebu City, PH
UTC+8
7+
years experience
BS Computer Eng.
AMA University
20+
projects shipped
Current Roles
Lead Product Engineer
Polar Peer is building a distributed network that runs AI inference on GPUs contributed by independent node operators.
Also full-time as Senior Backend Engineer at CoDev.
Core Stack
How I Think About Building Software
Deterministic over clever
Pure state machines, seeded RNG, reproducible builds. If I can't replay a bug, I can't fix it.
Automate the pain
Replaced 3 days of manual QA with a 45-minute Playwright suite. If I do something twice, it becomes a script.
Zero-backend when possible
Professor Basil's Lab runs entirely client-side. No servers to maintain, no costs to scale.
Test the contract, not the implementation
E2E suites validate user workflows, not internal state. When I refactored the form engine, zero tests broke because they tested what users see, not how state is managed.
Own it end-to-end
20+ projects delivered solo across 7+ years, from requirements through production support, with repeat clients across software and technical writing. When there's no team to delegate to, you learn what actually matters.
Unblock before you build
I was the primary escalation point for integration failures at Accenture. Fixing other people's broken flows taught me more about systems than building my own features.
Luka Doncic Cebedo Alajid II III Jr. Sr.
Principal Research Consultant
“I personally reviewed every page of the thesis that inspired STH-Sim Cebu. Sat on it, actually. Thoroughly reviewed. The methodology is sound — the paper was warm, well-structured, and smelled faintly of printer ink. I remain the only member of this household who has physically engaged with the primary research material. My consultation fee is one (1) chin scratch.”
Skills & Technologies
Basil's core stack, with a dedicated deep-dive page for each skill: TypeScript, React / Next.js, Rust / WASM, Python, React Native, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Docker, Playwright, Git, Three.js / R3F, AI / LLM Engineering, Redis, Tailwind CSS, Java, Motion (GSAP + Framer).
Sep 2026 - Present
Polar Peer
Aug 2026 - Present
CoDev
Jun 2026 - Aug 2026
Accenture
Jan 2026 - Jun 2026
Accenture
Sep 2024 - Jan 2026
Accenture
Apr 2025 - Dec 2025
Alignerr
Jul 2023 - Sep 2023
Blueberry Digital Labs
May 2019 - Present
Independent
Polar Peer is building a distributed network that runs AI inference on GPUs contributed by independent node operators.
- Lead the MVP from plan to release: scope, user journeys, release gates and the decisions that unblock each stage.
- Built the operator console and developer portal (React, TypeScript, Vite): component library, design tokens, a streaming chat playground, and accessibility checked with VoiceOver and in real Safari.
- Back every release with 1,000+ unit tests and 400+ end-to-end tests, run in Chromium, Firefox and WebKit plus a mobile profile.
- Drive a contract-first API: an OpenAPI spec with contract tests, so frontend and backend build in parallel.
- Shape the Rust core with the founders: clearer module boundaries, stronger tests and steady technical-debt paydown.
- Research the mathematics behind the network: scheduling, reputation and trust models, and verifying work done on hardware the network doesn't control.
- Designed privacy-first observability for the node fleet: OpenTelemetry into Grafana Loki and Jaeger, with IPs, credentials and user content redacted before anything leaves a machine.
- Ran an end-to-end technical assessment of the platform and turned it into a prioritised roadmap.
- Set the engineering bar across a team spread over several countries: CI quality gates, small reviewable pull requests and test-first bug fixes.
- Backend
- Rust (Tokio, axum), NATS JetStream
- Observability
- OpenTelemetry, Grafana, Loki, Jaeger
- Delivery
- Docker, Helm
- Frontend and desktop
- React, TypeScript, Vite, Tauri
Rust
React
TypeScript
Vite
DockerContract engagement. Polar Peer is building a distributed network that runs AI inference on GPUs contributed by independent node operators.
- •Lead the MVP from plan to release: scope, user journeys, release gates and the decisions that unblock each stage.
- •Built the operator console and developer portal (React, TypeScript, Vite): component library, design tokens, a streaming chat playground, and accessibility checked with VoiceOver and in real Safari.
- •Back every release with 1,000+ unit tests and 400+ end-to-end tests, run in Chromium, Firefox and WebKit plus a mobile profile.
- •Drive a contract-first API: an OpenAPI spec with contract tests, so frontend and backend build in parallel.
- •Shape the Rust core with the founders: clearer module boundaries, stronger tests and steady technical-debt paydown.
- •Research the mathematics behind the network: scheduling, reputation and trust models, and verifying work done on hardware the network doesn't control.
- •Designed privacy-first observability for the node fleet: OpenTelemetry into Grafana Loki and Jaeger, with IPs, credentials and user content redacted before anything leaves a machine.
- •Ran an end-to-end technical assessment of the platform and turned it into a prioritised roadmap.
- •Set the engineering bar across a team spread over several countries: CI quality gates, small reviewable pull requests and test-first bug fixes.
Senior Backend Engineer
Full-stack engineer on a 30-service learning platform: learner portal, e-reader, authoring tool, admin console, and backend services. Based in Cebu City, Philippines.
- •Owned an accessibility epic end to end. Added a third-party accessibility widget to three apps behind a per-organisation feature flag, and kept users' settings in sync across domains with a first-party cookie.
- •Reviewed 56 of my teammates' pull requests. One review caught a change that would have locked every partner integration out of authentication.
- •Fixed bugs across the stack: batched AWS Kinesis writes to stay within the API's 500-record limit; sorted Elasticsearch results by translated language names; stopped a cache from serving incomplete data for newly cloned projects.
- •Wrote postmortems for production regressions and a cross-service failure. One root cause became a tech-debt epic, with a lint rule so that class of bug can't come back.
- •Introduced agent-driven browser testing through a Playwright MCP setup, shared with the team for AI-assisted dev testing.
- •Built and maintain engineering documentation for 30 repositories, with automated checks for stale references and sensitive data.
- •Shipped 51 merged pull requests across 12 codebases between 26 August and 26 September 2026, covering React front ends, Node/TypeScript services, Python APIs, and a Scala identity service.
Full Stack Engineer
Promoted to Full Stack Engineer on a Singapore-based engagement for a Fortune 500 client, designing and developing full-stack application components focused on reliability and performance. Worked from Cebu City, Philippines.
- •Designed and developed full-stack application components for a Fortune 500 client (Singapore-based engagement)
- •Operated an AI-native development workflow, using AI coding agents for feature development and code quality review
- •Served as L3 escalation support, diagnosing and resolving critical production incidents
Custom Software Engineer
Built core modules of a government defense agency platform, including case management, SLA enforcement, and reporting infrastructure serving 500+ internal users across multiple agencies.
- •Architected REST integration layer with Connect-REST handling thousands of case records
- •Designed configuration-driven form engine eliminating per-agency deployments
- •Built reporting infrastructure powering operational dashboards for agency supervisors
- •Engineered automated E2E test suites — 40% QA cycle reduction
- •Served as primary escalation point for debugging integration failures across squads
Quality Assurance Engineer
Validated data integrity across REST APIs, MongoDB collections, and server-side business logic. Caught schema drift before it reached production.
- •Mapped system behavior against specs, identified 20+ discrepancies across 2 release cycles
- •Evaluated and benchmarked QA tooling (Postman, Jest, Cypress) for engineering adoption
- •Recognized for fast ramp-up time and systematic defect identification
20+ Projects Milestone
Freelance
Reached 20+ delivered projects spanning React SPAs, REST APIs, MERN stack builds, and automation tooling, with repeat clients across software and technical writing.
Computer Engineering Major in Network Administration
AMA University Cebu Campus
Studied computer engineering with a major in network administration, covering systems architecture, networking, and software development.
- •Specialized in network administration and systems architecture
- •Applied full stack development skills through academic and freelance projects
First Client Project Delivered
Freelance
Shipped the first paid freelance project — a custom WordPress site — marking the start of a professional development career.
Freelance Full Stack Developer
Self-Employed
Delivered 20+ projects: React SPAs, Next.js applications, REST APIs, MERN stack builds, automation scripts, and custom tools for clients across multiple sectors.
- •Built single-page applications with hooks-based state management and API integrations
- •Developed backend services with Node.js/Express and Python/FastAPI
- •Owned projects end-to-end: requirements to post-launch support
- •Repeat clients across software and technical writing