Hey! I'm Szymon

I think about
pragmatic
engineering

The why before the how of UI, design systems, developer platforms, and what it takes to grow in tech.

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Worked with

Recent writing

From the notebook

Close-up of me on a train wearing glasses and over-ear headphones, with the window and seats blurred behind

Mindset

Overdelivering is Not About Doing More. It's Actually The Opposite.

We're taught that overdelivering means going above and beyond. More features, more hours, more effort. But what if the real secret is doing less? Here's what I learned after years of 'going the extra mile' the wrong way.

Sep 8, 20267 min
Me smiling in a cap and glasses on a mountain trail, with pines, wildflowers, and a ridgeline behind

Writing

I'm Choosing to Write Worse

Having done the big makeover of my personal website, I'm realigning my goals and priorities. I'll be writing more, but... in worse quality instead. And yes, I really think this is the right direction.

Sep 1, 20267 min
View from the Biskupia Kopa tower

Software Engineering

What Happens When You Type Google.com in Your Browser?

A closer look at the classic interview question that reveals how deep your understanding of the web really goes.

Jan 13, 20269 min
Mindset

What Therapy Taught Me About Being a Staff Engineer

Three years of therapy reshaped how I work. On self-love, picking battles, shaping culture, and measuring impact over ticket count.

9 min
Frontend

Fundamentals of Rich Text Editors

The mental model I wish I had when I started working with WYSIWYG editors: document models, transactions, and custom nodes explained in 10 minutes.

13 min
Software Engineering

Building for the World: A Developer's Guide to Internationalization and Localization

Internationalization and localization aren't just about translating text - they're about making your apps resonate worldwide. Everything you need to start building i18n apps the right way.

25 min
AWS

From Zero to AWS Solutions Architect Professional In 7 Months: A Frontend Perspective

Navigating the AWS console was always intimidating for me. So how did I end up with their Pro certificate and all three Associates in just 7 months? More importantly, was it worth it for a frontend dev?

7 min
Frontend

The European Accessibility Act: A Front-End Developer's Guide

The European Accessibility Act kicks in on June 28, 2025. Here's what it actually requires and what it means for our day-to-day work as front-end developers.

14 min
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Szymon sitting in a chair, deep in thought

Track record

In numbers

Some context on the work so far.

2 000+

Engineers using Hawkins at Netflix

The design system behind thousands of internal applications.

400+

Attendances across events I've organized or hosted

Estimated total attendance, including returning participants.

5

AWS certifications earned

Including Solutions Architect Professional.

What I learned?
Approximately 499,996,094 tokens

AI tokens consumed

A playful estimate. I'm currently thinking how to measure my productivity beside work. Updated: .

Kind words

In their words

A few notes from people I've worked with.

Szymon tackles every challenge with a Staff mindset. He possesses a unique blend of deep technical mastery in the front-end ecosystem and an energy that drives the entire team forward.
Portrait of Magnus Slind-NäslundMagnus Slind-NäslundCTO · Lokalise, ex Spotify
Szymon is an Engineer who balances technical mastery with genuine cultural leadership. He proved to be a proactive community builder who gets things done without the ego.
Portrait of Jorge MartinsJorge MartinsSenior Director of Engineering · Lokalise
Szymon is a thoughtful, deliberate engineer, who backs his decisions by thorough research. He excels at being glue between different teams, and filling whatever gaps exist in the moment.
Portrait of Igor SavinIgor SavinPrincipal Engineer · Lokalise, ex Booking, Adidas, Fastify maintainer
Szymon is, quite simply, a unicorn. He’s a Staff Engineer who operates at a level of efficiency that I honestly haven’t seen in many other places.
Portrait of Maciej BeslerMaciej BeslerDirector of Product Design · Lokalise
Szymon is one of those rare engineers who combines deep technical skill with genuine care for the people and the organisation around him.
Portrait of David TerranovaDavid TerranovaEngineering Manager · Lokalise
Szymon showed a great deal of technical expertise, clearly communicating the possibilities of our backend architecture and helping find solutions to various challenges we faced.
Portrait of Katarzyna FoszczKatarzyna FoszczAI Product Designer · eBay
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Szymon speaking to an audience at a conference

On stage & on air

Where to find me

I share what I'm learning through talks and conversations, bring people together at meetups, and make music on the side.

Invite me

PodcastNext up

Design Systems at Scale

Sitting down with Neciu Dan on Señors at Scale to talk through how I approach engineering, what it takes to run a design system, joining Netflix, and plenty in between.

Señors at ScaleOnline
Podcast
Neciu Dan speaking on stage

Coming up

Meetup talk

Inside the Netflix Design System

Zalando Office · Berlin

Talk

An Into Design Systems evening in Berlin: a look under the hood of the design system Netflix engineers and designers build on - what we got right, what we had to undo, and the trade-offs nobody puts in the case study. Co-presented with Ben Lister.

Event page

Recently

2026

Conference talk

Design Systems That Explain Themselves

Code Europe · Warsaw

Talk

You don't know a design system until you have to change it. Hawkins, the design system 2k+ Netflix engineers build on, is almost ten years old and ships a major new version this year. Changing it means digging up what nobody wrote down, then pushing that knowledge into the APIs, tokens, and docs.

Szymon Chudy addressing a full room from the stage, arm outstretched mid-explanation
Event page
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