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

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.

Jan 1, 20269 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.

Nov 30, 202513 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.

Jun 19, 202525 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?

Apr 4, 20257 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.

Feb 24, 202514 min

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Szymon sitting in a chair, deep in thought

Track record

In numbers

Some context on the work so far.

Engineers using Hawkins at Netflix

The design system behind thousands of internal applications.

Attendances across events I've organized or hosted

Estimated total attendance, including returning participants.

AWS certifications earned

Including Solutions Architect Professional.

What I learned?

AI tokens consumed

A playful estimate. I'm currently thinking how to measure my productivity beside work. Updated: Sep 19, 2026.

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.

Magnus 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.

Jorge 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.

Igor 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.

Maciej 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.

David 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.

Katarzyna FoszczAI Product Designer · eBay

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

PodcastFeatured

Design Systems at Scale

I joined Neciu Dan on Señors at Scale to talk about building Hawkins, Netflix’s design system for 2,000+ internal applications. We discuss why design systems are about enablement, where the source of truth really lives, Netflix’s paved road, codemods and AI skills, adoption as a success metric, and why you may not need a design system at all.

Señors at ScaleOnlineSep 20, 2026

Podcast

Coming up

22Oct 2026Meetup 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

15Sep 2026Conference 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

All events

I think about
pragmatic
engineering

From the notebook