Tomasz Sobczak

JavaScript / TypeScript Expert Advocate of High-Quality Code Champion of Innovation & Team Growth

About

Profile picture of Tomasz Sobczak

Professionally — JavaScript / TypeScript expert with years of experience; framework agnostic, quickly adapting to new technologies, introducing new standards and features whenever it's possible. Leader, coach, mentor and 'go to' person - always ready to listen and advise. Focused on delivering high quality, maintainable code and supporting psychologically safe, nurturing environment within the team.

Personally — happy husband and proud father, video & board games player and digital artist; geek, nerd & otaku.

Experience

Software Engineering Lead

Elsevier | Full-time | July 2021 - July 2024

  • Leading the team of Software & Quality Engineers in a safe and nurturing environment to develop Microsoft Word add-in using latest web standards and technologies.
  • Supporting their career growth, mentoring and providing moral support whenever needed.
  • Collaborating with Product and UX team members whilst building roadmaps, discovering new opportunities and managing team's processes.
  • Communicating with stakeholders and other departments, attending cross-team discussion forums and supporting team during Scrum & other Agile ceremonies.

Skills: Technical Leadership Coaching & Mentoring Creativity Problem Solving Technical Documentation Software Architecture Systems Design Agile Methodologies Jira / Confluence

Principal Software Engineer

Elsevier | Full-time | January 2015 - July 2021

  • Championed adherence to high-quality code standards and conducted thorough evaluations of pull requests to uphold code integrity.
  • Orchestrated pair programming sessions and workshops to promote collaboration and knowledge exchange among team members.
  • Provided mentorship to fellow software engineers, nurturing their professional growth within the team.
  • Led the development of innovative projects by leveraging the latest web standards.
  • Collaborated effectively with diverse teams and engaged with stakeholders to gather feedback and insights, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
  • Formulated architectural and system designs to enhance project efficiency and scalability.

Skills: Technical Leadership Coaching & Mentoring JavaScript / TypeScript Node.js Software Architecture Technical Documentation Problem Solving Design Patterns React.js Redux.js RxJS Express.js Jenkins GitHub Actions Git / GitHub webpack Docker New Relic Jest Cucumber Selenium / WebDriver / Appium

JavaScript Developer

Beyond Analysis | Full-time | May 2013 - December 2014

  • Led the architecture design and development efforts for a scalable, resilient, and expandable Business Analytics SaaS web application.
  • Collaborated with team members to ensure alignment with project goals and objectives.
  • Communicated with stakeholders to gather requirements and provide updates on progress.
  • Utilised industry best practices to ensure the quality and efficiency of the software solution.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript Node.js Agile Methodologies Software Architecture Systems Design Problem Solving Design Patterns HTML CSS Git / GitHub

JavaScript Developer

Handsontable | Contract | March 2013 - May 2013

  • Oversaw the maintenance and enhancement efforts for the Open Source library.
  • Implemented improvements to enhance functionality and user experience.
  • Collaborated with team members to address bugs and implement new features.
  • Engaged with the Open Source community to gather feedback and incorporate suggestions.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript Problem Solving Git / GitHub

Web Developer

Can't Stop Games | Full-time | November 2011 - March 2013

  • Integrated company's games into social networking portals and spearheaded the development of tools using the latest web technologies.
  • Developed a prototype version of the game to showcase its features and functionalities.
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment with project objectives and requirements.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript Node.js Problem Solving Design Patterns Agile Methodologies HTML CSS Git / GitHub

Projects

Mendeley Cite

June 2020 - July 2024

Mendeley Cite, an add-in for Microsoft Word, expedites the referencing process for researchers, providing them with the means to swiftly and effortlessly insert references from their Mendeley library directly into their documents. It offers the capability to insert individual or multiple references and automatically generate a bibliography based on the inserted citations.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript Node.js Technical Documentation Fluent UI React.js Redux.js RxJS Express.js Web Workers Jenkins GitHub Actions Git / GitHub webpack Docker Amazon Web Services (AWS) Jest Cucumber Selenium / WebDriver / Appium

[Hackathon] Mendeley AI

November 2023 - November 2023

Mendeley AI builds upon existing reference management tools to assist researchers in rediscovering and extracting insights from their existing materials, reducing time spent on search and retrieval tasks and aiding in synthesizing findings and ideas. This ultimately facilitates manuscript writing without the need to switch between multiple products, evolving the current reference management offerings into a suite of knowledge management products.

A hackathon project aimed at exploring generative AI technology and delving deeper into RAG with OpenAI.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript Node.js Material UI esbuild Microsoft Azure Open AI / Prompt Engineering GPT-3.5 / GPT-4.0 Langchain.js

Scopus Discovery

February 2019 - June 2020

Solution designed to save researchers time, letting them focus on important tasks by automating the process of staying up-to-date. Using advanced artificial intelligence and tailored recommendations, this tool simplifies the time-consuming task of staying informed about the latest developments in their field. By making relevant information easily accessible, researchers can spend more time on their main activities, improving productivity and advancing their research projects.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript Node.js React.js Redux.js Express.js Git / GitHub webpack Docker GraphQL Jest Cucumber Selenium / WebDriver / Appium

Mendeley Feed

November 2015 - February 2019

A social networking platform tailored for researchers, facilitating seamless connectivity with the latest developments within their network, enabling sharing of personal updates, and interaction with peers' activities. It provides a comprehensive solution aimed at nurturing community engagement and collaboration, empowering researchers to enrich their professional connections and stay updated.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript Node.js React.js Redux.js Express.js Git / GitHub webpack Docker GraphQL Jest Cucumber Selenium / WebDriver / Appium

Mendeley Profiles

January 2015 - November 2015

A platform created for researchers to showcase their academic accomplishments, research passions, published works, and industry involvement. It serves as a space where researchers can engage with peers, seek potential collaborations, and connect with other professionals, thus amplifying their presence and opening doors for career progression.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript HTML CSS Git / GitHub

Quick & Easy

May 2013 - December 2014

A complete solution tailored for retailers, providing detailed insights into every part of their business. With a user-friendly interface, retailers can easily analyse everything from big trends to specific branch data, helping them make smarter decisions and grow their businesses.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript Node.js HTML CSS Git / GitHub

Handsontable

March 2013 - May 2013

Handsontable (pronounced "hands-on-table") is a comprehensive JavaScript data grid component, seamlessly blending the familiar look and functionality of spreadsheet interfaces into a variety of application settings. It functions as a flexible tool for optimising data management workflows, enabling users to efficiently handle data input, editing, validation, and refinement from diverse sources, thus enhancing productivity and accuracy across diverse applications.

Skills: JavaScript / TypeScript Git / GitHub

References

Tomasz is an exceptional principal software engineer and tech lead. He's an adept problem solver, a strong advocate for writing clean, clear and testable code and champions best practice excellence for building applications which are robust and deterministic. As a tech lead, Tomasz has a lot of technical knowledge and experience which he's more than happy to disseminate to colleagues. He's a terrific servant leader, who finds joy in seeing his colleagues succeed and flourish and will do his utmost to ensure that those aspirations materialise albeit, by offering support and guidance, a listening ear, or through coaching. His dedication to his craft is insurmountable and will undoubtedly be an invaluable asset to any company that hires him. It's been a pleasure working with such a gifted individual and I'd be more than happy to work with him again.
— Sarah
I met Tom in 2015 when we where working together in the Profiles Team at Mendeley. My first impression of Tom was how enthusiastic he was about coding. I don't think I've ever met anyone so brilliant technically as he is.

I've seen Tom growing and learning soft skills leading him to become a leader. Tom has been absolutely fantastic as a manager. I've learned so much from him and he's been truly an inspiration. I can't express enough how grateful I am to have worked with Tom. And I really wish to work again with him in the future!

If you are looking for a honest, committed, caring and a technically gifted person, that is Tom! He won't disappoint you.
— Noemi
Tomasz has been a true inspiration and a big contributor to my success at my current role. Not only did he show strong leadership skills by creating a safe space within the team and supporting individual learning paths but his knowledge and willingness to teach has only made each team member a stronger developer both in technical and soft skills.

It has been a pleasure working with Tomasz and experience his mind-blowing talent!
— Olimpia
I highly recommend Tom as an exceptional leader who brings out the best in the team. Tom has a remarkable ability to provide clear direction, foster collaboration, and ensure the successful execution of projects. He demonstrates strong communication skills, significantly contributing to a positive and productive work environment. He is adept at strategic planning and possesses a keen understanding of team dynamics, making him an invaluable asset to any organization.

He has shown a high performance as a team lead, and I wholeheartedly recommend him for any principal role. He is an outstanding professional with a proven track record of excellence.

Tom played a pivotal role in the team, showcasing exceptional leadership and problem-solving skills. Tom is adept at fostering innovation, driving initiatives, and leading teams to success.

Working with Tom has been a pleasure, and I am confident he would be a valuable asset to any organization seeking a dynamic and visionary leader.
— Lutfiye
I want to express my sincere appreciation for Tomasz's contributions to my, and the Cite teams', professional growth. Through his leadership he has fostered a collaborative and supportive environment within the team. Tomasz is also keen to impart his wealth of knowledge and experience and sets high standards, this has allowed all of us in the Cite team to grow exponentially as developers.

Working alongside Tomasz has been an amazing experience, and I don't think I would be the developer I am without his mentorship.
— Leigh
Tomasz is one of the most focused and hard-working developers I have had the chance to work with. He is a JavaScript expert in the full sense of the word, often taking on extremely tough programming challenges, where most others would fail. Not surprisingly, he has played a pivotal role in developing the front-end of a SaaS reporting solution for Beyond Analysis, using the latest and greatest JavaScript has to offer.

Tomasz has been excellent at interpreting my functional specifications and is a breeze to work with, Anybody would be VERY lucky to have him on their team roster.
— Giedrius
I worked with Tomasz building an enterprise BI, KPI-driven dashboard solution. What really impressed me about him is how quickly he picked up complex, advanced technologies such as Angular.js, D3 and Node. He always delivered on time. Tomasz mastery of front-end development frameworks is second to none, and he's very pleasant to work with to boot!
— Stephan