Freelance Full Stack Developer

I’m Dirk Menkveld, a freelance full stack developer. I build the whole thing: the API, the web front-end, the mobile app, the pipeline that deploys it and the infrastructure it runs on.

That’s not a list of buzzwords I collected. It’s the stack behind Koppa, the fantasy sports company I founded — 150,000+ registered users in 15 countries, running on software I wrote and still operate today.

The Stack I Actually Use

I don’t claim equal depth everywhere. Laravel and Flutter are where I’m strongest; Vue and Kubernetes are where I’m fluent and shipping daily.

What “Full Stack” Means Here

It’s not “I can survive in every file.” It’s that the seams between layers are where products break, and owning both sides of a seam is how you stop that.

• An API designed by someone who has to build the client is a better API.
• A deploy pipeline built by the person who gets paged is a more honest pipeline.
• A database schema chosen by someone who’ll write the queries ages better.

Concretely, on Koppa: the Laravel API exposes a versioned contract, the Flutter app consumes it through typed DTOs and a feature-first architecture, background scoring runs as queued jobs, and the whole thing deploys to Kubernetes from a single CI/CD pipeline. One person can hold that in their head — which is exactly why it stays coherent.

Where I’m Most Useful

Building a product from zero

You have a proposition and no code. I can take it from empty repository to a live product — and because I’ve spent fifteen years as a product owner, I’ll push back on the scope that doesn’t earn its place.

Small teams that need a senior generalist

You have two developers and no one who owns architecture, deployment or the roadmap. I fill that gap, then hand it back with the team able to run it.

Products that have stalled

A codebase nobody wants to touch, deploys that take a day, a backlog full of bugs. Untangling this is unglamorous and I’m good at it.

The technical half of a founding team

You have the domain, the customers and the commercial side. You need someone who can build the thing and make the technical calls. I’ve been that person for my own company — see CTO as a Service.

What You Get That a Pure Developer Won’t Give You

I’ve been the product owner at ID&T, ANWB, Essent, Coinmerce, Dumpert and Fox Sports. So alongside the code:

• I run discovery and refinement that produce buildable work.
• I manage stakeholders without needing an intermediary.
• I estimate honestly, including the parts people forget.
• I write documentation the next developer can use.

Ready to Start?

See my availability, look through the projects, or get in touch.

FAQ

Do you work solo or in a team?

Both. Solo for greenfield builds and MVPs; embedded in a team for larger platforms, where I usually end up owning architecture and delivery as well as writing code.

Which part of the stack do you prefer?

Backend and mobile — Laravel and Flutter. But I’ll build the front-end too, and I’d rather do that than hand off a half-finished product.

Can you take over an existing codebase?

Yes. I’ll start by reading it, getting it running locally and getting a deploy pipeline green before changing anything. Refactoring comes after I understand why the code is the way it is.

Do you do infrastructure and DevOps?

Yes — Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD and monitoring. See Platform & Delivery. I run this for my own products, so I optimise for the team that has to maintain it.

Are you available now?

Check the availability calendar for current bookings, then contact me.