I build software people actually use.
Software engineer with 8+ years shipping production apps across gaming, fintech, travel, and SaaS. iOS, full-stack, and AI. These days I'm building AI for hospitality.
A bit about me
I'm a software engineer who loves building things people actually use. Most of my career has been in iOS, working on apps with a lot of daily users, and over the last few years I've branched out into backend, web, and AI.
What I enjoy most is taking an idea and turning it into a real product. That means figuring out how it should work, building it, and then obsessing over the small details until it feels right.
These days I'm spending a lot of time on applied AI and how it can make everyday experiences feel more personal, especially in travel and hospitality. Outside of building, I teach and mentor new developers.
Experience & Teaching
8+ years shipping production software across gaming, fintech, travel, and SaaS. Plus hands-on teaching and mentorship.
Senior iOS Developer
Shipped a standalone casino app in Swift and SwiftUI. Integrated Apple Pay across multiple iOS products. Built custom UI components and complex navigation flows for high-traffic mobile apps.
Senior iOS Developer
Built and maintained the iOS app for an AI-driven receipt management product. Refactored from MVC to MVVM and built out CI/CD pipelines.
iOS & Mobile Consultant
Enterprise iOS development for major Canadian brands. Built features in Swift, Objective-C, and Xamarin (C#/.NET).
Teaching & Mentorship
Curriculum Developer & Instructor
RISE IN STEMDesigned and taught a 6-week Python + data analytics course for underserved high school athletes. 10 students went from zero coding experience to building sports data visualizations.
iOS Development Mentor
OpenClassrooms1-on-1 mentorship for aspiring iOS developers. Covered Swift, SwiftUI, MVVM, async/await, testing, and professional workflows.
University Team Mentor
AI SaaS StartupMentored 13+ college students across two North American universities through full product development cycles on a live SaaS platform.
Where I spend my time
I like owning a product end to end, from the architecture to the details people actually touch.
iOS apps at scale
Native apps in Swift and SwiftUI for high-traffic products, from payments and complex navigation to the polish that makes an app feel right.
- Swift
- SwiftUI
- Apple Pay
- MVVM
- CI/CD
Products from zero
Taking an idea to a shipped product: data model, APIs, integrations, and AI features that do something useful rather than something flashy.
- TypeScript
- Next.js
- PostgreSQL
- LLM integrations
- Third-party APIs
Security & production
Software that holds up when real people use it: authentication, data access, payments, and fixing the hard bugs when something breaks.
- Auth & sessions
- API security
- Payments
- Performance
- Debugging
Selected problems solved
Closed an authentication vulnerability in a SaaS startup
Identified exposed JWT tokens and insecure session handling. Implemented a proper auth flow and token rotation.
Traced an API failure causing checkout crashes
A race condition in payment processing was silently failing. Traced, isolated, and patched within 24 hours.
Restructured an AI-scaffolded backend
A founder used ChatGPT and Cursor to scaffold their entire API. Restructured it into maintainable, testable modules.
Improved database performance for a production workload
Slow queries were dragging down response times. Added proper indexing, query optimization, and connection pooling.
Rebuilt a deployment pipeline that was blocking a launch
A broken CI/CD config was preventing releases. Rebuilt the pipeline and added a proper staging environment.
Technologies I Work With
Full-stack capability across the technologies startups actually use.
Latest Posts
Notes on building with AI, shipping software that holds up, and keeping it secure.
How to Hand Off Your Vibe-Coded App to a Real Developer
Your vibe-coded app works but you've hit a ceiling. Here's exactly how to prepare your project for a professional developer so the transition is smooth and you don't lose what you've built.
Read moreVibe Coding Prompts: How to Build Scalable Apps With AI From Day One
The prompts you use at the start of a vibe coding project determine whether your app scales or falls apart. Here are the ones that actually work.
Read moreWhat to Do When Your Cursor or ChatGPT Code Has Bugs You Can't Fix
The AI gave you code. It has bugs. You asked the AI to fix them and it made it worse. Here's how to break the cycle and actually get your app working.
Read moreSay hello
Building something, want to compare notes, or just want to connect? My inbox is open.
david@davidadade.com