--- title: Mike Mindel | Senior Python engineer (& AI architect) --- United Kingdom, remote | hello@mikemindel.com | [+44 7481 346418](tel:+447481346418) | [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/in/mikemindel) | [mikemindel.com](https://mikemindel.com) *** ## Professional summary **Senior Python engineer** and architect who builds APIs, data pipelines and agentic engineering systems. I use the red, green, refactor TDD loop and refactor to make future changes easier and cheaper. My specialist area is Python APIs and AWS data engineering. At Wordtracker I built the FastAPI backend and AWS data pipelines behind roughly 350M unique keywords. I co-founded [Wordtracker](https://wordtracker.com), led its technology from two developers to around 25 and helped scale turnover roughly 100×. I now build [Stride](https://getstride.dev), an agentic-driven development system for teams using AI agents to ship reliable software. Available immediately for remote contract work. ## Skills | Category | Technology | Proficiency | Experience and context | |:---------|:-----------|:------------|:-----------------------| | Programming | Python | Expert | 10+ years. Wordtracker backend and data systems; current Stride work. | | | SQL | Expert | 20+ years. Product and analytics data at Wordtracker. | | | TypeScript and Node.js | Very competent / competent | 5+ years. Web work, integrations and smart-glasses work. | | | Bash | Very competent | 20+ years. Development and operational tooling. | | Python | FastAPI | Very competent | 5+ years. Type-safe APIs with automatic documentation. | | | Pydantic | Very competent | 5+ years. Data validation and settings management. | | | Flask | Competent | Lightweight WSGI web framework. | | | uv, ruff, pyright, mypy, pytest and unittest | Very competent | Environment management, linting, static analysis and tests. | | | Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, Tortoise and Peewee | Competent / very competent | Data analysis, numerical work and lightweight Python ORMs. | | Data | PostgreSQL and MongoDB | Very competent / competent | 20+ years of product and application data; document-database work. | | | Amazon Redshift | Very competent | 10+ years. Cluster-level clickstream processing at Wordtracker. | | | Amazon S3 | Very competent | 10+ years. Data storage and ingestion pipelines. | | | Amazon Athena | Very competent | 5+ years. Partition-aware querying at Wordtracker. | | | Elasticsearch | Very competent | 10+ years. Search and analytics work at Wordtracker. | | Web and APIs | REST, API design, WebSockets and GraphQL | Expert / competent | 20+ years. Production APIs, service boundaries and real-time integrations. | | | OpenAPI | Very competent | 5+ years. FastAPI API contracts. | | | React, Next.js and Vite | Competent | 2–3+ years. Current full-stack web work. | | Cloud and delivery | AWS | Very competent | 15+ years. Wordtracker infrastructure and data platform. | | | Docker | Very competent | 10+ years. Local development and deployment. | | | Terraform | Competent | 5+ years. Cloud infrastructure work. | | | Git and GitHub Actions | Expert / very competent | 20+ / 5+ years. Source control, pull requests and automated checks. | | Engineering practice | Test-driven development and OO design | Expert | 20+ years. Red, green, refactor and design for change. | | | SOLID, design patterns and atomic commits | Very competent | 5–20+ years. | | AI and agents | Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, MCP, LLM APIs and context engineering | Very competent | 1+ year. Stride and agent-assisted engineering. | | | Stride | Expert | 2026–present. Own methodology for traceable AI-assisted delivery. | ## Professional experience ### 1998–present | Wordtracker | Founder and technology lead [wordtracker.com](https://wordtracker.com) - Co-founded the keyword-research SaaS, grew its engineering team from two developers to around 25 and helped scale turnover roughly 100× over its first decade. - **Technical leadership:** Developer from 1998, CEO / CTO from 2013–2021, then CEO while remaining close to the codebase and product. - **Production API:** Wrote [Wordtracker's backend API](https://api.wordtracker.com/v3/) in Python and FastAPI, serving production keyword data to the frontend. - **Search data platform:** Processed roughly 10B searches across 200+ territories on Redshift into roughly 350M unique keywords. Built Redshift, Glue, S3, Athena and Parquet pipelines, including schema-drift and malformed-file handling. *Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Redshift, AWS Glue, S3, Athena, Parquet, Elasticsearch, IAM, VPC.* ### 2026–present | Stride | Founder and agentic engineer [getstride.dev](https://getstride.dev) - Built a system for shipping AI-built software that stays traceable, testable and easy to change. Python provides deterministic checks around agent work. - Built reusable skills, agents and CLI tools around bounded tasks, atomic commits, independent review and Kanban delivery. The method is in use on paid client work. *Python, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, MCP, Linear, Git.* ### June 2026 | Smart-glasses integration | 1 month, remote contract For an early-stage AI startup, scoped and delivered a viability spike for a smart-glasses integration. Built and tested a [Convex](https://convex.dev) reactive-database app with real-time two-way sync to the glasses, then delivered a prototype and written findings remotely. **Constraint found:** Google sign-in could not run in the glasses' embedded WebView. I recommended email-based sign-in instead. *TypeScript, Convex, Clerk, Even Realities G2 SDK, WebView.* ## Other projects - **2026, [Codetidy](https://github.com/webventurer/codetidy):** Standalone Python toolkit for inspecting and tidying repositories, including link, naming, docstring and return-type checks. - **2026, [app-starter](https://github.com/webventurer/app-starter):** Full-stack web starter with a documented rationale for each technology choice. - **2020–present, [99bottles](https://github.com/webventurer/99bottles):** Sandi Metz's Python refactoring exercise, worked through as evidence of the approach rather than original authorship. ## Education and recognition - **BA (Hons) Film & Drama, 2:1**, Reading University, 1993–1996. **Computer Science & Maths**, Bristol University, 1991–1992. - Interviewed by the [Financial Times](https://mikemindel.com/wordtracker-ft-profile) about Wordtracker's early growth. Presented [Five Powerful Ways to Use Keywords](https://vimeo.com/2675693) at Ken McCarthy's System Seminar, 2008. - Presented [Stop building on quicksand](https://getstride.dev/stop-building-on-quicksand) at the AI Global Festival, 2026. ## Interests I am interested in agentic-driven development, software design and the practical systems that make AI-built software easier to trust and change. I'm particularly interested in bringing the hard-won software development practices of the last 40 years into the world of AI. I ran the [Wam Bam Club](https://contact.wambamclub.com/), a West End burlesque cabaret, and made the feature film [Don't Let Him In](https://vimeo.com/178247503).