--- 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. My specialist area is crunching data and writing Python APIs using AWS (Redshift), Google Cloud Platform (GCP). At Wordtracker I built the FastAPI backend, backed by Elasticsearch, and AWS data pipelines behind roughly 350M unique keywords. If you want to extract value from your data and present it via an API that's me. 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 for remote contract work. ## Skills | Category | Technology | Proficiency | Experience and context | |:---------|:-----------|:------------|:-----------------------| | Languages | Python | Very competent | 8 years. Wordtracker backend and data systems; current Stride work. | | | SQL | Competent | 12 years. Product and analytics data at Wordtracker. | | | Bash | Very competent | 15 years. Development and operational tooling. | | | TypeScript | Familiar | 2 years. Web work and smart-glasses integration. | | | Node.js | Familiar | 2 years. Web work and integrations. | | Python ecosystem | FastAPI | Competent | 2 years. Type-safe APIs with automatic documentation. | | | Pydantic | Familiar | 2 years. Data validation and settings management. | | | Flask | Competent | 8 years. Lightweight WSGI web framework. | | | uv | Competent | 2 years. Python environment management. | | | ruff | Familiar | 4 years. Linting and formatting. | | | pyright | Competent | 4 years. Static type checking. | | | pytest and unittest | Familiar / Competent | 2 years / 8 years. Test automation and unit-test suites. | | | Pandas, NumPy and SciPy | Competent / Competent / Familiar | 8 years / 8 years / 2 years. Data analysis and scientific computing. | | | Peewee ORM | Competent | 4 years. Lightweight Python ORM. | | Data | PostgreSQL and MongoDB | Competent | 6 years / 5 years. Product, application and document data. | | | Amazon Redshift, S3 and Athena | Competent / Competent / Familiar | 4 years / 10 years / 4 years. Wordtracker data stack. | | | Elasticsearch | Competent | 4 years. Search and analytics work at Wordtracker. | | Web and APIs | REST, API design, WebSockets and GraphQL | Competent | 10 years / 10 years / 6 years / 2 years. Production and real-time APIs. | | | React, Next.js and Vite | Familiar / Competent / Competent | 2 years. Current full-stack web work. | | Cloud and delivery | AWS | Competent | 6 years. Wordtracker infrastructure and data platform. | | | Google Cloud Platform (GCP) | Familiar | 6 months. Data engineering. | | | Docker | Competent | 4 years. Local development and deployment. | | | Fly.io, Vercel and Runway | Familiar / Competent / Familiar | 2 years / 1 year / 6 months. Deployment and AI video tooling. | | | Terraform | Familiar | 1 year. Cloud infrastructure work. | | | Git | Competent | 10 years. Source control and pull requests. | | | GitHub Actions | Competent | 2 years. Automated checks. | | Engineering practice | Test-driven development, object-oriented design, SOLID and design patterns | Competent | 8 years. Red, green, refactor and design for change. | | | Atomic commits | Competent | 10 years. Small, reviewable delivery steps. | | AI and agents | Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI | Competent | 2 years / 1 year / 1 year. Agent-assisted engineering. | | | Context engineering | Competent | 1 year. Making agent work reliable and traceable. | ## 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, backed by Elasticsearch and 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.* ### January 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'm a fan of the red, green, refactor TDD loop, Sandi Metz's flocking rules and atomic commits. They make code easier and cheaper to change. 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).