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KAAN MERT KOC

Senior Full-Stack Engineer

Istanbul, Turkey | +90 531 712 3188 | [email protected]
LinkedIn | GitHub

Summary

Senior full-stack engineer delivering SEO-first SSR/SSG web apps, high-traffic RESTful APIs, and mobile apps with TypeScript, Next.js, React Native, Expo EAS, Strapi, Firebase, and Go. Delivered 1.4M+ visits, 3.0M pageviews, 2.0M requests/month (p95 latency 96ms), and 280K+ TRY GMV. Core Web Vitals green; INP under 200ms on key templates.

Skills

  • Frontend: React, Next.js (App Router, SSR, SSG, ISR), TypeScript, TanStack Query, Redux, Zustand, CSS-in-JS, a11y, CWV
  • Mobile: React Native, Expo EAS, in-app purchases, deep links, push notifications (FCM), TestFlight, Play Console
  • Backend: Node.js, Bun, Go (chi), Hono, RESTful APIs, microservices, webhooks, Firebase Functions, Firestore, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Drizzle ORM
  • Infrastructure: Docker, Docker Compose, Vercel, VPS, Nginx, Coolify, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, CDN/caching, GCP
  • CMS/Search: Strapi (self-hosted), Meilisearch
  • Auth/Security: NextAuth, OAuth 2.0, JWT, SSO, RBAC, rate limiting, feature flags
  • Commerce/Payments: Shopify, Stripe, iyzico
  • Media/Storage/CDN: Bunny CDN, Cloudflare R2
  • Analytics/SEO: Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Plausible, JSON-LD, technical SEO
  • Observability/Testing: Sentry, Dozzle, Firebase Crashlytics, Google Cloud Monitoring/Logging, Jest, Vitest

Professional Experience

Ablefy.io GmbH - Full Stack Developer | Berlin, Germany | Dec 2025 - Present

  • Full-stack development using modern web technologies and best practices

Cosmopolitan Turkey - Chief Technology Officer (Hands-on Senior Full-Stack & DevOps) | Aug 2024 - Aug 2025

  • Sole engineer: 1.4M visits, 3.0M pageviews in 12 months (zero marketing budget)
  • SEO: JSON-LD, AI metadata (gpt-4o-mini/Strapi), 1.01M clicks, 15.9M impressions
  • Architecture: Next.js SSR (Vercel/Coolify), custom Strapi CMS, block-based page builder
  • Performance: Caching/revalidation, SSR TTFB 100ms/p95 500ms, zero downtime, CWV green
  • Cosmo Quiz API: 1.3M solves/5 months, 10M+ events, 2.0M requests/month, Bun/Hono/TypeScript/Drizzle/SQLite, 48ms/p95 96ms, 99.9% uptime
  • Search: Meilisearch AI semantic "Similar Documents" (20 per page)
  • Subscribe: SSR gating, iyzico router (20+ endpoints), magazine pipeline, Shopify, 170 subscriptions
  • Shop: Shopify SSR, webhook revalidation, 1,305 orders, 280K TRY revenue
  • Auth/Admin: cross-domain SSO (NextAuth), React/Vite/TanStack admin with RBAC/analytics
  • CI/CD: GitHub Actions, E2E tests, observability/alerting

Aposto!, Mobile, Web, Full-Stack Engineer | Istanbul, Turkey | Sep 2021 - Apr 2025

  • Aposto! mobile app (50+ screens): offline podcast, read list, Turkish/English, dark/light modes, TestFlight/Play Console
  • 100K+ downloads, 3.05M App Store impressions, Apple featured (2022), Top 3 Turkey (Media)
  • aposto.com (Next.js 12/Redux): inbox, reading, authors, authentication, follow/unfollow, share
  • About/Newsletters subdomains (Next.js 13 App Router), Lighthouse 98
  • Premium subscriptions (Stripe): paywall, card management, shared TypeScript KV library
  • Premium Stories: Go (chi)/SQLite, Cloudflare-cached, 100K requests/month
  • Admin modernization: CRA/React 16 → Bun/Vite/React Router, TTS editor (ElevenLabs)
  • Quality: crash monitoring, E2E paywall tests
  • Impact: 100K+ monthly visitors, 1.5M+ users, 100K+ USD revenue, ~10 team

Sober Digital - Lead Full-Stack Engineer | Istanbul, Turkey | Mar 2024 - Feb 2025

  • Next.js 14 SSR e-commerce (Firebase Functions/Firestore, 20+ endpoints, iyzico), custom admin (merch/categories/coupons)
  • Festival inventory: QR-coded SKUs, isolated stock pools
  • Strapi CMS (self-hosted): issue > sections > content modeling, unified web/mobile
  • Expo app: Feed, Events (iyzico ticketing, QR check-in), Explore (mini-games, Spotify), Shop, Perks
  • Auth/Growth: NextAuth (web), soft login/registration walls
  • Media/Performance: Bunny CDN, video carousel, GIF galleries
  • Ops: Vercel, VPS Strapi, Firebase backend, ~50 USD/month
  • Observability: Firestore/Functions dashboards/alerting
  • Outcome: 50K+ users, 600K+ TRY GMV, "Sober People" SEO catalog (50+ profiles)

UrWord - CTO | New York, USA | Aug 2022 - Dec 2023

  • Sole developer (NYC integrity/trust platform): backend, database, mobile app, admin site
  • 180+ TestFlight builds; Firestore (10K+ documents, security rules)
  • Firebase Functions: 12 RESTful endpoints, 150 services (pacts, connections, data sharing, notifications, moderation, analytics)
  • Expo/React Native/TypeScript/Redux app (50+ screens, 1,000+ components), admin dashboard

Awards and Hackathons

  • Solana Ideathon 2nd place; Solana Presentation 3rd place; Solana HyperDrive Global Hackathon invitee

Open Source and GitHub Activity

  • 4-year GitHub contributor: 11K+ contributions (2022-2025)
  • iyzico-subscription-ts: Modern TypeScript SDK for Iyzico Subscription API, cross-platform compatible (Node.js, Bun, Deno, browsers, serverless), zero dependencies, full TypeScript support

Education

  • MEF University, Istanbul - B.Sc. Computer Engineering, 2023. IAESTE member; algorithm competition finalist
  • UIST "St. Paul the Apostle" - 2021. iOS "Code Tracker" app (GitHub auth, full grade)