qwainaina qwainaina
Hard work in · honey out Open to new projects

I build the systems your business can't afford to get wrong.

I'm John Karanja, a lead developer and systems architect. I take your idea from first sketch to a live, working system, and I stay accountable for it working: payments that land once, numbers you can trust, and releases that don't break on a Friday night.

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PythonTypeScriptNode.jsReactFastAPIPostgreSQLSQLiteRedisnginxDockerCI/CD
Who I work with

For founders and product owners who need it built properly, the first time.

You bring the idea and the deadline. I bring the plan, the build, and the judgement to know what must never go wrong. I'm at my best when real money, real users or real deadlines are on the line.

Crypto and web3 products

Wallets, payments, rewards and on-chain data, built so every coin is accounted for.

Finance and back-office automation

Ledgers, reconciliations, deadlines and alerts that run themselves, and that you can check.

AI features that have to be right

Assistants and analysis grounded in your own facts, so they help instead of making things up.

What it's like to work with me

  • You always know where things stand. A short update every week, in plain English: what's done, what's next, and what's blocked.
  • I tell you early when something won't work, before you've paid for it.
  • Nothing goes live until it has proved itself. Every release is tested, and there's always a one-step way back.
  • One person accountable. I lead the work end to end, so you never chase three people for one answer.
The hives

Things I've built

Each one is a hive: its own system, built cell by cell. Most were built privately or under NDA, so I describe them by what they do. Turn any card over to see how it was built.

01Live · try it yourself

Nyukia

A trivia game you play on messaging apps and the web, where right answers earn real cryptocurrency.

HoneyPlayers get paid for knowing things, and the payout design means no reward can ever be paid twice.

PythonFastAPIPostgreSQLnginxOn-chain payouts
Play NyukiaTaste it here

The hard part

The money. When a network hiccups, a careless system pays a reward twice, or not at all. I designed the payouts so each one is claimed before it's sent, and any payment with an unclear outcome is checked against the blockchain instead of being blindly resent.

What I built

One shared game engine behind the chat bots and the web app (dashboard, game and referrals), a Python back end with a clean API and a PostgreSQL database, served and kept running on its own server.

02Web3 · subscription service

On-chain wallet and token intelligence

A live subscription service that shows what crypto wallets and tokens are really doing, explained in plain language.

HoneySubscribers see on-chain activity as it happens, and nobody gets access until their payment is confirmed on the blockchain.

The problem

On-chain data is public but unreadable for most people, and crypto payments are easy to fake if you trust the browser.

What I built

A real-time blockchain indexer and database, wallet and token analysis, plain-English explanations written by AI, and crypto-paid tiers verified on-chain, with every unfinished feature behind a switch and end-to-end tests guarding the rest.

TypeScriptNode.jsPostgreSQLRedisReact
03Crypto · infrastructure

Proof-of-work mining pool and apps

A mining pool that pays miners straight from the block they help find, with desktop and phone apps.

HoneyMiners get paid directly, with no balance sitting in someone else's hands.

The problem

Most pools hold miners' earnings and pay out later, which means trusting the pool with your money.

What I built

A pool server that checks every miner's work and pays out inside the block itself, desktop and phone mining apps, and a public statistics site anyone can check.

CDesktopMobileReact
04Finance · automation

Finance and automation back-office

A back-office that keeps several companies' books, deadlines and websites in order, largely by itself.

HoneyBooks that trace back to the bank statements, and deadlines that are watched instead of remembered.

The problem

Several companies, many bank and mobile-money accounts, and filing deadlines that are easy to miss and expensive to get wrong.

What I built

A double-entry ledger built straight from statements, checks that compare the books against the source, a deadline calendar, domain monitoring, plain-English alerts and a secure dashboard.

PythonFastAPISQLiteScheduled jobs
05Property · advisory

Property advisory platform

An advisory website with a round-the-clock assistant that answers buyers' questions from the site's own facts.

HoneyEnquiries answered at any hour, and the assistant can't contradict the website, because it reads the same facts.

The problem

Buyers ask the same questions at all hours, and a chatbot that makes things up is worse than no chatbot.

What I built

A content-rich site, an AI concierge grounded in the site's own data, enquiry handling, client accounts, billing and a call log for the team.

TypeScriptAstroSQLitenginx
06Education · voice

Voice-first language tutor

A speaking tutor for a language most learning apps don't teach.

HoneyLearners practise out loud, with sentences that people have checked.

The problem

Few learning apps support smaller languages, and AI on its own gets them wrong.

What I built

Speech in, tutoring grounded in a bank of verified sentences, speech out, and spaced repetition so new words stick.

Next.jsReactExpressPostgreSQLSpeech
07Data · signals

Market-signal engine

A scoring engine that rates ventures and assets from many data sources, and tests its own predictions.

HoneySignals that are checked against history before anyone relies on them.

The problem

Signals are easy to produce and hard to trust.

What I built

Data collectors that run side by side, weighted scoring across several pillars, backtesting against history, and an API other systems can call.

PythonFastAPIPostgreSQLDocker
Taste the honey

Three quick questions, the way Nyukia plays.

No sign-up, no prizes here. In the real game, right answers like these earn real cryptocurrency.

Loading…

The waggle dance

How a project runs

Bees dance to show the hive exactly where the flowers are and how far to fly. This is my dance: four steps, so you always know where we're going.

  1. 1
    Scout

    We agree the goal

    A short call and a written brief: what success looks like, what must never go wrong, and what's out of scope.

  2. 2
    Build the comb

    I design the structure

    The data, the moving parts and the risks, on one page you can read. You approve it before any building starts.

  3. 3
    Fill the cells

    Working pieces, every week

    Small slices you can click and test, with a plain-English update each week. Changing your mind is cheap, because nothing is built in one big bang.

  4. 4
    Cap the honey

    A handover you can rely on

    Launch with checks, documentation, and a clear list of what's done and what's open. I can stay on for support.

The flight path

Engineer, entrepreneur, educator

Building for the web since the mid-2000s, and teaching blockchain since long before most people had heard of it.

  1. Now

    Lead developer & systems architect

    Designing and leading the build of crypto, payments, AI and automation systems, for clients and for my own ventures.

  2. Blockchain

    Founder and lead, blockchain innovation hub

    Helped teams, businesses and public bodies understand how blockchains, wallets and tokens actually work, through training, consulting, workshops and executive briefings. Keynotes and chaired sessions at blockchain conferences.

  3. Crypto

    Founder, crypto-mining venture

    Built a proof-of-work mining pool with desktop and phone mining apps.

  4. Web & hosting

    Founder, web hosting and development company

    Kept businesses online: hosting, web portals, bulk-SMS systems, e-commerce and travel sites, for small businesses and large organisations alike.

  5. 2012 – 2013

    Chief information officer, location-based mobile service

    Led the technology for a mobile service built around where people are.

  6. 2010 – 2012

    Founder, social media startup · conference chair

    Founded a social media startup, and chaired a regional mobile-web technology conference attended by telecoms and ICT leaders.

  7. 2007 – 2008

    Technology lead, business-software firm

    Part of the team, as chief technology officer, that installed and serviced fund-management systems for leading financial institutions.

Education

Master's degree in Sociology, University of Oxford

Education

Bachelor of Business and Information Technology, Strathmore University

Recognition

Vision 2030 ICT Award for Innovation (youth, gender and vulnerable groups)

The comb

The rules I build by

Bees build every cell the same shape, every time. These are my cells, and every project gets all six.

One source of truth

Every fact lives in one place. Copies drift; one source doesn't.

Check everything at the door

Bad data and bad settings are stopped the moment they arrive, not halfway through a payment.

Money moves once

Every payment and payout happens exactly once, and is checked against the bank or the blockchain.

Tests decide "done"

The rules a system must never break are written down as tests first. If they fail, it doesn't ship.

Small, reversible releases

Ship small, check it's healthy, and always keep a one-step way back.

Measure, don't assume

I trust the bank, the blockchain and the live site, never a system's opinion of itself.

Questions from the field

What people ask before we start

How do we start?

Send me a message on Upwork with what you're building and when you need it. We'll have a short call, then I'll send a written plan and estimate before any work begins.

What do you need from me?

One person who can make decisions, access to anything I'm connecting to, and about half an hour a week to look at progress.

What if we change our minds halfway?

That's normal. Because the work arrives in small weekly pieces, a change costs days, not months, and I'll tell you plainly what it does to the timeline.

How do you charge?

Hourly or by milestone, agreed upfront. Most clients work with me through Upwork, which protects both of us.

What happens after launch?

You get the documentation, the access, and a clear list of anything still open. I'm happy to stay on for support and improvements.

What I don't do: I don't write or audit smart contracts, train AI models from scratch, or give investment advice. I design around those, and work alongside the specialists who do.

The field

Got a field that needs working? I'll bring the hive.

Tell me what you're building and what's at stake. I'll reply with honest questions, and if I'm not the right fit, I'll say so.

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