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Dakota Lightning

Observe. Understand. Build.

Software, AI, and technology that solves real problems.

I’m Dakota Lightning, a senior software engineer and technology consultant with 15+ years of experience. I help organizations improve everyday technology, build custom applications, modernize existing software, and introduce practical AI-assisted workflows.

I need tech helpI need software builtHire an engineer

Available for remote roles, contract projects, technical consulting, and ongoing support from Victoria, Canada.

Many paths. One connected system.

Skills at a glance

  • 15+Years

    Experience

  • React + TypeScript

    Frontend systems

  • AI Workflows

    Modern delivery

  • Architecture

    End-to-end ownership

Choose your path

Tech Help

For small businesses, organizations, professionals, and non-technical teams.

  • Technology troubleshooting and setup
  • Website maintenance and improvements
  • Connecting business tools and accounts
  • Workflow automation
  • Booking, billing, email, reporting, and payment systems
  • Practical AI adoption and staff enablement
  • Technology planning and vendor evaluation
  • Ongoing maintenance and support

You don’t need to know which technology you need. Start by explaining what is slow, frustrating, repetitive, or preventing your organization from moving forward.

Tell me what isn’t working

Software Engineering

For startups, product teams, technical leaders, and organizations needing custom development.

  • Customer-facing web applications
  • Internal tools
  • SaaS and subscription products
  • React and Next.js modernization
  • Node.js, NestJS, Rails, GraphQL, REST
  • PostgreSQL and relational modelling
  • Design systems and component libraries
  • Performance and production troubleshooting
  • API and third-party integrations
  • AWS, Docker, CI/CD, event-driven systems
  • Architecture, scoping, mentoring, technical leadership
Discuss a software project

Human judgment. AI-accelerated.

AI improves delivery and operations when it is paired with sound architecture, reliable data, testing, security, and human accountability.

Where I use it

  • Exploring unfamiliar codebases
  • Technical discovery and scoping
  • Implementation planning
  • Prototyping and evaluating approaches
  • Test generation and edge cases
  • Pull request review
  • Documentation
  • Integration and end-to-end testing support
  • Evaluating agentic workflows

Actively exploring and applying

  • MCP servers and tool integrations
  • Agent-to-agent testing
  • AI workflow observability
  • LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen
  • Self-hosted and cloud model architectures
  • Human approval and validation workflows

These are areas of ongoing exploration and application, not claims of shipped production deployments.

I don’t sell AI for the sake of AI. I use it where it improves speed or capability, while applying the same architectural, security, testing, and production standards expected of any other system.

Selected work

Outcome-oriented summaries. Public project links are not available yet.

Production performance recovery

Diagnosed excessive memory use and loading delays in a data-intensive field application.

Design systems and frontend architecture

Led a shared design language system and reusable component library, helping teams produce more consistent experiences.

Card Cloud

Designed and built a full-stack Magic: The Gathering collection product from product definition through deployment.

Scaling teams and systems

Helped Animikii grow from 3 to more than 30 team members while building and modernizing software.

How I work

  1. Step 1

    Observe

    Look closely at how things actually work today, and where they hurt.

  2. Step 2

    Understand

    Learn the goals, constraints, and people involved before proposing anything.

  3. Step 3

    Design

    Choose a deliberate approach and explain the trade-offs in plain language.

  4. Step 4

    Build

    Deliver in tested increments so progress is visible and reversible.

  5. Step 5

    Support

    Stay available after launch to maintain, adjust, and improve.

Hire an engineer

Open to senior frontend, senior full-stack, product engineering, and technical lead or architecture-focused roles — remote Canadian employment and contract opportunities.

Roles

  • Senior frontend engineer
  • Senior full-stack engineer
  • Product engineer
  • Technical lead / architecture

Leadership strengths

  • Architecture and scoping
  • Mentoring developers
  • Establishing technical standards
  • Design systems

Stack

  • React
  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Node.js
  • NestJS
  • Rails
  • GraphQL
  • REST
  • PostgreSQL
  • Prisma
  • AWS
  • Docker
  • CI/CD
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THE PERSON BEHIND THE WORK

About Dakota

I’m a senior software engineer and technology consultant based in Victoria, with 15+ years of experience.

My career began in visual and interactive design before moving into full-stack engineering, architecture, and technical leadership.

I’m a proud member of Samson Cree Nation.

I’m curious, adaptable, deliberate, and honest. I think of systems as ecosystems rather than isolated features — what happens in one place shapes everything connected to it.

Start a conversation
Dakota Lightning smiling.

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Tell me what you’re working on or what isn’t working. I’ll read it myself.

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