Aropet Joel
I build software that holds up under real conditions: C#, NestJS, React, Next.js, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Linux. Precise where it counts, calm everywhere else.
Selected work
Open specifications and libraries built to be used by other people, with the design decisions written down.
Uganda Open Finance Standard
An open API specification for financial interoperability in Uganda, including a USSD consent protocol so feature phone users are not excluded from open finance.
ugkit
Typed, zero-dependency libraries for Ugandan software: administrative divisions, phone numbers, tax bands, currency formatting. Reference data treated as versioned artefacts, not hand-edited code.
BantuBox
A container runtime built from scratch in Python and C: Linux namespaces, cgroups, and network namespaces driven through hand-written syscall wrappers.
Client work
Products and sites built for clients and running in production. Repositories are private; the deployments are not.
Opportunities For All
Scholarship and opportunity discovery platform with search, filtering, and aggregated listings.
Visit siteCrown Motors
Vehicle dealership site with inventory browsing and enquiry capture.
Visit siteSamakia Aquacare
Aquaculture supply and advisory site for fish farmers, covering products, services, and enquiries.
Visit siteGolyo Safaris
Tour operator site with itinerary pages and booking enquiries.
Visit siteFootball Aid
Platform for a football development initiative, covering programmes and player intake.
Visit site
How I got here
Started with C and memory in 2023. Ended up writing an open finance specification. The order matters more than the labels.
Systems foundations
Started at ALX with C: pointers, memory, data structures, a Monty bytecode interpreter, a shell. Then Python, and BantuBox, a container runtime driving Linux namespaces and cgroups through hand-written C syscall wrappers.
Full-stack and first products
Moved up the stack into React, Next.js, and Node, and started shipping products end to end: a rental platform, a marketplace, and an SMS chatbot that reaches feature phones with no data connection. First C# work alongside it.
Enterprise backend work
Deep in C# and SQL Server on integration work where financial records have to reconcile and a failed sync is somebody's revenue. Learned what defensive, explicit, boring-where-it-counts code actually costs to write, and why it is worth it.
Infrastructure and open standards
NestJS and PostgreSQL for services, Astro for the front. Writing the Uganda Open Finance Standard in public, publishing ugkit, and writing about the payments infrastructure the region is building right now.
Notes
Mostly about the infrastructure East Africa is building right now, and what breaks when the connection drops.
Uganda Has No Open Finance Standard. So I'm Writing One.
Uganda has over 34 million mobile money subscribers, 51 licensed payment providers, and no open finance standard. Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Ghana all have one or are drafting one. This is why I've started writing Uganda's, and where I need help.
Karuma's Failure Is Why Africa's First AI Factory Is Being Built in Uganda
The Aeonian Project is being built at Karuma because Uganda's export line to South Sudan is six years late. A stranded 600 MW hydro plant just found its buyer, and it shapes the next 24 months of Uganda's digital stack.
One Data Centre Took Uganda's Mobile Money Down. Interoperability Will Make the Next Outage Worse.
Uganda's July 5 MTN outage exposed a single point of failure. The Bank of Uganda's Digital Drive Project will make the next outage worse unless it defines an offline authorisation profile before the national switch goes live.
About me
I'm Aropet Joel, a full-stack engineer based in Uganda, working backend-first: C#, NestJS, and React or Next.js on top, PostgreSQL or SQL Server underneath, deployed and run on Linux. I like owning a system end to end, from the schema to the API to what a user actually sees, but the backend is where I spend most of my time and where I do my best work.
Most of what I build comes back to the same problem: too much of the software running everyday business here is fragile, manual, or falls over the moment the connection drops. That's why the work I care about tends to be infrastructure, and why I default to defensive, explicit systems that assume the network will fail rather than hoping it won't.
If you're hiring for backend or full-stack work, or want to talk about open standards and payments infrastructure, I'd like to hear from you.
Technical expertise
Core technologies and tools I work with
- C#
- NestJS
- React.js
- Next.js
- PostgreSQL
- SQL Server
- Linux
Get in touch
Have a role, a project, or a system that needs backend work? Reach out below.
Send a message
Other ways to connect
I'm available for freelance projects, full-time roles, and collaborative ventures. Reach out directly and I'll get back to you personally.
Phone
+256 750-140-235