Mustafa Erhan Portakal
Türkçe

About

At a glance

Mustafa Erhan Portakal is a full-stack developer based in Bursa, Türkiye who builds and ships production web systems end to end. He works primarily in TypeScript with NestJS on the backend, Next.js and React on the frontend, PostgreSQL and MongoDB for data, and Docker for deployment. Since July 2025 he has been co-founder and full-stack developer at Vimof Studios, where he built Auraly-AI, a mood-based music recommendation product. Since November 2025 he has worked as a freelance full-stack developer, delivering an on-premise union management platform for Demokratik Sağlık-Sen and, from April 2026, the live e-commerce platform maisonmeda.com. He holds a BSc in Computer Engineering from Bursa Technical University.

Location
Bursa, Türkiye — Open to relocation to İstanbul, İzmir or Ankara, and to remote work.
Languages
Turkish — native · English — B2 reading and writing, B1 speaking

Experience

Freelance

– present

Full-Stack Developer · Bursa, Türkiye (Remote)

  • Built the Union Management Platform for Demokratik Sağlık-Sen (November 2025 – July 2026): 30 backend modules and 40 relational data models covering member records, dues and deduction documents, approval flows, accounting, content and reporting.
  • Built maisonmeda.com from April 2026 onward: a live e-commerce platform for a boutique, as a Turborepo monorepo holding a Next.js 16 storefront, an admin panel and a NestJS API.

Vimof Studios

– present

Co-Founder & Full-Stack Developer · Remote

A two-person independent software studio. I handle development; my partner handles QA and testing.

  • Built Auraly-AI, a mood-based music recommendation product, as a TypeScript monorepo of four applications: a NestJS 11 API, a Next.js 15 web app, an admin panel and a React Native (Expo) mobile app sharing a typed DTO package.
  • Implemented 102 REST endpoints across 17 controllers and 27 MongoDB schemas with Mongoose 8.
  • Integrated the Spotify Web API (OAuth, token refresh, library access, Connect playback control) and Google Gemini (mood interpretation, playlist generation).
  • Rewrote the recommendation pipeline after the Spotify Recommendations endpoint was deprecated, designing and documenting a new algorithm behind a feature flag with variant positioning.
  • Shipped the mobile app with Expo Router: audio playback, push notifications, deep linking, i18next and expo-localization.
  • Deployed with Docker Compose and Nginx, CI/CD on GitHub Actions, with the admin panel behind Cloudflare Access. 241 commits over 13 months; iOS and Android release targeted for August 2026.
  • Also built menu/UI flows and data-saving logic in Unreal Engine 5 Blueprint for a game project.

BRM Bilgisayar

–

Software Developer Intern · Bursa, Türkiye

İMEP vocational training programme plus a summer internship — six months of industry experience inside a 20-person development team.

  • Built desktop applications with .NET 8 and web applications with ASP.NET Core, using Entity Framework and Microsoft SQL Server.
  • Built push notification infrastructure with a OneSignal integration and real-time communication features over WebSocket.
  • Worked on database design and third-party API integrations within a layered enterprise architecture and a code review process.
  • Closing project: SoccerApp, an ASP.NET Core 8 football team management panel.

Education

BSc Computer Engineering

–

Bursa Technical University · Bursa, Türkiye

Graduation project: Auraly-AI.

Award

TÜBİTAK 2209-A Research Support

2022 – November 2024

Rover Wheel Design with an Anti-Skid System

Supported and successfully completed under the 2022/1 term of the TÜBİTAK 2209-A University Students Research Projects Support Programme. The project addressed skidding and entrapment on the fine, sandy terrain of the Martian surface. As the only computer engineer on a four-person team I was responsible for all software and electronics: an Arduino control loop that read distance and motion sensors to detect entrapment and drove servo-steered DC motors.

View project

Certificate

IBM Full Stack Software Developer

Coursera · Professional Certificate

A 15-course programme covering cloud-native development, microservices, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift, CI/CD, React, Node.js, Django, databases and application security.

Verify certificate

Technical skills

Languages
TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, C#, SQL
Backend
NestJS, Node.js, Express, ASP.NET Core, Django, FastAPI
Frontend
React 19, Next.js 15/16 (App Router), Tailwind CSS 4, Material-UI, TanStack Query, Vite
Mobile
React Native (Expo), Expo Router
Databases
PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Microsoft SQL Server, Redis
ORM
Prisma, Mongoose, Entity Framework
DevOps
Docker, Docker Compose, Nginx, GitHub Actions, Turborepo, pnpm, VPS, Let's Encrypt
Integrations
Spotify Web API, Google Gemini, iyzico, Trendyol Marketplace API, AWS SES, Resend, OneSignal, Baileys
Practices
REST API design, JWT authentication, Role-based access control, Background queues (BullMQ), Swagger/OpenAPI, Architecture Decision Records (ADR), Monorepo