Vlad Balea

Technical Skills

Languages

JavaScript · TypeScript · SQL

Frontend

React.js · Next.js · TanStack Start · Vite · Tailwind CSS

Backend & APIs

Node.js · Express.js · REST APIs · OpenAPI / Swagger

Databases

PostgreSQL · PostGIS · MySQL

Data Engineering

Crawlee · Cheerio · Selenium · Regex · NLP · Web Scraping

DevOps & Infrastructure

Linux · Nginx · AWS · Docker · Git

Experience

Founder & Engineer

locatiaexacta.com, Sep 2025 - Present

Node.js · TypeScript · TanStack Start · Express.js · PostgreSQL · PostGIS · Crawlee · Nginx

Founded and built a real estate data platform that aggregates, standardizes, and geolocates property listings from fragmented real estate portals.
Architected a Crawlee and Cheerio data pipeline to continuously scrape, process, and normalize real estate listings from multiple sources.
Developed a Regex/NLP extraction pipeline that parses 500+ word unstructured listing descriptions to identify street numbers and map properties to PostGIS coordinates.
Built and deployed the server-side rendered application, Express.js REST API, PostgreSQL/PostGIS database, and production infrastructure on a Linux VPS with Nginx.

Game Server Engineer

Independent Contract, Jan 2025 - Present

Node.js · TypeScript · PostgreSQL · Docker · Linux

Sole engineer for a production SA-MP gamemode, architecting and maintaining the backend, gameplay systems, and event-driven real-time state synchronization in Node.js and TypeScript.
Designed and implemented interconnected gameplay systems and server-side architecture for persistent multiplayer state and real-time player interactions.
Designed the PostgreSQL persistence layer for player progression, in-game economies, and state recovery.

Freelance Game Server Developer

Various Clients, 2022 - 2024

Node.js · TypeScript · Pawn (legacy C-like language) · PostgreSQL · MySQL · Linux

Developed server-side gameplay systems and real-time event loops for multiple multiplayer communities, focusing on performance and low-latency execution.
Optimized MySQL and PostgreSQL queries and diagnosed synchronization issues based on production usage and client feedback.

Projects

Sizzlo

2024

Next.js · Express.js · FastAPI · AWS EC2 · Stable Diffusion XL

Built a full-stack generative AI image platform using Next.js, Express.js, and a Python/FastAPI inference microservice integrated via REST APIs.
Deployed Stable Diffusion XL with custom checkpoints and LoRAs on a GPU-backed AWS EC2 instance, supporting concurrent image-generation workloads.

Open Godfather

2023 - Present

TypeScript · Node.js · Rollup

Authored and open-sourced a fully typed Node.js/TypeScript framework for building open.mp servers, featuring an object-oriented entity model, lifecycle management, event dispatching, pooled state, and high-level gameplay APIs on top of samp-node.
Built create-og-app, a CLI starter that provisions server files, plugins, and Rollup configuration to simplify project setup.

Open Roleplay

2022

Pawn (legacy C-like language) · MySQL · YSI Libraries

Built a heavy-roleplay SA-MP gamemode from scratch in Pawn, a legacy C-like programming language, implementing complex gameplay systems with an emphasis on structured architecture and runtime performance.
Architected a MySQL relational database with 20+ tables supporting persistent player accounts, characters, properties, vehicles, factions, and interconnected gameplay systems.

bcs_commercial.mp4