I'm Erik Hellman — 25 years of writing the code other people would rather not. I embed in teams that need Android down to AOSP, BLE that actually pairs, real‑time streaming that doesn't drop, and mobile apps built natively in Kotlin and Swift or cross‑platform with Compose Multiplatform, React Native, and .NET MAUI. On the backend I work with TypeScript/Node.js, Kotlin/Java, C#/.NET, Go, and Rust. I've worked with Android Automotive on both the OEM side and pre‑installed vendor applications. Lately I've been coaching teams on agentic AI development (Claude Code, OpenAI Codex) alongside hands-on engineering. I'm equally happy as the senior IC who unblocks the team, or the architect who tells you which three things to stop doing.
I embed in your team as the most experienced engineer in the room. I write production code, unblock people, and own the gnarly half of the system nobody else wants to touch. Recent work spans Android Automotive, .NET MAUI, Swift, and backend Kotlin/TypeScript.
I take a small team from "we have a deadline" to shipping — and show them how to use AI coding agents to move faster without cutting corners. Roadmap, sequencing, design reviews, and coaching on Claude Code / OpenAI Codex workflows.
I draw the box-and-arrow diagram you can actually build, and stay long enough to prove it works. Strong opinions on what to not do.
For founders without a technical co-founder: 1–2 days a week of engineering leadership, vendor wrangling, technical due diligence, and "is this team telling me the truth?"
I pick problems where the leaky abstractions actually leak — kernels, radios, GPUs, codecs, model runtimes. That's where I'm worth my rate.
A tiny terminal-first text editor. Built because every existing answer was either too small or a 200MB Electron app.
An agent that does my weekly grocery order at Willys. Real-world demonstration of how to build a small, reliable tool-using LLM agent that earns its keep.
A generalised food shopping agent. Extends the Willys agent pattern to other stores and workflows — a sandbox for reliable LLM tool use.
Command-line utilities for Android development. A collection of scripts and tools that make AOSP and everyday Android engineering less painful.
Öppna Skolplattformen — the open-source alternative app for Stockholm public schools. Featured in Wired (Aug 2021). A civic-tech project that reverse-engineered a closed platform to give parents access to their children's school data.
No discovery form, no AI chatbot, no calendar Tetris until I've actually read what you're working on. A few honest paragraphs is enough — I'll write back within a couple of working days.