🇰🇪→🇿🇦 Â· WeThinkCode_ · 21

ELVIS
CHEGE

Self-taught since 13. I love frontend, backend, and systems programming. Rust and Zig are my thing. I make games too, and I care about building software that actually makes life better for Africans.

Rust Go Java Python TypeScript Zig
View Work Get in Touch
Elvis Chege Johannesburg, ZA

Who
I Am

Moved from Kiambu, Kenya to Johannesburg, South Africa in 2012 when I was 8. Grew up here. At 13 I found a book called Get Coding! Kids and I was immediately hooked. I had no bootcamp, no tutor. Just teen me grinding hours figuring it out.

I am now at WeThinkCode_. In terms of my work I go wide: systems, backend, ML, game engines. If it is hard to build, I want to know how it works.

I also write coding exercises for the peers I mentor on the side.

13
Age I started
35+
Projects
6+
Languages
∞
Curiosity
Selected Work
FEATURED
PROJECTS
01
UKWELIDB
A tamper-proof immutable database written from scratch in Rust. No engine underneath it. Built for contexts where you cannot afford to assume data has not been touched. Won at an Africa hackathon. Ukweli means "truth" in Swahili.
Rust Systems Database Hackathon
↗
02
AFYAAI
First Place at the Mjanga AI hackathon. A 3D AI health companion. You talk to it, it responds. Built full stack from the 3D avatar down to the AI backend. Afya is Swahili for health.
JavaScript AI 3D Health Tech
↗
03
SETTLEA
Full online multiplayer implementation of Settlers of Catan in Go. One of the more mechanically complex board games out there. Real-time state, proper game logic, the whole thing.
Go Multiplayer Game Dev Backend
↗
Currently Building
IMPI

An isometric warfare strategy game written in Java. The best way to learn a language is to build something that actually pushes it. Impi is a zulu word for a regiment of warriors.

Java Game Dev Isometric Strategy
Build log
IMPI
Isometric warfare strategy · Java · In progress
Progress~5%
Isometric renderer working
Tile map system
Unit movement logic
Combat system
AI opponents
Multiplayer mode
More Builds
EVERYTHING
ELSE
Hokela
Search engine connecting township spaza shops to customers. Price comparison, youth-led delivery, order optimisation.
Go · Search Engine
Elimu
Unified LMS consolidating scattered student systems. Courses, submissions, users, admin in one place.
Java + Go · EdTech
Chess Engine
A chess engine in Zig. Wrote it to understand move generation and evaluation at the lowest level.
Zig · Systems
MNIST
Neural network for digit recognition. Built without hiding behind a framework to understand what is actually happening.
Python · ML
Video to ASCII
Converts video to ASCII art in real time. Started as a fun project and kept going.
Python · Creative
Sauti
Active private project written in TypeScript. More soon.
TypeScript · In Progress
Capabilities
WHAT I
WORK WITH

Languages

Rust
Systems
Go
Backend
Python
ML + Scripts
JavaScript / TS
Frontend
Java
Learning now
Zig
Exploring

Domains

Systems Programming
Backend Engineering
Database Internals
Machine Learning
Game Development
Frontend
Contact

OPEN TO
WORK.

Looking for internships and graduate roles anywhere interesting. If you are building something in Africa's tech space and need someone who knows their way around a compiler, reach out.

elvisndungu511@gmail.com GitHub Twitter / X
2026 Elvis Chege · Johannesburg, South Africa 🇰🇪 grown up in 🇿🇦