About
I build the systems you're not supposed to notice.
I'm Wiktor Gawroński, and it started with a game. I was twelve, and I wanted more from it than it was willing to give — so I started automating it. Scripts, bots, little programs that played while I watched how they worked. The game was the excuse; the real fascination was the machine underneath.
That curiosity never switched off. It grew into a career on the unglamorous, high-stakes side of software — the platforms that grade students, unlock doors and decide whether a hire is legal. The kind of systems that only make the news when they fail.
So I build them not to. I specialise in secure, long-lasting systems designed from the ground up — and Rook Labs is where I bring that same engineering to the web, for businesses that want a site built to the same standard.
Two degrees, on purpose
An engineer who also speaks business.
Most developers can build exactly what you ask for. I studied the other half too — so I can tell you what is actually worth building.
- The how.
BSc Software Engineering
The discipline to build things that hold up — architecture, security, and the quiet parts that keep working long after launch day.
- The why.
MSc International Business Management
Because software only matters if it serves the business around it. I read your goals, your market and your customers — not just your spec.
Both degrees earned at Aberystwyth University.
Three things I refuse to compromise on.
Designed from the ground up
No off-the-shelf scaffolding quietly making decisions you can't undo later. I lay the foundation deliberately, so the system bends to your business — not the other way round.
Secure by default
Security isn't bolted on at the end. Access, data and trust boundaries are drawn on day one, then defended at every layer beneath the surface.
Built to last
I write systems meant to run quietly for years: clear, documented, and boring in all the right places. The thrill is that nothing breaks.
Things I've built
A few systems with no room for error.
Names stay confidential — the problems are the interesting part anyway.
- 01Higher education
A marking system for a university
When thousands of grades all have to be right.
An assessment and marking platform where a single mistake follows a student for years. I built anonymised marking, second-marker moderation, deadline tracking and a full audit trail — fairness, made checkable at scale.
- 02Physical security
The interface behind the locked door
Every badge tap is a question the system has milliseconds to answer.
A control interface for a security company's access-point systems — readers, controllers and doors across many sites. Live state, who-can-go-where, and fail-safe behaviour for the moment the network blinks.
- 03Recruitment & compliance
International recruitment & compliance software
Hiring across borders, without falling foul of any of them.
A platform that moves candidates through recruitment while enforcing the compliance rules of every country involved — right-to-work, documents and approvals — so a fast hire never becomes a slow legal problem.
Why a rook?
In Polish, my surname — Gawroński — comes from gawron, the rook: a corvid, one of the cleverest birds alive. Rooks solve problems, use tools, and build nests that outlast the seasons.
That is the whole philosophy in one bird. Resourceful, precise, and quietly building things meant to last. It felt like the honest name for what I do.
Curious what that standard looks like for your site?
Tell me about your business — I'll tell you, honestly, how I would build it.