Software developer based in Gdynia
I am Mariusz Szatkowski, and WPPoland is the name I work under, alone. I build the server side and the glue of web systems: PHP and WordPress, WooCommerce, TypeScript on Node.js, Astro and Next.js front ends and Cloudflare Workers at the edge. Gdynia is where I have worked since the WPPoland brand started in 2007. It is the place of work on my Wikidata entry, and from 2007 to 2015 I was a web developer and internet marketing specialist at Vector Group here.
Most of my clients are elsewhere, in Germany, Austria, the Nordics and the rest of Poland, so I work remotely and in writing. For a company in Gdynia, Sopot or Gdansk, what a local developer adds is Polish as a working language and familiarity with the local vendors your shop has to talk to anyway.
The general offer, the stack table and the track record are on the main software developer page. This page covers what is specific to the Tricity.
WordCamp Gdynia 2025, held from 26 to 28 September 2025 at the Pomeranian Science and Technology Park, Aleja Zwycięstwa 96/98.
Who hires a web developer in the Tricity
The Tricity economy is broad enough that “a developer” means different things to different buyers. Three kinds of request reach me most often.
- Online shops and B2B sellers. A WooCommerce store that has grown past its first plugins: an ERP or wholesaler feed, invoicing, BLIK and card payments, several warehouses. The trouble usually sits in the joins between systems, less often in the shop front.
- Companies with a WordPress site that has become software. A booking system, a member area or a document portal that started as a plugin and now holds business logic nobody has documented.
- Technology teams with a gap. A product company or a service centre that needs one senior person on a web or integration problem for a few months, without a permanent hire.
The third case is common here because so many employers in the area hire engineers. That competition is also why a contractor who can start next month is sometimes easier to find than a permanent hire.
Legal requirements for online stores in Poland
A developer from outside Poland can build a good WooCommerce store. The Polish requirements, though, land directly in checkout, invoice and data code, and it helps to know them from practice.
KSeF e-invoicing
The National e-Invoice System (KSeF) became mandatory for issuing invoices on 1 February 2026 for taxpayers whose sales, including tax, exceeded 200 million zlotys in 2024, and on 1 April 2026 for all other taxpayers, except those whose monthly invoiced sales do not exceed 10,000 zlotys gross. Receiving invoices through KSeF has been mandatory since 1 February 2026 (Ministry of Finance KSeF portal).
For a store that means one of two things: the invoicing software that already talks to KSeF has to receive complete and correct order data from WooCommerce, or the connection has to be built. The typical failures are mundane and expensive: a company tax number (NIP) collected in a free-text field, a B2B customer checking out without an invoice flag, corrections that never leave the shop. My job is making the order data trustworthy. Tax interpretation stays with your accountant.
BLIK payments
BLIK processed 2.9 billion transactions worth 441.5 billion zlotys in 2025, with online payments up 20% to 1.4 billion and 20.7 million active accounts (ITwiz, based on Polski Standard Płatności figures). A Polish checkout without BLIK loses sales, and one where the order status does not update reliably after a BLIK payment fills your support inbox. The work is in the payment operator’s webhooks, the order states and the refunds.
Polish accessibility act
The Act of 26 April 2024 on ensuring compliance with accessibility requirements for certain products and services, which implements the European Accessibility Act, has applied since 28 June 2025 and covers e-commerce services. Microenterprises providing services do not have to adapt (biznes.gov.pl). Above that threshold, accessibility is a legal requirement. I start with an audit against WCAG, then fix where stores usually fail: form labels and error messages in checkout, keyboard access to filters and the cart, theme contrast, product images without text alternatives.
Withdrawal button
Directive (EU) 2023/2673 added an online withdrawal function to the Consumer Rights Directive for contracts concluded through an online interface, applicable from 19 June 2026. In June 2026 Poland had not yet passed its implementing rules (Prawo.pl, 9 June 2026), so check the current state with your lawyer. The technical preparation is the same either way: an order history that identifies the contract, a withdrawal form that is easy to reach, and a timestamped email acknowledgement.
Personal data
Before I copy production data, I sign a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR. Staging copies are anonymised, and I delete them at the end of the engagement.
Tech industry in the Tricity
The Pomeranian Science and Technology Park (PPNT) in Gdynia was set up in 2001 by the Pomeranian Technology Centre association and the City of Gdynia. It describes itself as the largest hub in Poland for organisations where business, science and technology meet, with more than 250 companies, 76,000 square metres of usable space and 1,343 people working directly in the park (PPNT). The larger WordPress events in Gdynia take place there too.
Olivia Centre in Gdansk has about 175,000 square metres, most of it offices, and its Olivia Star tower, at 180 metres, is the tallest building in northern Poland (Wikipedia). Its tenants include Allianz, Amazon, Bayer, Energa, Epam Systems, PwC, Ricoh and Sii (Gedanopedia).
For a company buying development, the pool of engineers is deep and the competition for them is strong. A permanent hire takes months; a contractor for a defined problem can start sooner. The decision table on the main page covers when a freelancer, an agency or a software house fits.
WordPress events in Gdynia and public code
You can check each of these yourself.
- CMSConf 2026. A conference for creators and developers of content management systems, 12 to 14 November 2026 at PPNT in Gdynia. I am listed as Conference Coordinator on the CMSConf website.
- WordCamp Gdynia. The 2024 edition ran from 4 to 6 October 2024 at the National Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the 2025 edition from 26 to 28 September 2025 at PPNT (2024, 2025). The photos on this page are from those editions.
- WordUp Gdynia. The local WordPress meetup meets at the Gdynia City Museum, Zawiszy Czarnego 1 (meetup page).
- WordCamp Europe. I have been on the organising team since 2024, on the budget track, for the 2025 edition in Basel and the 2026 edition in Krakow.
- Public code. The read-only WooCommerce MCP server (TypeScript, MIT licence) and my plugins on wordpress.org.
WordCamp Gdynia 2024, 4 to 6 October 2024.
Project examples
Client work is under NDA, so the case studies are anonymised and say so. The ones closest to what Tricity companies ask for:
- A slow B2B WooCommerce store, recovered by profiling checkout and database queries instead of adding a cache plugin: WooCommerce performance recovery.
- Headless WooCommerce on Cloudflare, for a catalogue where speed and security mattered more than a visual page builder: headless WooCommerce on Cloudflare.
- A written migration plan for moving a WordPress site to a headless front end, including what should stay as it is: headless migration plan. A plan like this is often a sensible first purchase, before any code is written.
- An AI integration with human review at every step: AI content operations integration.
None of these depended on the client being in the same city.
Does a local developer matter
| Situation | Does a developer in the Tricity change anything? |
|---|---|
| Polish-language requirements, documents or contracts that must be read closely | Yes, and so does knowing Polish payment operators and invoicing software |
| An integration with your accountant’s KSeF setup | Somewhat: the accountant and the developer have to agree on the data format, in Polish |
| Ongoing development, fixes and releases | No, this is remote work with decisions in writing |
| Outages outside working hours | No, I do not run a 24/7 on-call service |
Choose on skill and working method first and treat proximity as a bonus. A local developer who cannot show public code or a written process is not a better choice than a remote one who can.
How to start
- Write the brief. The system, the problem and the deadline, plus the repositories, hosting, payment operator and invoicing software. Polish or English, whichever your team works in.
- Agree the scope in writing. Inclusions, exclusions and assumptions. Design and wireframes come from you.
- Baseline, then change. A staging copy and measurements first, especially of the order, payment and invoice flows that must not break.
- Changes and release. Commits in your repository, each change on staging for you to check, a prepared rollback.
What I do not do
- Graphic design, wireframes or UX design. You supply the layout; I turn it into a working, responsive interface.
- Mobile apps or 24/7 on-call. I also do not guarantee response or repair times.
- Pretending to be a bigger team. I work alone. If the work needs several developers in parallel from day one, a Tricity software house fits better.
- Tax or legal advice. I implement KSeF, accessibility and consumer law in code according to what your accountant or lawyer decides.
Related pages
For WordPress work specifically, including maintenance and site builds for Tricity companies, see WordPress developer in Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. The full offer is on the software developer page, and more about me is on the about page.
If you run a web or e-commerce system in the Tricity that has to work reliably, describe it in writing. I will reply with questions or a first draft of the scope.
