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HalfRocket

About

One engineer.
Both halves.

HalfRocket is the trading name I use for my software consultancy and studio. I'm Viveak, a UK-based engineer. I design and build software, websites, apps and games, and I do the work myself.

I've spent more than eight years building distributed backend platforms and external APIs. Event-driven systems, cloud migrations, the plumbing that has to keep working at three in the morning. In recent roles I've been the tech lead: setting the architecture, reviewing the code and getting releases out without drama.

The other half has always been making things people enjoy. Apps, websites and games, designed and drawn as carefully as they're engineered. HalfRocket is where the two halves meet. Half imagination, half engineering.

When you work with HalfRocket, you work with me. There are no account managers and no hand-offs to someone you've never met. I scope it, design it, build it and look after it, and I tell you plainly what's working and what isn't.

The plain facts.

What HalfRocket is, and what it isn't, so there are no surprises later.

A trading name
HalfRocket is the trading name of Viveak Vadivelkarasan, a sole trader based in the United Kingdom.
Founder-led, on purpose
A consultancy and studio of one. There is no team behind a curtain: I do the work, and I'll tell you if a project needs more hands than mine.
Three labels, not three businesses
Labs, Studios and Games describe kinds of work and group the portfolio. The same person, and the same standards, sit behind all three.
AadhiPixels Ltd is separate
I also own AadhiPixels Ltd, a separate company that develops and publishes games and software products. Its work, including TheCocoCard, Fixabee and the games, appears here with attribution because I designed and engineered it. HalfRocket is not part of AadhiPixels Ltd.

How I like to work.

A few things that are true of every project, whichever label it sits under.

  • IndependentNo investors and no agency targets. I take on work I can do well.
  • Hands-onThe person who plans the architecture writes the code, from the first diagram to the last pull request.
  • CreativeDesign, illustration and play are part of how I work, not a layer added at the end.
  • PracticalSmall first releases, honest estimates and a bias towards shipping.
  • CollaborativeI work alongside your team and leave them with code and designs they can own and change.
  • Plain-spokenClear trade-offs, no jargon for its own sake, and bad news early.

Viveak Vadivelkarasan

Founder and principal engineer, United Kingdom

I'm a software engineer and product designer. My career has been spent building platforms and APIs for large organisations, and I've always built apps and games of my own alongside it. HalfRocket is where the two finally share a desk.

Currently a tech lead for external API platforms. Before that, seven years at Deloitte Digital, from engineer to technology consulting manager, leading engineering for clients including LEGO, Dyson and the UK Government. That experience is mine, not HalfRocket client work, but it's what every project here is built on.

  • Deloitte Digital, 2018 to 2025Lead engineer and technical lead for LEGO, Dyson and the UK Government, promoted from engineer to technology consulting manager.
  • Event-driven platformsSystems handling around a million events a day.
  • Kubernetes re-platformsLed moves from serverless and EC2 onto Kubernetes, including Dyson's for a 300-plus engineer organisation.
  • AWS Certified Solutions ArchitectCloud architecture on AWS, with GCP and Vercel alongside.
Say hello

Got a project in mind?

Tell me what you're building. You'll hear back from me, not a sales team.