Hi, I'm Elena Lape.
Founder, software engineer, and open-source enthusiast who loves turning ideas into reality through technology.
Over the years, I've worked on a wide range of projects — from building platforms and open source tools to organizing hackathons and community events. I've been coding since my early teens and have had the privilege of collaborating with incredible people along the way.
Since 2022, my primary role has been Founder and Engineering Lead at Holopin, where we're creating a platform for digital badges based on Verifiable Credential Standards used by organizations for micro-recognition and gamification. We're all about enhancing developer experience and community engagement.
Some of our features have been largely inspired by the stickers developers put on their laptops. Check out my badge board!
It's been exciting to see our platform grow to over 130,000 users, partnering with companies like DigitalOcean & Hacktoberfest and Cloudflare, and scaling our core team. We've not only built a product but also a community of passionate developers who love sharing their achievements.
Background
Before Holopin, I ran a consultancy, Theta Labs, specializing in cloud native, open source products, focusing on infrastructure tooling, monitoring, API design, and developer experience. No matter how manage-y my role became, I always spent at least 50% of my time coding — and continue to do so today.
Prior to Theta, I worked in various software engineering roles, including at GitHub as the Product Partnerships Lead for Education, where I helped expand the GitHub Student Developer Pack to over 2 million users and more than 100 partners. Collaborating with companies like AWS, Unity, and Typeform was an incredible experience.
Community Involvement
Hackathons have been a significant part of my journey. I've traveled around the world participating in and organizing them, including directing Hack the Burgh, Scotland's largest student hackathon. These experiences allowed me to connect with passionate developers and contribute to projects that make a difference. See some of the things I've built here.
As of July 2024, I serve on the Advisory Board of W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium. As an elected AB member, I represent the interests of the developer community, small businesses, and open-source projects to make the Web work for everyone.
Outside of Tech
While I'm fortunate to consider technology both my profession and passion, I also enjoy composing electronic music and challenging myself through CrossFit and long-distance running.
In addition to programming languages, I have a deep love for human languages too! I'm fluent in English, Spanish, German, and Lithuanian, and can comfortably watch series in Russian and Persian/Farsi (sometimes with English subtitles for the latter).
Get in Touch
In addition to running Holopin, I continue to consult, speak at conferences, and organize hackathons. If you're working on an interesting project and want to connect, please reach out via email or my social media channels.