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Hi, I’m Vova.

Vova · familiar form

Short for Volodymyr. What my friends and family call me.

I’m a software engineer at Nextdoor, based in New York.

I’m interested in technology, thoughtful products, good design, and seeing more of the world.

Vova leaning on a seawall with arms crossed, in front of the Golden Gate Bridge

Currently

Building at Nextdoor.

Since joining in 2022, I’ve worked on feed UX, growth engineering, real-time alerts, local events, and the public agency app, building experiences that make it easier to see what’s happening nearby through real-time updates and interactive maps.

Selected projects

Two phones showing Nextdoor’s alerts map: nearby fire and safety alerts on the left, a severe weather alert area on the right
Alerts map · Image: Nextdoor

2025

Real-time alerts

A flagship feature of Nextdoor’s 2025 redesign, bringing real-time neighborhood information into the feed and onto an interactive map.

As the team’s sole web engineer, I owned web architecture and implementation, including the top-of-feed Spotlight and a fully custom interactive Mapbox GL map. I also contributed to backend development and API design.

Later, I extended the platform to public agency partners, owning it end to end: moving their legacy alerts onto the new system, with map support and notifications for agency users.

Nextdoor’s 2025 Treat Map with pumpkin pins marking participating homes
2025 Treat Map · Image: Nextdoor

2024 / 2025

Treat Map

A neighborhood guide to Halloween. Find homes handing out treats, discover decorations and local events, and plan a night of trick-or-treating.

I led the 2024 and 2025 editions and worked on the web experience, with contributions to the backend.

2024 Nextdoor Rewind announcement illustrated with neighbors and winter scenes
2024 Rewind · Image: Nextdoor

2024

Nextdoor Rewind

A year in review for your neighborhood, bringing together local highlights, popular posts, and the moments that brought neighbors together.

Side projects

Arrakis title card over a sculpted relief of desert ridges and wind-rippled sand

Solo project

Arrakis

An interactive relief atlas of the world in Frank Herbert’s first Dune novel. Explore its terrain, places, and journeys in 3D.

A few things about me

My interest in software started with the products I loved using. I wanted to understand the decisions behind how they looked and behaved, and eventually build things with that same attention to detail.

I’m especially excited to be building today. I believe AI can expand what people are capable of, helping more of us explore ideas, learn new skills, and create things we couldn’t have made on our own. Having that much knowledge and capability within reach feels like an enormous opportunity, both for making something personal and for advancing what we can achieve together.

I’m originally from Ukraine and spent nearly nine years in Toronto before moving to New York in 2025. I’m still getting to know the city, exploring its neighborhoods and taking advantage of how much there is to see and experience here.

I love traveling and getting a feel for how people live somewhere else. My travels have taken me from Bilbao and Halifax to the landscapes of Utah and Arizona. I like giving a place time and attention, whether through its neighborhoods, history, or local traditions. Lately, that’s included a growing interest in architecture, museums, and photography. My wife and I are usually thinking about our next trip before we’ve quite finished the last one.

I also play soccer football in a local league, enjoy running and reading, and follow Manchester United with more commitment than recent results necessarily justify.