CV

With hedge10 I deliver software and infrastructure in the EU - from one team, end to end. On the software side I build custom web applications and APIs with PHP and Symfony, high-performance backend services in Go, and gradually modernise existing codebases with maintainable architecture and automated tests.

On the infrastructure side I set up and operate hosting in EU data centres (Hetzner, Scaleway), from single cloud instances to dedicated servers and Kubernetes. Everything is defined as code, deployed automatically via GitOps workflows and monitored, with GDPR requirements built in from the start. I build on mature, self-hostable open source software to avoid vendor lock-in - clients keep their code, infrastructure and documentation. Beyond building, I advise stakeholders as an architect on migration paths away from big-tech platforms.

Key topics and responsibilities:

• Build and modernise web applications and APIs with Symfony and Go
• Set up and operate EU-hosted infrastructure (Hetzner, Scaleway) from single instances to K3s/Kubernetes
• Infrastructure as code and GitOps workflows
• Plan migrations off big-tech platforms towards EU and on-premise hosting

Programming languages and tools:

• PHP (Symfony Framework), Golang
• Codeberg, Gitlab, Docker, Kubernetes, Netbird VPN
• Debian, NetBSD, NixOS
• Terraform, Ansible, ArgoCD

PHP 7.4 reached its end of life in 2022, so working on a codebase that had been stuck on it for four years posed a lot of challenges. Upgrading underlying OS-version, the programming language itself, and the framework on top (Symfony) was the main task - all by ensuring and increasing code quality and application stability.

For this using additional tools for static analysis and increasing test coverage to support the upgrading process was key. Further, educating the development team to follow best practices in software development and leverage benefits from the broader Symfony ecosystem helped to increase code quality and DX for future development.

Key topics and responsibilities:

• Migrate PHP microservices from PHP 7.4 to PHP 8.x
• Improve code quality by introducing PHPStan
• Increase test coverage
• Suggest improvements to strengthen the overall DX (Developer Experience)

Programming languages and tools:

• PHP 7.4 to 8.x (Symfony Framework)
• Bitbucket & Bitbucket Pipelines
• AWS Fargate
• Docker, Docker Compose
• Atlassian JIRA & Confluence

My work in the finance sector was split into two parts: WEB2 and WEB3. Our company that once did analysis of credit and financing models changed over the years into a WEB3 company developing solutions for building stablecoins. My part spread across a variation of topics: from building data processing pipelines, over the design of RESTful/GraphQL-based microservices and building classical web backend application to connect Vue.js-based frontends to it.

As the company expected a lot of financial data coming either from our bank and/or from the blockchain, we used Kafka to store the data centrally. This turned out not to be the right decision, which in the end led to our own custom-built event store.

After years of in-house managing a Kubernetes cluster in AWS we moved to an IaaS/PaaS (render, railway) service to let our services be purely managed by the developers themselves. I was involved in moving our microservices into the new environment including first setups and connection amongst them.

Key topics and responsibilities:

• Building RESTful/GraphQL-based microservices
• Consuming financial transactions via EBICS
• Creating a highly modular monolith from scratch for managing SWIFT and Blockchain transactions
• Building a custom Event Store

Programming languages and tools:

• PHP (Symfony Framework), Python
• Gitlab, Docker, Kafka
• JIRA, Confluence

A new year, a new challenge. With a largely distributed international team I was in charge of creating new digital solutions. Managing people abroad, introducing strong software development guidelines and pipelines that foster an environment for quick software release processes was a big challenge, that I enjoyed taking on.

Moving from code repositories on local devices to Gitlab including build pipelines, documentation in Confluence and ensuring software is delivered within time was very exciting. Building things on a green field compared to established processes and solutions - everything has its pros and cons.

Key topics and responsibilities:

• Leading a multinational remote team of 8 people developing a web-based hyperlocal ad system
• Setting up deployment pipelines and code quality processes for a microservice architecture
• Implementing work and communication processes for a newly created development team

Programming languages and tools:

• PHP (Laravel), Livewire
• Alpine.js, TailwindCSS
• Gitlab, Docker
• Atlassian Confluence

My first dip into the tourism sector. The mid-sized company was not very modern in regards to the IT. It was more or less a one man show with a mixture of Microsoft tooling (MS Access, whut?) and Linux servers. I wore a lot of different hats back then, most of them at the same time: Software Developer, Architect and Head of IT. Me and my team, that I hired, equipped the old-fashioned in-house-IT with a ticket system, version-controlled software development and clear communication standards with internal stakeholders and external service providers.

Key topics and responsibilities:

• Building an IT team from one up to five people with direct reporting to managing directors
• Modernize legacy in-house systems, defining exchange interfaces, virtualize services (Docker)
• Streamline communication with external service providers

Programming languages and tools:

• PHP (Laravel), Wordpress
• Github, Docker
• Mantis Bugtracker

After years as Project Manager inside a web agency, I decided that I would love to work on the other side - helping the customer to manage their products. Being responsible for the communication between internal stakeholders and the web agency, I kept the feature pipeline of the online shop moving and its costs under control.

Key topics and responsibilities:

• Communication with internal stakeholders and the web agency, that developed the Magento, now Adobe Commerce, Online Shop
• Building feature pipelines that could be regularly shipped to the production system
• Keeping costs within an agreed range to build a broader online presence

I was not able to really start off in this company due to some private reasons. Unfortunately this company does not exist anymore due to bankruptcy.

Doing freelance work has always been a dream for me. Back then I was approached by friends and colleagues, that needed Magento-based online shops. As I did development for Magento before my current job here, and still was involved into this topic in general, because I was working in this field, I started a side business. And it lasted for a very long time. I focused on Magento online shops, clients and companies that needed immediate help with their shops.

Key topics and responsibilities:

• Features and bugfixing for existing online shops
• Migration from Magento 1 to 2
• Trainings for Magento 1 and 2
• Start building various open source solutions for Magento and later Laravel

From software development into project management - a new chapter began. With a focus to technical specifications I was managing projects for online shops and websites for tourism, fashion and the publishing industry. Leading international rollout in multiple countries at the same time, coordinating product pipelines and release cycles, and lastly keeping a steady cash flow through my clients were key tasks.

Key topics and responsibilities:

• Transferring requirements into technical demands for software development
• Technical and business control of customer projects, ongoing improvement of quality and implementation
• Ensuring a predictable cash inflow through client projects

My first job in Software Development started in a small team in a German mid-size company developing software for the publishing industry. Me and my team were doing the data preparation to publish ads online by extracting data coming from PDF, CSV and XML files.

Key topics and responsibilities:

• Writing parsers for ad systems to render information coming from print into online systems
• Building multi-step pipelines for data parsers in Perl
• Implementing import mechanisms for mass processing of CSV and XML data, keyword recognition

Programming languages and tools:

• Perl
• PHP
• Subversion… gosh, see how old I am ;-)