Qualification

Full-stack Web Developer and Team Lead with 10+ years building web applications and leading development teams. I’ve spent my career working on everything from small business websites to complex enterprise platforms, and I genuinely enjoy both the technical challenges and the people side of software development.

What I bring to the table:

  • Technical versatility: Comfortable working across the full stack. From database design to API development to modern frontend frameworks. I’ve learned that being adaptable is more valuable than being an expert in just one area.

  • Team collaboration: I believe the best code comes from teams that communicate well. I’ve led small teams (3-5 developers) and enjoy mentoring junior developers while learning from senior colleagues.

  • Practical problem-solving: Rather than over-engineering solutions, I focus on understanding what the business actually needs and delivering it efficiently. Sometimes the simplest solution really is the best one.

  • Continuous learning: The tech world moves fast, and I’ve stayed relevant by regularly picking up new tools and frameworks as projects demand.

  • Project ownership: I’ve managed projects from initial client meetings through deployment and maintenance. I understand that shipping working software on time is what matters most.

What motivates me: Building software that actually gets used and makes someone’s day easier. Whether it’s streamlining internal processes or creating better user experiences, I find satisfaction in solving real problems with code.

I’m particularly interested in roles where I can contribute to meaningful projects while working with a collaborative team that values both technical excellence and work-life balance - something I understand German companies do particularly well.

2022 – Present

Ipro GMBH | Full-Stack Developer

Inherited a struggling appointment management platform that was causing daily headaches for users. My main focus has been turning it around:

  • Rescued a critical system: When I joined, the appointment platform had major stability issues affecting hundreds of daily users. Spent the first months firefighting bugs and implementing quick fixes to stop the bleeding while planning a larger overhaul.

  • Complete rebuild for sustainability: Led a full refactoring of the legacy codebase (originally a patchwork of different developers’ styles over the years). Made tough decisions about what to keep vs. rebuild, ultimately reducing the codebase by 40% while adding new features.

  • Security overhaul: Found several concerning security gaps during initial code review. Implemented proper authentication, input validation, and API security.

  • Modern UI that actually works: Redesigned the entire frontend using Vue.js. The old version barely worked on mobile. Now our tablet users finally have a proper experience. Cut the average task completion time from 5 minutes to under 2.

Team: Working with 2 backend developers and 1 designer. Also coordinating with external API partners for integrations.

2016 – Present

Besser Sehen Landshut | Lead Developer

Long-term collaboration with the opticians, building internal tools that actually get used every day:

Survey Platform

Started as a “quick project”, ended up building a full survey and analytics platform. The product team uses it to gather customer feedback on different eyewear lines. Fun challenge: had to build comparison views that could show why customers prefer Brand A frames over Brand B. Now processing various responses monthly with automated reports that save the marketing team hours of Excel work.

Time Tracking System

HR was drowning in paper timesheets from 50+ employees across multiple locations. Built them a simple web app where employees clock in/out in 2 clicks. The tricky part was handling German labor law requirements. For example, different rules for minijobbers, part-timers, and full-time staff.

Data imports & automation

Built import tools to handle customer data from their old archives, supplier product catalogs (usually CSVs with inconsistent formats). Nothing fancy, but it replaced a lot of copy-paste work and people actually know when things need their attention now.

Impact: These aren’t Silicon Valley moonshot projects, but they solve real problems for real people. The company saved 2 full-time positions worth of manual work.

Also maintain a few small open-source PHP packages that came from solving problems here. They’ve helped other developers facing similar challenges.

2014 – 2016

Freelance Web Developer

Mostly Drupal work for small-to-medium businesses. The typical freelance life:

  • Drupal rescue missions: Got called in when other developers disappeared or when sites “suddenly stopped working” after updates. Became pretty good at explaining to non-technical clients why their site broke and what their options were (quick fix vs. proper rebuild). Usually gave them 2-3 solutions with honest time/cost estimates.

  • Corporate websites: Built and maintained sites for local businesses (law firms, dental practices, small manufacturers). Nothing groundbreaking, but solid work that looked professional and didn’t break. Most importantly, clients could actually update content themselves without calling me every time they needed to change office hours.

Honestly, this period taught me more about client communication than coding. Learned that clients don’t care about your perfect code. They care about whether their contact form works and if their site looks good on their phone.

2011 – 2014

Acropolium | Software Developer → Team Lead

Started as a junior developer, ended up leading a small team. Typical agency work with different clients, different challenges every few months:

What I actually did:

  • Education sector projects: Built several web apps for universities and training centers. Mostly student portals and course management systems.

  • The daily grind: Maintained about 20 client applications. Fix bugs, update dependencies, explain why IE support costs extra, deploy without breaking production (failed at this twice, learned my lessons).

  • Invoice management app: Built a billing system for a logistics company. They had very specific rules about who could approve what. Spent more time in meetings understanding their approval workflow than actually coding. Still, replaced their Excel chaos with something that actually tracked who owed what.

  • E-commerce platform: Developed an online store for a client with… interesting ideas about inventory management. Had to build custom product bundles, discount rules, and a checkout process.

  • Moved into team lead role: Started mentoring 2 junior developers, running sprint planning, and sitting in more meetings than I ever wanted to. Discovered I actually enjoyed helping juniors debug their code more than writing my own. Also learned that “we’ll refactor it later” never happens unless you schedule it.

This job taught me that being a good developer isn’t just about code, it’s about understanding what clients actually need (often not what they first ask for) and delivering it without drama.

2006 – 2012

Education

M.Sc. Computer Science (2010-2012)
Chernihiv State Technological University

B.Sc. Computer Science (2006-2010)
Chernihiv State Technological University

Focused on software engineering and distributed systems. Thesis involved building a visual tool for designing application workflows. Taught me that making complex things look simple is actually really hard.

Department of Science.

2010 – 2011

Freelance Developer (while studying)

Early freelance work involved taking any web project I could get to pay the bills:

  • Maintenance gigs: Kept a few PHP sites running for local businesses. Basic stuff like updating content, fixing broken forms, making sure jQuery sliders still worked after browser updates.

  • Data conversion scripts: Wrote Python/PHP scripts to move data between different systems, usually CSV to database or vice versa. One client had 10 years of Excel data that needed to go into MySQL. Learned regex the hard way.

  • Drupal fixes: Did troubleshooting for sites built by others. Mostly fixing what broke after core updates or finding why that one module stopped working. Good practice for debugging other people’s code.

  • SEO work: Helped small businesses rank better on Google with meta tags, sitemaps, page speed optimization. Pretty basic by today’s standards but clients were happy when they showed up on page 2 instead of page 10.

  • Scheduling app: Built a simple employee scheduler in Drupal for a small retail shop. They were using a paper calendar on the wall before this. It wasn’t pretty but it beat their previous system.

  • Small open-source contributions: Submitted a few bug fixes to Drupal modules I was using. Nothing major, mostly updates and small patches. But it felt good to give back when I found issues.

Looking back, this was more about learning how to work with clients than technical skills. Made every rookie mistake like underestimating time, scope creep, not getting requirements in writing. Also started contributing small fixes to the Drupal modules I was using. It was a good way to learn how professional code should look.