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Passionate Software Craftsmen

Matthias Steffen

About me


I got interested in software development when I was around 15 years old. What began hacking together simple scripts quickly became passion. Fueled by the curiosity to learn about new technologies I started to dig deeper into a lot of the subdomains of software development.
The first useful programs I developed just automated daily chores like converting one file format into another or pulling data from some API. These script were no big achievement of software craftsmanship, but they lit the spark of this passion.
It did not take long for me to learn about the basics of object oriented programming and its benefits regarding code reusability. My learning pace increased steadily and the more I learned, the more I wanted to know. From today's perspective, learning about test driven development (TDD) and design patterns were two of my most valuable insights early on.
Nowadays my focus is to help my clients in developing top notch digital products by supporting with my in depth technical knowledge and experience. I'm thrilled to join new projects, to dive into new domains and to encounter new challenges.

If you are interested is working together with me, please do not hesitate and reach out to me via email: contact@matthiassteffen.biz

Experience

Freelance Software Engineer

February 2021 – present

  • Prepared and facilitated weekly technical plannings for a team of ~10 software engineers.
  • Developed micro service back-ends using Spring Boot and Kotlin following principles like Domain Driven Design (DDD) and Test Driven Development (TDD).
  • Developed front-end applications using React JS, TypeScript and GraphQL.
  • Automated software deployments using GitLab CI and Kubernetes with custom Helm charts.
  • Developed a native Android app to improve internal workflows for inventory management using React Native and Hasura GraphQL Engine.
  • Supported the product development by facilitating workshops with stakeholders and domain experts to gather requirements.

DRÄGER SAFETY AG & CO. KGAA

Software Engineer

September 2020 – January 2021

  • Developing and maintaining a web based software platform using Java Spring Boot, JavaScript
    (Angular 2) and MongoDb.
  • Exercising the role of 'Project Security Engineer' keeping an eye on application security, and aligning with external penetration testers.
  • Leading the implementation of a role based authentication system that integrates with an external identity provider (Azure Active Directory) using Spring Security 5 and OAuth2.
  • Provisioning cloud infrastructure on Microsoft Azure using Terraform and Kubernetes.
  • Implementing/maintaining automated tests from all levels of the "Testing Pyramid'.
  • Performing DevOps duties including the extension/maintenance of CI/CD systems and second level support.
  • Working in a small, agile distributed team of around 10 developers.

Element Insurance

Junior Software Engineer

February 2019 – August 2020

  • Developing a microservices infrastructure using Java (Spring Boot)
  • Developing front end applications using React
  • Applying DevOps and CI/CD principle using AWS and Jenkins
  • Working in an agile and cross-functional team

Working student in software engineering

February 2019 - August 2019

Bilettix

Working student in software engineering

  • Developing web applications in C# using ASP.NET MVC
  • Front-end development with JavaScript and ExtJS
  • Implemented business logic in C#
  • Data storage using MS SQL and Linq to SQL

Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Lübeck

Research intern

  • Extending an existing JAVA application to work with multiple complex formats for EEG data, using Java Native Access (JNA).
  • Programming simple data analyses scripts using Matlab.
  • Miscellaneous IT tasks.

Education

Lübeck University of Applied Sciences

October 2016 - January 2019

Bachelor of Science Computer Science - Software Engineering

Overall grade: 1.7 (good)

Thesis: Implementation of a custom tool for syntactic and semantic analysis and automated refactoring of source code

Thesis grade: 1.0 (excellent)

University of Lübeck

October 2014 - October 2016

Bachelor of Science Computer Science - IT Security (not graduated)

Decided to leave the University of Lübeck in favor of the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences, which is focused on practical relevance and software engineering.

Neumühler Schule Schwerin

July 2006 - June 2014

Abitur (German general qualification for university entrance)

Skills