The Hacker Mindset

I started in security. Not the compliance-checkbox kind, but the real kind—finding vulnerabilities, breaking systems to understand how they work, then building them back better. Two CTF wins (Pwnzilla #1: 2nd place, Pwnzilla #2: 1st place) taught me to think like an attacker and defend like a paranoid architect.

This mindset shapes everything I build. Every system I design, I first ask: "How would I break this?" Then I build defenses. Security isn't a checklist item—it's the foundation.

Architecture Thinking

At Vimodji, I scaled infrastructure from a single server to 35 distributed servers. I migrated a monolith to microservices, then to mono-repos. I replaced Solr with a custom search engine that cut API latency from 2.0s to 1.1s—and reduced infrastructure costs by 250%.

But here's what matters more than the metrics: I designed systems that survived. Achieved 99.98% uptime not by luck, but by architecture. Every failure mode considered. Every bottleneck anticipated. Every integration point tested.

I think in systems, not features. When you describe a problem, I'm already mapping dependencies, identifying failure points, and designing for scale—before I write a line of code.

Leadership & Scale

I've built and led teams: 4 engineers, 2 sales, 2 curation staff. I've done the hiring, mentoring, and the hard transition from office to remote. I've represented companies to boards, investors, and at WebSummit and Slush.

But leadership isn't about headcount. It's about making the right technical decisions that compound over time. One engineer I mentored got promoted to a global cloud engineer role. That's the kind of impact I care about.

The platform I built and scaled grew from $0 to 750k+ monthly active users. Not through marketing magic, but through architecture that could handle it. That's the difference between systems that work and systems that scale.

Technical Depth

I'm comfortable with PHP (Laravel) and plain PHP. I've written production C and C++ code. I work with distributed systems, search engines, and complex integrations. But I don't fetishize languages or tools—I use what solves the problem.

MSc in Security in Digital Systems (University of Piraeus, Erasmus+ at University of Málaga). ISO 27001 Lead Auditor certification. Thesis on RF24101 wireless module security. These aren't credentials—they're proof that I take security seriously enough to study it formally.

Product Creator

I don't just build for clients. I build products. Dolinto—a commercial ERP to e-commerce integration platform—exists because I saw a real problem and solved it. I maintain open-source crypto libraries for Arduino and Raspberry Pi because hardware security matters.

Building products teaches you what client work never does: the long-term consequences of architectural decisions. The pain of maintaining code you wrote months ago. The satisfaction of systems that just work, year after year.

Why This Matters

After 15+ years, I've seen projects fail because of poor architecture. I've seen security breaches that could have been prevented. I've seen systems crumble under load that should have been designed to scale.

I started Makeasite to help founders and CTOs avoid those mistakes. To bring security-first, architecture-driven thinking to systems that matter. To connect anything with everything, and make it work.

Security is not a feature. It's a prerequisite.