whoami
Freelance Software Engineer, DevOps Engineer and IT Security Consultant.
I build software that holds up in production: clean architecture, Kubernetes platforms with GitOps and infrastructure that withstands attacks. Technical Lead & System Architect at G-PORTAL by day, freelancer for selected projects on the side.
Alexander Birkner● open for selected projects
Services
Three focus areas, one shared standard: solutions that survive real-world operations. Bookable individually or as a package from idea to production.
Tailor-made backends, APIs and platforms – from architecture to production. Preferably in Go, happily in TypeScript or Rust.
Platforms teams can run on their own: Kubernetes clusters, GitOps with Argo CD and hosting from bare metal to cloud.
Security as part of the architecture, not an afterthought: hardened systems, clean access concepts and infrastructure that stays stable under load and attack.
About
I'm a software engineer from Spenge near Bielefeld, Germany, and have spent more than ten years in the hosting industry, most of it in game-server hosting – an environment where latency, availability and attacks on the infrastructure are a daily topic. My day job is Technical Lead and System Architect at G-PORTAL, one of Europe's largest game-server hosts.
There I design and run platforms that orchestrate thousands of servers on bare metal and in Kubernetes: backend systems in Go, GitOps deployments, network and storage infrastructure, and protection against DDoS and abuse. On the side I take on selected freelance projects where I bring exactly that experience – with a clear separation from my main role and an honest statement of how much capacity I can reliably commit.
I also build open-source tools – from a self-hosted package registry in Rust to Home Assistant integrations and an OpenShift homelab. More on GitHub.
01
Software is only done when it runs reliably, is monitored and can be deployed without fear. I think about deployment, monitoring and recovery from day one.
02
A few well-understood building blocks beat complex architectures. I pick technologies for maturity and maintainability, not hype.
03
Clear estimates, transparent decisions and feedback as soon as something changes. No surprises shortly before go-live.
Open Source
Tools I built for my own needs and published. They show how I work: pragmatic, documented and built for operations.
Self-hosted package registry for RPM, Alpine APK, npm, pacman and apt – one server for every format.
Home Assistant integration for the 1KOMMA5° Heartbeat energy system. Installable via HACS.
Guide and automation for running OpenShift 4 on bare metal in your own homelab.
Go library for downloading Steam app content and Workshop items without the Steam client.
Run virt-manager on macOS – packaged as a Docker container with X11 forwarding.
Home Assistant integration for Steinbach heat pumps: read status, control operation.
Contact
New platform, Kubernetes migration or security review: drop me a few lines about what you need. I usually reply within one business day.
Short intro call
30 minutes, free of charge. We clarify goals, scope and whether it's a fit.
Proposal & plan
Clear scope, realistic estimate, fixed price or hourly rate – VAT-exempt as a German small business.
Delivery
Transparent iterations with regular demos and a proper handover.
mail --to hello@birkner.io