Engineering
[Container: hands on the code]
Still writing code, rarely less than half my time. Tests that describe behaviour, CI that is allowed to say no.
Christian Groth
Software Architect & Engineer
Shipped today, still changeable tomorrow.
20+ years of turning requirements into software that ships and keeps shipping. Boring tech, no quick & dirty. Kotlin and the JVM at heart.
buildit compiles? ship it!ContainersWhat I do
Four parts, each with its own job. And they talk to each other all the time.
Architecture
[Container: structure that survives change]
Hexagonal designs, event-driven systems, modernizing what runs and shaping what's new.
Teams & Collaboration
[Container: technical leadership]
I lead from inside the team as its architect, not from an org chart. The feedback I hear most: I'm good team glue.
Platform & Operations
[Container: you build it, you run it]
Cloud native and Kubernetes, observability built in: if I can't see it in production, it isn't done.
Christian Groth [Software System]
ComponentsSelected work
A slice of my side projects. Same cloud native ideas as at work, deliberately on a smaller stack: a handful of apps doesn't need Kubernetes. The rest lives on GitHub. Well, most of it.
james-platform
[Container: Kotlin · Quarkus · Qute SSR · MongoDB]
- Problem
- Every small data app needs the same CRUD, auth and infrastructure boilerplate.
- Decision
- A personal low-code platform: apps are versioned entity definitions, the UI is generated, computed values are Kotlin scripts.
- Result
- Semantic versions derived from schema changes, scripted migrations, aggregations, data import and sharing.
spotify-control
[Container: Kotlin · Quarkus · Qute SSR · MongoDB]
- Problem
- Spotify's own playlist handling is too coarse, and Wrapped comes only once a year.
- Decision
- Mirror playback history and playlists locally, enforce playlist rules automatically in a hexagonal Quarkus app.
- Result
- Duplicate-free playlists, album upgrades, yearly union playlists and Wrapped-style statistics on any day.
-
quarkus-outbox
[Component: Quarkus library · MongoDB]
The Transactional Outbox both apps rely on: no event lost on a crash, at-least-once delivery with deduplication, priorities and retries.
-
Self-hosted platform
[Deployment Node: VPS · Docker Swarm · Traefik · Grafana Cloud]
One scripted VPS with Docker Swarm, Traefik and Grafana Cloud monitoring. A new app goes live with a single stack file.
PrinciplesHow I work
The rules everything above is built with.
- Done means done right.Shipped and running, on a foundation that doesn't lead into a dead end. Quick & dirty is neither.
- Boring tech wins.Proven tools first. New stuff only where it really pays off.
- Make decisions explicit.ADRs and arc42 next to the code, so the why outlives the people.
- Evolve, don't rewrite.Old or new, every step is shippable.
- Teams over tools.Architecture is a social activity. The best diagram is the one the team draws together.
- Automate the boring parts.Done twice? Script it. Done three times? Put it into CI.
ChangelogCareer
Every system has a history. Here's mine, semantically versioned.
# [Unreleased]
- Exploring AI coding agents in day-to-day engineering
- Event sourcing, beyond the conference talks
# v5.0 (2023, current)
- Software architect and developer for municipal and public authority software
- Technical modernization, and keeping the team afloat between features, deadlines and tech debt
# v4.0 (2018)
- Extension platform turning a classic CMS into the data backbone for headless products
- Cloud native from day one: Kotlin, Micronaut, RESTHeart, MongoDB, Kubernetes, CI/CD in a DevOps team
- Grew from developer into the software architect role
# v3.0 (2015)
- SAP Hybris shops: payment providers and promotion engines
- Systems integration via Data Hub
# v2.1 (2014)
- Master's degree, studied part-time alongside the job, stopped at ~80 %
- Turned out passion beats a perfect CV
# v2.0 (2012)
- Product development on JBoss, JSF and OSGi
- Project work as developer, technical advisor and solution partner
# v1.1 (2007)
- Bachelor in Information Technology, a dual study programme alongside the job
# v1.0 (2005)
- Full stack on a large real estate portal: frontend to CORBA middleware and database
- Call center and first level support app with complex product configuration, built on a custom persistence framework for generic, dynamic type systems
# v0.2 (2004)
- Student job: a bit of everything, no common thread
# v0.1
- First lines of code at school
External SystemsOff the clock
Christian Groth80s kid. Grew up rewinding tapes, now rolls back releases.
Riffs and refactorings. Both need structure, both need feeling.
Back Down Scenario
[External System: post rock]
Music has been running alongside the code for as long as I can remember. backdownscenario.de
Running
[External System: half marathon]
Chasing a half marathon personal best, but just as happy with a short loop to switch off and breathe.