About

Profile Summary

Portrait of Justin Seyvecou

Justin Seyvecou

Engineering Manager + Senior Backend Engineer

Hands-on backend and platform engineering. I like systems that stay understandable when traffic, complexity, and stakes all go up.

I like building things that actually work

I am an Engineering Manager and Senior Backend Engineer who still genuinely enjoys writing code.

Most of my work revolves around backend systems, distributed architectures, and event-driven platforms. Think Java, Kafka, domain modeling, validation rules that grow out of control, and systems that cannot go down because real money is involved.

I like turning messy complexity into something structured and understandable. Not perfect. Just clean enough that the next engineer does not panic.

Highlights

Engineering Manager, senior backend engineer, still hands-on. Mostly backend/platform work, plus a suspicious amount of curiosity about failure modes.

  • Java, Kafka, and event-driven backend systems
  • Distributed architecture and domain-heavy business logic
  • Reliability, observability, and predictable failure modes
  • Kubernetes, self-hosting, and homelab infrastructure
  • Maker projects: ESPHome, keyboards, electronics, 3D printing
  • Clean systems over clever diagrams

Stack / Interests

The stuff that shows up most often in my day job, homelab, and build logs.

Stack I Use a Lot

JavaKafkaEvent-driven systemsDomain modelingValidation-heavy servicesAPIsObservabilityKubernetes

Interests / Side Quests

Self-hosted toolingHomelab opsMonitoring + loggingBackups + restore testingESPHomeMechanical keyboardsSmall electronics3D printing

I still build things with my hands

Outside of enterprise systems, I run what is basically a permanent technical playground.

  • I run my own infrastructure stack: Kubernetes at home, self-hosted GitLab, monitoring, logs, and backups.
  • I test restores sometimes, because "we have backups" and "we can recover" are not the same sentence.
  • I build custom mechanical keyboards, small electronics, and 3D-printed parts for oddly specific problems.
  • I automate things in my house that were perfectly fine before I touched them.

I like understanding systems all the way down, from distributed services to solder joints.

Leadership for me

Management, for me, is helping engineers grow without drifting away from the actual work.

  • I still enjoy deep technical discussions and design reviews.
  • I still care about code quality and system design, not just delivery dates.
  • I want teams where strong technical thinking is normal, not a special event.
  • I want people to feel safe challenging ideas, including mine.

How I think about engineering

I care about clarity more than theatrics.

  • I prefer simple solutions over impressive ones.
  • Observability should be part of the design.
  • Ownership matters: if we build it, we understand it; if we run it, we monitor it.
  • Architecture should make sense before it gets clever.
  • Code should tell a story and infrastructure should not feel mysterious.
  • If something breaks at 2am, it should at least break in a predictable way.

Why this site exists

This site is my lab notebook: part engineering notes, part build log, part "do not repeat this mistake" archive.

  • I document systems I build, lessons I learn, and experiments I run.
  • Some are production-grade platforms. Some are hobby projects. All of them taught me something.
  • If you like scalable systems, self-hosted infrastructure, or building things just because you can, you will probably feel at home here.