Who I Am
My name is Sri (Sritharan Katthekasu). I was born in 1984 and have been living and working in Belgium for more than 25 years. I hold Belgian citizenship and I am fluent in English, Dutch and Tamil, with basic conversational German.
I am a Senior Platform Engineer and Software Architect with over 17 years of experience designing and operating production systems. I specialize in backend services, cloud infrastructure, data pipelines, and system integrations across SaaS, IoT, ERP, and commerce platforms. My work spans the full lifecycle: from architecture and implementation to deployment, monitoring, incident response, and continuous improvement.
I build cloud-native platforms using service-oriented design, asynchronous workflows, and event-driven architecture. I focus on solving real operational challenges: orchestration across distributed services, data consistency under failure, reliable integrations with external systems, and platforms that scale predictably without operational chaos. I work closely with product and business teams, but I think in systems — clear domain boundaries, observable behavior, and production reliability are always top priorities.
Professional Journey
My career started in 2008 with backend development and automation in telecom and enterprise environments. I learned early how to build systems that run reliably under real operational pressure — integrating legacy systems, processing business-critical data, and supporting production workloads that couldn't fail. This foundation taught me that good software isn't just about clean code; it's about understanding how systems behave when things go wrong.
Over the next decade, I evolved from implementing backend components to architecting full platforms. I moved into service-oriented architectures, event-driven workflows, and integration-heavy systems, gradually taking ownership of infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and operational tooling. I led teams, mentored engineers, and learned that platform engineering is about building systems that survive team changes, scale with the business, and remain maintainable under pressure.
Today, I architect and operate cloud-native platforms across SaaS, IoT, ERP, and commerce domains. I own the full lifecycle — from system design and implementation to deployment automation, production monitoring, incident response, and continuous improvement. I design with distributed-system principles, build observability into platforms from day one, and make architectural decisions based on production data and SLOs. My focus is always on delivering reliable, scalable systems that teams can operate confidently without accumulating technical or operational debt.
Technical Skills & Expertise
Programming & Backend
- Python (Django, Flask, FastAPI)
- Node.js (NestJS, Express)
- PHP (Laravel)
- Java (Spring Boot)
- Microservices & Service Mesh
- REST, GraphQL, gRPC
- Event Sourcing & CQRS
AI & Machine Learning
- TensorFlow
- PyTorch
- Scikit-learn
- Pandas, NumPy
- LangChain
- OpenAI API
- HuggingFace
- Vector Databases (Pinecone / FAISS)
- RAG & Semantic Search
- Embedding Models
Frontend
- React
- Next.js
- Vue.js
- Angular
- TypeScript
- TailwindCSS
Cloud & DevOps
- AWS
- Azure
- Google Cloud
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- Terraform
- GitLab CI/CD
- GitHub Actions
- Nginx / Traefik
- Serverless (Lambda)
- Linux Server Management
Databases
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- MongoDB
- Redis
- ElasticSearch
- DynamoDB
- TimescaleDB
Messaging / Event Systems
- Kafka
- RabbitMQ
- MQTT
- Redis Streams
- WebSockets
- NATS
Observability & Monitoring
- Prometheus
- Grafana
- OpenTelemetry
- Jaeger
- Sentry
- ELK Stack
Data Engineering & Pipelines
- Apache Airflow
- ETL Pipelines
- Stream Processing
- Data Warehousing
IoT
- Raspberry Pi
- MQTT
- Edge Computing
Security & Compliance
- OAuth2 & JWT
- OWASP Best Practices
- API Security
- Secrets Management (Vault)
- GDPR Compliance
- Zero Trust Architecture
Testing & Quality
- Pytest
- Selenium
- Cypress
- Jest
- Postman Automation
- Load Testing (Locust, k6)
Platform Reliability & Scale
- Multi-region Deployment
- Disaster Recovery
- High Availability Design
- Performance Engineering
- Cost Optimization (FinOps)
- SLO/SLA Management
ERP
- Odoo (Advanced customisation & integration)
Engineering Philosophy
I believe reliable systems are built through disciplined engineering, operational ownership, and pragmatic architecture decisions. My approach is grounded in:
- Designing systems for production from day one — observability, monitoring, and failure modes are not afterthoughts
- Writing maintainable code that survives team changes and scales with the business
- Building platforms that solve real problems simply, avoiding unnecessary abstraction and over-engineering
- Owning the full lifecycle — from architecture and implementation to deployment, monitoring, and incident response
- Automating repetitive operational work so teams can focus on delivering business value
- Treating infrastructure, CI/CD, and security as core engineering responsibilities, not separate concerns
- Making data-driven decisions using metrics, SLOs, and production feedback loops
- Mentoring engineers and raising technical standards through code review, documentation, and knowledge sharing
- Choosing boring, proven technology over hype — reliability beats novelty in production systems
Let's Work Together
I'm open to collaborations on interesting projects, whether that's building new systems from the ground up, consulting on technical architecture, or helping teams navigate complex technical challenges. If you're working on something that requires thoughtful engineering and clean design, I'd love to hear about it.