Infrastructure / Platform / DevEx engineer | Tooling aficionado
Meta.
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My name is Aleksandr Mikhailov - Alex for short. I’m a platform engineer, and my pronouns are he/him.
Current role and employer
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I’m currently a Platform Engineer at SamsungFood.
Primary focus or niche
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My main job is to make other developers’ work easier. I wrap tools and libraries so their APIs match our style guides and come with built-in monitoring and tracing. I also write clear guides that show teammates how to set up runtimes and other tooling, aiming for steady performance and stability.
Experience
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I’m self-taught and have worked in the industry for 11 years. I began as a general software developer and gradually shifted toward building tools for other developers.
Flagship project or accomplishment
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I don’t have public achievements to point to, but I’ve designed a complex messaging system that runs across several communication channels and is now a core business service. I also built a data-analysis platform for structured CAN data, complete with its own query language and object storage.
Favorite / main languages & frameworks
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My main language is Scala, but I’m also comfortable with TypeScript and Java. I have some experience with Lua, Go, Lisp, Clojure, Kotlin, Rust, and OCaml. Knowing these languages gives me a broader outlook.
What excites you today?
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Lately I’m driven by declarative system configuration, overall performance, security, secrecy, and applied cryptography. I still enjoy Scala for its strong type system, even if the tooling can be rough.
What you’re learning next
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I don’t have one “big” project right now; I focus on whatever problems need solving. I’d like to move toward performance profiling. Having a top-down view of systems should help there.
Location
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I’ve moved around a lot. Right now I’m in Haifa, Israel. Before that I was in Novi Sad, Serbia, and originally I’m from Saint Petersburg, Russia. Tomorrow? Who knows - maybe somewhere else in the EU. Because of that, I’m only interested in remote work; I don’t see much reason for engineers to be on-site.
Side interests / fun fact
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My hobbies are on the nerdy side. I run a small VPN for friends and family who live in a less free country. I also love cycling, though it’s tough here because of all the hills. I live with ADHD, depression, and social anxiety. ADHD means my interests shift quickly, and the other two keep me working on understanding myself. I might seem reserved at first, but if I’m talking with you, I truly value the interaction.