Open to interesting backend problems

Sinan Cakal

Backend Developer · Go · Node.js · Istanbul, Turkey

I build the parts of software you never see and never think about — which is exactly the point.

~2 yrs · microservices, auth & event-driven systems at scale

Get in touch ↗ View experience Writing
2
years of creating bugs professionally
9,000+
cups of coffee, conservatively
40+
system designs drawn before shipping one
99.99%
chance I'm building something right now.

About

I'm a backend engineer who cares most about getting reliability and security right — not just making things work, but understanding why they break. I'd rather trace a bug to its root than patch the symptom. Go is where I'm building; Node.js and TypeScript is where I've shipped.

Experience

Octopus Digital Signage

2024 — Now
Sole Backend Engineer
TypeScriptNode.jsMySQLMongoDBRedisRabbitMQMQTTMicroservicesEvent-DrivenREST APIsWebSocketsAzureDockerIoT
  • Sole backend engineer for 15 microservices across a full IoT digital signage platform, built in Node.js and TypeScript.
  • Traced an 18k writes/sec bottleneck to MySQL binlog write amplification and rewrote the service to eliminate it.
  • Moved heartbeat checks from DB polling to Redis — sub-500ms across 40,000 screens, and the recurring crashes stopped.
  • Cut monthly infrastructure costs by 10% by identifying a redundant service and migrating its functionality entirely to EMQX and raw SQL.

Bitesup

2025 — Now
Backend Engineer · Side Project
GoNode.jsTypeScriptPostgreSQLTimescaleDBRedisNATSTransactional OutboxREST APIsOAuth2AWSDockerGitHub ActionsCloudflare
  • Designed and built the entire backend solo — 2 mobile apps and 2 admin panels, in production.
  • Implemented a fully event-driven architecture with the transactional outbox pattern for reliable delivery.
  • Built the full auth system from scratch — token lifecycle, session management, brute-force, abuse protection and timing-attack protections.
  • Deployed on AWS with Cloudflare for tunneled access. Kept costs low by using 3 different regions and scaling down when not in use.
EARLIER
Freelance Web Developer · Self-employed
Built landing pages and small full-stack web apps for textile businesses — responsive sites, product catalogs, and contact/lead flows.
2021 — 2023
Software Developer Intern · Pulur A.Ş.
Built C# / WinForms desktop apps to digitize inventory, purchasing, and stock-tracking workflows.
2020 — 2021
Data Entry Intern · Turkish Technic
Integrated and structured data from multiple sources for digital platforms; ran reporting and archiving.
2017

Projects

MEV Attack Tracker

/mev

An Ethereum MEV tracker in Go, running against a self-hosted full node. Parses pending and confirmed transactions in real time to catch front-running, sandwich attacks, and other MEV, with its own event streaming, aggregation, and alerting. Inactive now — full nodes aren't cheap to keep running.

GoEthereumMEVFull NodeEvent StreamingWebSocketsDragonflyClickHousePython
Read write-up ↗ Private repo

Auth Provider

/auth

Auth provider in Go: session rotation, purpose vs access tokens, CTE-based SQL, transactional outbox with pg_notify.

GoPostgreSQLTimescaleDBRedisOAuth2Transactional Outbox
Read write-up ↗ Private repo

Contact

Let's talk.

I reply to every message. Even the ones from recruiters.

EMAIL [email protected] ↗ LINKEDIN /in/snckl ↗ GITHUB /snckl ↗