BS. & MS. in Computer Science
Boğaziçi University
PORTRAIT / SOURCE PROFILE
Contact sheet / selected systems
Selçuk Cihan
Senior Software Engineer | Backend, Platform & Cloud
Senior software engineer with 17+ years of experience building distributed systems.
Former Amazon Software Development Engineer with hands-on experience across Node.js, Python, AWS, GCP, serverless architectures and observability.
Trusted in multi-year remote contracts to own ambiguous problems from architecture and implementation to operations and mentoring. Based in Istanbul (UTC+3).
Roll 01 / field evidence
Systems in use
Select a frame to inspect the context and implementation notes.
01 RTIC Outdoors Senior Software Engineer 2023 - 2026 View evidence +
Field notes / outcomes
Created mobile device management tools to support warehouse ops, reducing manual device setup and improving reliability across Android-based workflows.
Automated warehouse operations such as processing returns, customization of products and workflows, resulting in more efficient use of resources.
Expanded backend observability, giving engineering & operations teams more visibility into failures affecting warehouse.
02 Serverless Inc. Senior Software Engineer 2022 - 2023 View evidence +
Field notes / outcomes
Created the Python AWS Lambda SDK for Serverless Console, an observability platform for applications running on AWS Lambda.
Owned release coordination & backward compatibility of the SDK, supporting dependable adoption among customers.
03 Tellimer Senior Software Engineer 2019 - 2022 View evidence +
Field notes / outcomes
Created serverless backends on AWS using Node.js & Python for multiple products, including a machine-learning SAAS application and a substack-like platform for financial writers.
Designed customer-facing GraphQL APIs, serverless execution orchestration, data-ingestion workflows and priority-queue services for mission-critical financial products.
Delivered analytics, article recommendation, summarization, and automated sitemap capabilities for customer-facing products on tellimer.com
Led architecture/design sessions, clarified ambiguous requirements, mentored engineers and reviewed technical documentation.
Improved production monitoring & operational excellence across distributed systems.
04 Toptal Senior Software Engineer 2018 - 2019 View evidence +
Field notes / outcomes
Developed a public facing REST API, fully serverless on AWS, serving hundreds of thousands of customers.
Reduced AWS bill by more than 50% through architecture and resource-usage optimizations.
Mentored developers and reviewed design documents for reliability & maintainability.
05 Amazon Software Development Engineer 2017 - 2018 View evidence +
Field notes / outcomes
Developed and maintained the orchestration platform that powers Amazon’s product catalog.
Executed zero-downtime migrations across several web services and retired legacy services that constrained catalog growth.
06 Intertech Senior Software Engineer 2013 - 2017 View evidence +
Field notes / outcomes
Supported the workflow engine serving banking applications such as loans, customer complaints etc.
Designed a workforce management system that empowers the bank’s operation center.
07 Ziraat Teknoloji Software Development Engineer 2011 - 2013 View evidence +
Field notes / outcomes
Implemented workflow engine running on top of Oracle, serving over 100,000 workflow instances daily.
Served as scrum master and mentored junior developers.
08 AirTies Software Development Engineer 2009 - 2010 View evidence +
Field notes / outcomes
Developed solutions for IPTV products in C & C++.
Implemented teletext and RTSP parsers along with closed captioning and subtitles for IPTV.
Roll 02 / supporting material
Working notes
Bench inventory
Skills
- TypeScript
- Node.js
- Python
- Java/Scala
- SQL/NoSQL
- REST/GraphQL
- AWS
- GCP
- Cloudflare
- Serverless
- Distributed Systems
- React
Archive A
Education
Archive B
Certifications
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional
Amazon Web Services
Witness marks
From the field
“I've been most impressed by his exceptional ability to tackle every phase of software development with in-depth knowledge, confidence and clear communication. I cannot emphasize enough how good Selcuk is at communicating in a clear and structured manner.”
“He was the perfect remote contractor in many ways. His communication skills are top, he is very much a self-starter who can get stuck in on work with minimal guidance or oversight, and his code quality (and documentation!) is exceptional.”
“Selçuk is a quick learner, he approaches problems systematically and understands the business and customer needs. He is very detail-oriented, and a hard worker. You can trust him with the most challenging issues.”
“I had the pleasure to manage and to work with Selcuk Cihan for the past 2 years while at Tellimer. He rose brilliantly to all challenges thrown at him both technically and communication wise. I would say his superpower is his communications skills, both writing and talking.”