DEPLOYMENT / STRIP OPERATOR ONLINE

Issue 001 · Field notes from production

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).

Portrait of Selçuk Cihan
PRIMARY OPERATOR Selçuk Cihan

DEPLOYMENT 01 / 08

2023 - 2026

01 · SETUP

Senior Software Engineer

RTIC Outdoors

02 · COMPLICATION

Created mobile device management tools to support warehouse ops, reducing manual device setup and improving reliability across Android-based workflows.

03 · INTERVENTION

Automated warehouse operations such as processing returns, customization of products and workflows, resulting in more efficient use of resources.

04 · OUTCOME

Expanded backend observability, giving engineering & operations teams more visibility into failures affecting warehouse.

POST-INCIDENT EPILOGUE · SYSTEM STABLE

Technical appendixOPEN +
  • Scala
  • Spring
  • Kubernetes
  • Postgres
  • Google Cloud
  • DataDog
Next deployment ↓

DEPLOYMENT 02 / 08

2022 - 2023

01 · SETUP

Senior Software Engineer

Serverless Inc.

02 · COMPLICATION

Created the Python AWS Lambda SDK for Serverless Console, an observability platform for applications running on AWS Lambda.

03 · INTERVENTION

CHANGESET ROUTED → REVIEWED → RELEASED

04 · OUTCOME

Owned release coordination & backward compatibility of the SDK, supporting dependable adoption among customers.

POST-INCIDENT EPILOGUE · SYSTEM STABLE

Technical appendixOPEN +
  • Python
  • Serverless
  • Lambda
  • AWS
Next deployment ↓

DEPLOYMENT 03 / 08

2019 - 2022

01 · SETUP

Senior Software Engineer

Tellimer

02 · COMPLICATION

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.

03 · INTERVENTION

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.

04 · OUTCOME

Improved production monitoring & operational excellence across distributed systems.

POST-INCIDENT EPILOGUE · SYSTEM STABLE

Technical appendixOPEN +
  • TypeScript
  • Python
  • Serverless
  • Lambda
  • API Gateway
  • DynamoDB
  • Stripe
  • EventBridge
  • AppSync
  • Cognito
  • Datadog
  • Node.js
Next deployment ↓

DEPLOYMENT 04 / 08

2018 - 2019

01 · SETUP

Senior Software Engineer

Toptal

02 · COMPLICATION

Developed a public facing REST API, fully serverless on AWS, serving hundreds of thousands of customers.

03 · INTERVENTION

Reduced AWS bill by more than 50% through architecture and resource-usage optimizations.

04 · OUTCOME

Mentored developers and reviewed design documents for reliability & maintainability.

POST-INCIDENT EPILOGUE · SYSTEM STABLE

Technical appendixOPEN +
  • Python
  • Serverless
  • Lambda
  • API Gateway
  • DynamoDB
  • VPC
  • SQS
  • CloudWatch
  • S3
  • CloudFront
Next deployment ↓

DEPLOYMENT 05 / 08

2017 - 2018

01 · SETUP

Software Development Engineer

Amazon

02 · COMPLICATION

Developed and maintained the orchestration platform that powers Amazon’s product catalog.

03 · INTERVENTION

CHANGESET ROUTED → REVIEWED → RELEASED

04 · OUTCOME

Executed zero-downtime migrations across several web services and retired legacy services that constrained catalog growth.

POST-INCIDENT EPILOGUE · SYSTEM STABLE

Technical appendixOPEN +
  • Python
  • Distributed Systems
  • AWS
  • Java
  • DynamoDB
  • Service Orchestration
  • SQS
  • CloudWatch
  • S3
  • Kinesis
Next deployment ↓

DEPLOYMENT 06 / 08

2013 - 2017

01 · SETUP

Senior Software Engineer

Intertech

02 · COMPLICATION

Supported the workflow engine serving banking applications such as loans, customer complaints etc.

03 · INTERVENTION

CHANGESET ROUTED → REVIEWED → RELEASED

04 · OUTCOME

Designed a workforce management system that empowers the bank’s operation center.

POST-INCIDENT EPILOGUE · SYSTEM STABLE

Technical appendixOPEN +
  • Microsoft .Net
  • C#
  • MSSQL
  • ElasticSearch
  • JavaScript
Next deployment ↓

DEPLOYMENT 07 / 08

2011 - 2013

01 · SETUP

Software Development Engineer

Ziraat Teknoloji

02 · COMPLICATION

Implemented workflow engine running on top of Oracle, serving over 100,000 workflow instances daily.

03 · INTERVENTION

CHANGESET ROUTED → REVIEWED → RELEASED

04 · OUTCOME

Served as scrum master and mentored junior developers.

POST-INCIDENT EPILOGUE · SYSTEM STABLE

Technical appendixOPEN +
  • Microsoft .NET
  • C#
  • WinForms
  • WPF
  • Oracle
Next deployment ↓

DEPLOYMENT 08 / 08

2009 - 2010

01 · SETUP

Software Development Engineer

AirTies

02 · COMPLICATION

Developed solutions for IPTV products in C & C++.

03 · INTERVENTION

CHANGESET ROUTED → REVIEWED → RELEASED

04 · OUTCOME

Implemented teletext and RTSP parsers along with closed captioning and subtitles for IPTV.

POST-INCIDENT EPILOGUE · SYSTEM STABLE

Technical appendixOPEN +
  • C
  • C++
  • Embedded Linux
  • RTSP
  • Teletext
  • IPTV
View credentials ↓

Operator loadout

Technical inventory

TypeScriptNode.jsPythonJava/ScalaSQL/NoSQLREST/GraphQLAWSGCPCloudflareServerlessDistributed SystemsReact

Education record

BS. & MS. in Computer Science

Boğaziçi University

Certifications

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional

Amazon Web Services

Signal verification

Peer transmissions

“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.”
Daniel VliegenthartTeam Lead, Tellimer
“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.”
Ian WattCo-founder, Tellimer
“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.”
Erdem KurulSoftware Development Manager, Intertech
“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.”
Decebal DobricaSoftware Architect, Tellimer