Hi, I’m Christina, a professional software engineer working across the whole software lifecycle, striving in multidisciplinary settings and non-mainstream niches.
🌍 🛰️ I work at OKAPI:Orbits.
🛠️ Backend development in Java (and sometimes Python, TypeScript, and Fortran). Interested in performance analysis and tuning, and in understanding and evolving complex legacy code bases.
📚 ☕ My favorite way to spend early mornings is by learning mathematics and playing with Ada.
I have some code on GitHub, but most lives in proprietary company repositories.
Certificates
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Software and Systems Engineering Standards Used in Aerospace and Defense (IEEE, 2024)
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Radiation Protection: Fachkunde S1.1, S1.2, S1.3, S2.1, S6.1 (Strahlenschutzakademie Dresden, 2021)
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Rescue Diver (NASDS, 2022)
Professional Experience
Software Developer & Product Owner @ OKAPI:Orbits (since 10/2022)
I spend my day designing, developing, and maintaining space traffic management software for satellite operators. Mostly backend in Java, but often enough working across components and the whole stack, including TypeScript and Python.
Early on I became technical lead in a project for ESA’s Space Debris Office (probably because I was the only free senior developer around). I proved good enough to now be one of our product owners, responsible for technical planning and delivering what we promise.
Other random stuff I do is performance analysis and optimization of Fortran code, and learning how to break up a monolith into microservices.
And I work among space engineers! This is pretty awesome.
Engineering Consultant @ ALTEN (03/2022 - 10/2022)
I was appointed to Idemia Identity & Security Germany. Mostly Angular.
It was the first time I was working on software that was running on premise, which means you couldn’t just deploy bug fixes - everything that was broken would stay broken until the customer updated to the next version half a year later (if you were lucky).
There was a lot still to be learned and done, so it was a tough decision to leave so soon.
Technical Writer @ Sichere Industrie (02/2021 - 08/2021)
This was a part-time gig as technical writer. My task was to absorb knowledge from our experts on industrial IT and OT security and put it into texts accessible for different stakeholders.
I learned how vulnerable our critical infrastructure is - and that I like technical writing (although I like programming even more).
Software Developer and Co-Founder @ Mercury.ai (01/2017 - 09/2021)
When we founded Mercury.ai, we were a very small team and thus shared responsibility for the whole software lifecycle. We had an idea but no clue whether it would work, like pretty much all start-up founders, so we eagerly started to build a software platform from scratch. I probably never learned so much so fast. This job helped me grow from an inexperienced research coder into a professional software developer (acquiring a few scars on the way).
Since we were such a small team, I was also providing technical expertise in customer projects. I’m most proud of Kim, who started as a small side project in Nestlé and eventually became a showcase project and benchmark for German chatbots at the time. It’s quite fun to talk to a likable AI personality that you know you helped shape.
Post-doctoral Researcher @ Technical Faculty, Universität Bielefeld (10/2009 - 12/2016)
My move from being in a linguistics department to working in a computer science department, where I did independent research in the area of natural language processing and knowledge representation.
I started programming in Java, and I now appreciate that I could do most beginner mistakes in an academic setting, where stakes were not as high as with paying customers.
But in the end, I decided that I don’t want to pursue a career in acedemia.
Formal education
PhD Computational linguistics @ Utrecht
I was very lucky to have Jan van Eijck as a supervisor, so I had the opportunity to work with logic, learn Haskell, play with continuations, and explore a lot of very nerdy topics.
And I had marvellous colleagues. We had a band, played pen and paper RPGs, went out and enjoyed having a great time together.
M.A. Linguistics, Logic and Philosophy of Science @ Leipzig
Studying logic was somewhat exotic, but it was perfect for me and I passed with distinction.
I initially also had mathematics as a minor, but dropped it after successfully passing the intermediate exams in favor of two majors. This is one of the few decisions I regret. I tried to pick it up again recently, studying for a B.A. Mathematics at the FernUniversität Hagen, but next to a demanding full-time job it felt like you either study math or have a life. (I chose the latter. But at least I got far enough to understand and marvel at the math behind JPEG image compression.)
Volunteering
I’m a proud member of Nuklearia and deputy chairman of Ada Germany.
I also deeply care about marine conservation and volunteered with two organizations so far:
- Love the Oceans in Mozambique. Volunteers were cataloguing what the local fisherman caught, did underwater coral reef studies, painted school buildings and gave swimming lessions for local children.
- Cetacean Research and Rescue Unit in Scotland. We spent a lot of time on the water, counting dolphins and later photo IDing them. We also learned basic boating and first aid for stranded marine mammals.
Both experiences were tremendously inspiring and humbling. (It sounds cliché but it’s true!)