I'm Aurel - CTO at HD Rain building climate risk management solutions.
By day: Leading a 5-person engineering team processing weather data at scale for parametric insurance.
By night: Exploring game development, SaaS building, and creative projects I've postponed for years.
Philosophy: Advocate for Extreme Programming (TDD, pair programming), Functional Programming, and Lean Product Management.
Exploring game development with Bevy Engine, prototyping SaaS ideas, planning fantasy stories.
See my work: GitHub repos • Haskell Foundation contribution
20+ years building software - from teenage game modding through parallel careers in archaeology and engineering.
Game development (2002-2011):
- Modded Neverwinter Nights with custom engines (persistent multiplayer RPG servers)
- Built tools with NWScript (C-like), Python, HTML/CSS/JS
- Game design: writing, level design, character development
Parallel careers (2007-2012):
- Freelance software engineering: Building products for clients while simultaneously...
- Archaeology engineer (started 2008): Working in preventive archaeology
- Specialized in Neolithic and proto-historic periods (Bronze and Iron Ages)
- European Atlantic facade focus (Gibraltar to Yell Strait)
- Socio-technological aspects of long-distance trade and navigation
Archaeology focus (2012-2015):
- Stopped freelancing to focus fully on archaeology
- Contracts: site assessment, surveying, excavation, scientific documentation
- France and Spain
Full-time software engineering (2015+):
- Returned to software engineering full-time
- Fullstack roles across startups and scale-ups
- Product management and CTO/CTPO roles
- Published 79-week newsletter (ended 2024)
- Contributed to Haskell Foundation open source project
Production: Rust • Python • TypeScript • React • DuckDB • Polars • PostgreSQL
Exploring: Bevy Engine • ECS Architecture • 3D Rendering
Practices: Extreme Programming • TDD • Pair Programming • Lean PM • DevOps
🧢 LinkedIn - Professional updates, leadership & engineering insights
🛠️ Bluesky & Website - Creative work & dev logs
📫 Open to: Technical consulting, fractional CTPO engagements, training & speaking!
I have no links with Amazon, I use it here as any other library.
Andrew Hunt - Pragmatic Programmer (the first edition is still worth)
Sandro Mancuso - The Software Craftsman
Dave Farley - Modern Software Engineering
Kent Beck - Extreme Programming Explained
Kent Beck - Test-Driven Development by Example
Jeff Langr - Modern C++ Programming with Test-Driven Development: Code Better, Sleep Better
Eric Evans - Domain-Driven Design
Vaughn Vernon - Implementing Domain-Driven Design
Scott Millett & Nick Tune - Patterns, Principles, and Practices of Domain-Driven Design
Debasish Ghosh - Function and Reactive Domain Modeling
Scott Wlashin - Domain Modeling Made Functional
Harry Percival - Cosmic Python (free online reading)
Marty Cagan - Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
Marty Cagan - Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
Alistair Cockburn - Hexagonal Architecture
Herbert Graca - DDD, Hexagonal, Onion, Clean, CQRS, … How I put it all together
Steve Fenton - My Unit Testing Epiphany
Steve Fenton - My Unit Testing Epiphany Continued
Sandro Mancuso - DevEternity 2017: The Long Road
Ian Cooper - DevEternity 2017: Where Did It All Go Wrong
J.B. Rainsberger - 7 minutes, 26 seconds, and the Fundamental Theorem of Agile Software Development
Derek Comartin - Code Opinion (Youtube Channel)