Hi, my name is

Pavel Bychko

Backend Developer

Designing scalable distributed systems, leading backend team, and applying AI where it actually helps. Focused on architecture, decisions, and long-term thinking.

About me

I've been building backend systems for over 10 years - APIs, integrations, high-load applications. Different industries, different challenges, always learning.

Now I lead an engineering team on a global e-commerce platform. We handle everything from architecture to third-party integrations.

I care about system reliability and building things that last. Lately I've been moving deeper into architecture - distributed systems, service design, and the decisions that shape how a product grows.

Open to interesting conversations - feel free to reach out.

My experience

System Architecture

Building systems that grow with the business - from early-stage monoliths to distributed architectures. Keeping domain boundaries clear and patterns appropriate for the current stage of growth.

DDD
CQRS
domain modeling
scalability

Microservices Design

Working with microservices in both greenfield and legacy contexts. Understanding the real costs - operational complexity, data consistency, distributed failures - and designing with those constraints in mind.

decomposition
boundaries
saga
messaging

Resilience & Observability

Designing systems that degrade gracefully and recover quickly. Building observability in from the start - metrics, tracing, and alerting as part of the architecture, not an afterthought.

metrics
tracing
alerting
SLO/SLA

Team Leadership

Leading backend teams with focus on people growth, clear processes, and getting things shipped. Building an environment where engineers take ownership and improve over time.

mentoring
ownership
processes

AI & Automation

Integrating AI into engineering workflows: from writing and reviewing code to automating routine decisions. Focused on where it genuinely reduces friction for the team.

code generation
automation
productivity

Technical Decision-Making

Making architectural decisions through structured evaluation: requirements, trade-offs, best practices. Every decision documented in an ADR - reasoned, discussed, and owned.

requirements
NFR
trade-offs
ADR

Skills

$ skills --list --group-by=category

architectureDDD · Hexagonal · Event-Driven · Microservices · CQRS · Event Sourcing

patternsSaga · Strangler Fig · API Gateway · BFF · Outbox · CDC · GoF · Concurrency

resilienceCircuit Breaker · Bulkhead · Retry · Rate Limiting · Graceful Degradation

methodologyADR · C4 Model · Event Storming · 12-Factor · Fitness Functions

databasesPostgreSQL · Redis · MongoDB · ClickHouse · Elasticsearch · MySQL

messagingKafka · Debezium · RabbitMQ · Kafka Streams · Flink · SQS/SNS

apisREST · gRPC · GraphQL · OpenAPI · JWT · OAuth2 · WebSocket

observabilityOpenTelemetry · Prometheus · Grafana · Jaeger · ELK · SLI/SLO

infraKubernetes · Istio · Docker · Helm · GitHub Actions · GitLab CI

testingTDD · Contract · Architecture · Load · Chaos · Unit · Integration

languagesGo · SQL · PHP · Bash

66 skills across 11 categories

Continuous Learning

Technology evolves fast. Staying relevant means constant learning - through courses, reading, and now AI-assisted exploration.

Courses

From free FreeCodeCamp certifications to intensive 6-month programs like Go Advanced. Structured learning keeps me sharp.

Reading

Technical blogs, documentation, RFCs. I dive deep into new tools and frameworks before adopting them.

AI-Assisted

AI became my learning companion. It explains concepts, reviews code, and helps me explore unfamiliar domains faster than before.

Certifications

$ ls -la ~/certificates/

2026certmicroservice-architecture.png 2025certgolang-advanced.png 2022certfreecodecamp-be-api.png 2022certfreecodecamp-js-algorithms.png

4 certificates found

What's next

My main focus right now is moving into solution architecture - deeper system design, architectural patterns, and well-reasoned technical decisions. Leadership is part of that path too.

Outside of work I tinker with smart home automation - embedded systems, LoRa networks, and autonomous devices. Rust is on my learning list. Robotics is on my radar too - curious, but still figuring out where to start.

Open source

Open source made me a better developer. Reading other people's code, submitting fixes, debating in issues - it's the best way to grow.
I try to give back: bug fixes, documentation, or just a well-written issue report.

My Setup

Main Machine

Mac Mini M4 Pro

The M chip is incredible: fast and efficient. Perfect for Docker, builds, and running multiple IDEs simultaneously. Plus the Mac is whisper-quiet and compact.

2024

Display

Dell U3023E (30")

16:10, ideal for coding

Keyboard

MX Keys Mini

Compact, quiet, responsive

Mouse

MX Master 4

Ergonomic, silent clicks

Precise gestures

Excellent image quality

Dev Tools

My main IDEs are from JetBrains: GoLand for Go, PHPStorm for PHP and Laravel, and DataGrip for databases. Cursor for everything AI-powered. For quick edits and notes, I use Zed - fast, minimal, and built in Rust - it shows.

iTerm2 is my terminal of choice. Araxis Merge for file comparison and complex merges. And of course, JetBrains Mono as the font everywhere.

For PHP projects, the toolchain is solid: Rector for automated refactoring, PHPStan / Larastan for static analysis, PHPUnit / Pest for testing, and PHP CS Fixer / Pint for code style. All of these run on every commit via CI.

Go projects follow the same discipline: golangci-lint for linting and static analysis, gofumpt and goimports for formatting, Goose for migrations, sqlc for type-safe SQL code generation, and govulncheck for dependency vulnerability scanning. Tests always run with the -race flag.

API contracts are a first-class concern: Vacuum keeps OpenAPI specs clean and spec-compliant, while openapi-generator-cli generates typed clients - no hand-written HTTP code across service boundaries.