Serhat K.-Senior Backend Engineer Kafka & Cloud Infrastructure
Check rate
Experience
Kafka issues in production
Fiverr client
Fiverr client
- Fixed consumer issues in a production Kafka environment.
- Analyzed consumer lag with Datadog.
- Added synthetic tests to detect issues early.
Stack: Kafka, Datadog, Consumer Groups
AWS platform and observability
Fiverr client
Automotive group
- Upgraded the observability stack (Thanos, Prometheus, Grafana) across multiple Kubernetes clusters.
- Investigated issues across clusters, including sidecar timeouts and cluster cleanup.
- Created runbooks for AWS RDS PostgreSQL password rotation and restore tests for each tenant.
- Built custom Kubernetes tooling to quickly switch between tenant clusters.
Stack: AWS, Kubernetes, Prometheus, Grafana, Thanos, PostgreSQL
Kafka platform with Strimzi on Kubernetes
Fiverr client
Fiverr client
- Designed and set up the production environment, from the use case through to ongoing operations.
- Set up a Kafka cluster with 3 brokers on OVHcloud, managed with the Strimzi operator.
- Went from the initial discussion to production in 2 days.
Stack: Kafka, Strimzi, Kubernetes, OVHcloud
Freelance Kafka & Cloud Consultant
Hossted Inc
Kafka setup, incident analysis, and CDC projects for a range of clients, working remotely.
Debezium CDC and connector support
Hossted Inc.
- Set up Debezium on GCP.
- Troubleshot Debezium Oracle connectors in a support role.
Stack: Debezium, Kafka Connect, Oracle, GCP
Senior Backend Engineer
IC Consult GmbH
Backend microservices and AWS infrastructure for automotive clients, over 15 years of Java and backend development.
Microservices Platform: Notification, Search, User Maps
IC Consult GmbH
Automotive group
- Developed and designed the Notification, Search, and User Maps services as part of a 15-person team.
- Built new services, refactored existing services, and migrated components.
- Improved the Notification service with targeted fixes and reduced network latency for the User Maps services.
- Built and deployment pipelines with GitHub Actions; successfully completed the migration to AWS.
Stack: Spring Boot, Kafka, AMQP, Azure, AWS, GitHub Actions
Industry experience
See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.
Experienced in Automotive, Information Technology, and Professional Services.
Business area experience
See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.
Experienced in Information Technology, Product Development, and Customer Service.
Summary
Senior Backend Engineer with over 15 years of Java experience. My focus is on Spring Boot microservices in large environments, most recently in the automotive industry. I also work with Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS, as well as CI/CD with GitLab CI and GitHub Actions. When issues occur, I investigate them down to the root cause.
Skills
- Messaging & Streaming: Apache Kafka, Strimzi, Kafka Connect, Debezium, Change Data Capture (Sql Server, Oracle)
- Cloud: Aws (Main Focus), Gcp, Ovhcloud
- Containers: Kubernetes, Docker, Operator Model
- Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, Thanos, Datadog
- Backend: Java, Spring Boot, Postgresql, Oracle, Sql Server
- Delivery: Gitlab Ci, Github Actions, Terraform, Runbooks
Languages
Education
Eastern Mediterranean University
BSc · Computer Science · Turkey
Certifications & licenses
Statistics
Experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Frequently asked questions
Have questions? Find more information here.
Serhat is based in Hamburg, Germany.
Serhat speaks the following languages: Turkish (Native), German (Advanced).
Serhat has at least 5 years of experience. During this time, Serhat has worked in at least 7 different roles and for 4 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 1 year and 8 months. Note that Serhat may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.
Based on recent experience, Serhat would be well-suited for roles such as: Kafka issues in production, AWS platform and observability, Kafka platform with Strimzi on Kubernetes.
Serhat's most recent position is Kafka issues in production at Fiverr client.
In recent years, Serhat has worked for Fiverr client, Hossted Inc, Hossted Inc., and IC Consult GmbH.
Serhat is most experienced in industries like Automotive, Information Technology, and Professional Services.
Serhat is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology, Product Development, and Customer Service.
Serhat holds a Bachelor in Computer Science from Eastern Mediterranean University.
Serhat has 1 certificate: iSAQB Certified Professional.
Serhat is immediately available part-time for suitable projects.
Daily rate distribution
The rates shown represent the typical market range for freelancers in this position based on recent contracts on our platform.
Average rates for similar positions
Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.
The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.
The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.
Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 26 Oct 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
Similar freelancers
Discover other experts with similar qualifications and experience
Ramazan C.
Sercan T.
Yasin Y.
Enis S.
Tungi D.
Nab R.
Niko S.
Cornelius H.
Serge K.
Taner M.
Experts recently working on similar projects
Freelancers with hands-on experience in comparable project as a Kafka issues in production
Arne H.
Jan R.
Michal B.
Boian V.
Mustafa A.
Satya V.
Peter T.
Ensar Y.
Jan K.
Marcel S.
Nearby freelancers
Professionals working in or nearby Hamburg, Germany
Patrick M.
Oliver V.
Antonia G.
Philipp S.
Michael S.
Yashar S.
Volkmar S.
Steffen K.
Ulrike B.
Farid A.
