> whoami
I'm Yoann Gendrey, a Senior Software Engineer based in France. I thrive on complex problems and craft modern, backend-heavy solutions. Currently building banking infrastructure at Swan, a European fintech. Passionate about tech, self-hosting, open source, and keeping things European when possible. Certified nerd.
Background
Engineering degree from ESIEE-Amiens (2010-2015) and holder of a US patent for automatic animated image generation for lenticular printing. I've been shipping code since 2009 — started building web projects in high school and never stopped. Professionally worked across fintech, luxury, gaming, and startups.
Experience
- Swan — Senior Software Engineer (2025–present)
- Hermès — Senior Software Engineer (2023–2025)
- Dogamí — Lead Software Engineer (2022)
- MadKudu — Senior Software Engineer (2021–2022)
- Big Pixel Studios — Game Server Developer, London (2019–2020)
- Pops — Software Engineer (2016–2019)
Stack
TypeScript and Bun are my daily drivers. I build with NestJS, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Docker, following hexagonal architecture and DDD principles. I care about clean domain boundaries, constructor injection, and code that reads like it means what it does.
Side projects
- varsafe — end-to-end encrypted secrets manager for teams. CLI-first, with audit trails, version control, and SSO
- Glowo — uptime monitoring platform with HTTP/TCP/DNS checks from 6 global regions, instant alerts, and branded status pages
- bakery.iiaku.tez — Tezos baker node, non-custodial delegation and staking, 98.8% uptime since 2023
- Yhtua — desktop two-factor authentication manager
- Homelab — self-hosted infra with VRRP failover, Grafana/Loki monitoring, encrypted backups
What I write about
This blog is where I document the things I build and break: self-hosting, Linux, networking, databases, monitoring, security, and whatever rabbit hole I fall into next. I care deeply about privacy, security, and digital sovereignty — and I run everything I can on my own hardware. Mostly so I don't forget the fix, and hopefully it saves you a few hours too.