About me

Hi,

I'm Philipp from Germany, currently living in Tokyo.

In September 2010 I graduated from the University of Freiburg in computer science (M.Sc.).

During my study in Germany, I built my own web hosting service which I ran for 5 years as a small company, did freelancer-style client-work like software development (C++ / C#), creating websites and designing and implementing data and voice networks for offices, and coded my own server management panel called Pysk.

My web hosting service and Pysk were the result of enjoying working with Linux since 1998 (this was the time of Kernel 2.0.35, Postfix was still unreleased and KDE just reached 1.0).

They resembled all I had learned about server management in these years and I really put my heart and soul into it.

Though, someday I figured out, that just working all day isn't that good for oneself - so I decided to get into hobbies, too. They are: Photography, hiking, travelling, studying the Japanese language and culture, listening to music most of the day and implementing overkill and fun IT solutions in my appartment.

I'm as serious and perfectionistic about my hobbies as I am about my work and always eager to try new technologies out, so I gained experience with lots of stuff over the time:

  • Software development for servers, mobile devices, desktops
  • Programming using assembly language, Pascal, C, C++, C#, Objective C
  • Web development using PHP, Python, Ruby and some JavaScript
  • Databases including SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL
  • Mobile devices including the iPad, iPhone and Android phones
  • Personal computers, including Windows PCs, Linux workstations and the whole range of Apple Mac devices
  • Hardware and virtual (cloud) servers running Linux
  • Virtualization using Linux-KVM, VMware, Xen and VirtualBox
  • Linux-based x86 embedded appliances like the ALIX
  • Obscure Voice-over-IP equipment like the SmartNode series, requiring powerful magic incantations using telnet and TFTP during midnight to get a working solution
  • Photography with a Nikon DSLR and Olympus m43
  • Post-processing with Aperture 3, Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS 5
  • Desktop publishing (magazines, flyers, business cards) with InDesign CS 5

I managed learning about all these exciting technologies on my own, converting some of them into a small business and still finishing my university studies in time, so I was mainly working all day during that time. However, it paid off and I was awarded an 18-month all-inclusive scholarship by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) for learning Japanese in Tokyo after my graduation.

The scholarship is coming to an end in February 2012 - that's why I'm currently looking for a job in Tokyo. I'm looking forward to learn even more about IT and help the company I'm applying for to achieve their goals.

Whenever I have some free time, I'm probably spending it exploring Japan, alone or together with friends. Have a look at my photos, to see where I've already been and what I found.

Please enjoy my blog!