Journey

Scope

Projects span DNS automation, certificate lifecycle management, secrets handling, self-hosted collaboration platforms, identity management, and HPC infrastructure support.

• Automated BlueCat DNS configuration across university infrastructure via Ansible.
• Deployed a certificate handler to automate Let’s Encrypt issuance and renewal (ACME protocol) across managed machines.
• Deployed FreeIPA for centralised identity management, including DNS integration and user/host lifecycle administration.
• Started implementing machine-to-machine encryption using OpenBao and Vaultwarden for secrets management.
• Provided support for Apptainer-based HPC workloads.

This role marks a deliberate transition from laboratory work into infrastructure and security engineering, building on the automation instincts developed during research.

What I did

Based in Umkirch, this role combined hands-on histology instrumentation knowledge with structured customer-facing problem solving:

• First-level support and troubleshooting for laboratory automation devices.
• Authored SOPs and application guides for lab staff and field technicians.
• Diagnosed instrument failures under time pressure with direct customer impact—developing the structured root-cause analysis approach I still apply today.

Highlights

• Specimen grossing, processing, embedding, and staining for pathological diagnostic use.
• Worked with local IT on digitalising lab workflows—an early step toward my later move into infrastructure work.

Studied algorithms for high-throughput sequencing and data analysis techniques as part of a Master’s programme in Bioinformatics at the University of Vienna (2018–2019). The programme was not completed, but the coursework shaped my later interest in computational and automated approaches to research problems.

Master’s studies in Medical Biology, building on my Bachelor’s in Biology with a focus on cancer biology, immunology and bioinformatics.

Optimised extraction and purification workflows for 14-3-3 proteins from pollen of Lilium species, including protein assays and quantification—my first deep dive into designing and iterating on an experimental protocol from scratch.

Tutored plant anatomy and diversity courses during my Bachelor’s studies—my first experience translating technical knowledge for an audience with a range of prior exposure, a skill I still rely on when bridging technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Bachelor’s studies in Biology with a focus on molecular and cell biology, laying the groundwork for later work in proteomics, genomics, and flow cytometry.

Major subjects in Biology and English, with a thesis on the cultivation of Agrocybe aegerita on various media—an early sign of the fungi enthusiasm that stuck around.