Consulting

I am doing consulting work in a number of areas. I prefer short gigs, helping out with a specific problem or helping launch some larger effort (maybe in combination with my training offers), but I might be available for longer projects as well.
Here are my key areas of interest/expertise:

Web Development

I have more than 10 years of experience developing web applications. I started out with Perl CGI scripts, went on to PHP and dipped my feet in some Java web development. I finally settled on Ruby on Rails, which has been the focus of my consulting work in the past 3 years.

Open Source

I fell in love with the concepts of free and open source software back in 2002 and have used open source software alternatives whenever possible ever since.
Since 2005 I am the principle organizer of FrOSCon, one of the most important open source software conferences in Germany.
I have a deep understanding of the open source development model. I have knowledge of both the social and organizational as well as the technical aspects.

Conference Organization

Having organized FrOSCon for some time now and having grown it from it's infancy to becoming one of Germany's most important open source events, I have gained quite some experience with organizing large conference events.
I would love to also put this experience to work elsewhere.

Scalable Web Infrastructures

At one time I was working as a sysadmin, administering a network of (mostly) linux-based servers. I gave up that job and re-focused on web development but ever since, I have a special interest in topics that blur the lines between the two disciplines.
One such topic, that I care deeply about, is the creation of scalable web infrastructures. I know all the common strategies for scaling web applications, I have knowledge of linux/unix systems administration and I have experience with configuration management systems, such as Puppet or Chef. Also, I have designed such infrastructures in the past.
What I do not have, is hands-on experience with web infrastructures that are really under heavy load. But I would love to gain some.

Contact

If you are interested in hiring me for a consulting gig or if you have any questions regarding my work, please email me at consulting (at) roetzel (dot) de.