Full Stack Developer

Baran Kaplan

Full Stack Developer with a strong focus on Java and Spring Boot backend systems, practical DevOps and CI/CD work, and frontend development with React and Next.js.

Read my story

My background, career transition into software development, and life in Germany.

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Experience, education, and technical profile.

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Selected projects, demos, and implementation work.

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Work Areas

Backend is my core area. Around it, I work with delivery, infrastructure, and frontend pieces that help product features move from idea to running system.

Backend Engineering

I build Java and Spring Boot services that model business flows clearly and stay maintainable as systems grow.

My focus is the part behind the endpoint: service boundaries, API contracts, persistence, transactions, integrations, validation, security, observability, and tests that make behavior easier to change and debug.

  • Java and Spring Boot service design
  • Domain logic, use case flows, and boundaries
  • REST, SOAP, gRPC, and external API integrations
  • Persistence, migrations, and transactions
  • Security, validation, errors, and observability
  • Unit, integration, and API testing

Delivery & Infrastructure

I work on the delivery side where code becomes a running service: pipelines, environments, GitOps, configuration, and runtime feedback.

The goal is not to list tools, but to make releases understandable: clear stages, promotion gates, deployment automation, traffic routing, secrets, and operational checks.

  • CI/CD pipeline structure and quality gates
  • Build, test, and promotion flows
  • GitOps delivery with Argo CD
  • Deployment automation and environment strategy
  • Traffic routing, reverse proxying, and mesh concepts
  • Secrets, configuration, and SecOps awareness
  • Logs, metrics, health checks, and rollout support

Product Frontend

I build React and Next.js interfaces for features where the UI needs to understand backend behavior, not just display screens.

The emphasis is practical product UX: routing, data loading, forms, client state, auth, loading and error states, and components that keep full-stack features coherent.

  • React and Next.js product interfaces
  • Routing, SSR, and data loading
  • API-connected forms and client-side state
  • Loading, error, and auth flows
  • Responsive and accessible layouts
  • Reusable component patterns

Portfolio

Projects that show the kind of backend, integration, and product work I build in practice.

Case studyLive demoReact / Next.js

Quiet Spot Finder

A product case study built in React and Next.js around calm-place discovery, protected live data access, shortlist workflows, and compare mode.

  • Protected live mode
  • Provider-backed search
  • Shortlist and compare flows
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Product labJava / Spring BootK3s ready

Equality Lab

A Java and Spring Boot product lab for designing equals/hashCode rules, domain identity, inheritance behavior, JPA proxy safety, and collection contracts.

  • Interactive equality workbench
  • Domain-aware equality rules
  • JPA and inheritance failure modes
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Backend to platformGitOpsK3s

From Backend Developer to an Observable K3s Platform

How a backend developer moved beyond application code, built and operated a single-node K3s platform, struggled with production boundaries, and turned each incident into a reusable engineering lesson.

  • Commit-to-runtime delivery map
  • Real failure and recovery stories
  • Metrics, logs, traces, traffic, and cluster state
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Production trafficDefense in depthIstio / Envoy

Cloudflare, Istio and Envoy: An Explainable Defense Path

A production traffic case study showing where automated probes stopped, what each security layer could prove, and why Cloudflare and a Kubernetes service mesh solve different boundaries.

  • Anonymized runtime evidence
  • Control-plane and data-plane map
  • Security outcomes tied to resource impact
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Blog

Backend

Getting Started with DDD

A simple introduction to DDD and where it fits in backend systems.

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Backend

Building Backend Systems with Java and Spring Boot

A practical look at structure, validation, and API basics.

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DevOps

Starting Kubernetes with the Right Mindset and a First Realistic Lab

A mindset-first introduction to Kubernetes, covering cluster roles, scheduling rules, and a realistic first local lab with Minikube, PostgreSQL, Adminer, and Headlamp.

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DevOps

Kubernetes Terms and Concepts

A practical Kubernetes reference page with beginner, intermediate, and advanced concepts, plus a quick index for jumping between terms.

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Frontend

What to Know Before Learning React

The basics worth understanding before starting React.

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Contact

Let's talk about backend-focused full stack work.

If you are hiring for Java, Spring Boot, DevOps, or product-facing frontend work, send a message or start with the CV.

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For project or role-related messages, I usually reply within a few business days.

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