Hi, I’m Hashim Ali

Backend Software Engineer — Java, Spring Boot & PostgreSQL
Portrait of Hashim Ali

Backend-focused software engineer building secure Java/Spring Boot services, PostgreSQL-backed APIs, microservices and event-driven systems. I work professionally on backend systems at HOPn UG and I am completing an MSc in Software Engineering at the University of Tartu.

📍 Tartu, Estonia Professional backend experience Java 21 + Spring Boot AWS + Kubernetes
View Backend Projects Contact Me
Professional experience

Shipping backend systems in a real product environment

I turn product requirements into secure, documented services with clear boundaries, reliable persistence and maintainable delivery workflows.

Backend Developer

HOPn UG · Germany · Remote
Apr 2026 — Present
  • Structured the Java Spring Boot backend for a digital health platform, defining service layers, repository patterns and modular application boundaries.
  • Designed the PostgreSQL domain schema, including entity relationships, constraints and a migration strategy for evolving product requirements.
  • Produced technical documentation for system architecture, backend components and API contracts.
  • Hardened authentication through strict CORS origin validation and mandatory startup secret checks, and resolved persistence, rate-limiting, dependency and API gateway integration issues.
JavaSpring BootPostgreSQLDockerREST APIs
Apr 2026 — Present
Selected engineering work

Backend systems with architecture you can inspect

Selected systems spanning microservices, event-driven workflows, deployment automation and production observability.

View all on GitHub
Trump Card multiplayer game interface
Trump Card private game room
Trump Card match interface
In development
Real-time multiplayer platform

Trump Card

Jun 2026 · trumpcard.online
~3 minPush to production1 → 5Automatic pod scaling14 metricsLive observability
  • Built a 4-player real-time card game with authoritative WebSocket state sync via Socket.io, private room codes, bot AI, reconnection with seat preservation, and match replays.
  • Provisioned two AWS EC2 instances as code with Terraform (app and monitoring), deployed via Ansible playbooks, and automated end-to-end with a GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline achieving roughly 3 minutes from push to live.
  • Containerised with Docker and orchestrated on Kubernetes using Helm charts with rolling updates, liveness probes, ConfigMaps, and one-command rollback; deployed to AWS EKS using eksctl with IAM roles and AWS Load Balancer Controller.
  • Implemented HorizontalPodAutoscaler on EKS scaling the backend from 1 to 5 pods automatically under CPU load, with ACM SSL certificate termination at the load balancer live at eks.trumpcard.online.
  • Self-hosted Prometheus and Grafana on a dedicated EC2 instance tracking 14 metrics across Node.js runtime, WebSocket connections, and EC2 OS-level CPU/RAM/disk via node-exporter; Grafana accessible at grafana.trumpcard.online.
React 19Node.jsSocket.ioSQLiteDockerKubernetesHelmTerraformAnsibleGitHub ActionsPrometheusGrafanaAWS EC2EKS
GitHubLive siteGrafana
Rental Market search and listing interface
Rental Market listing details interface
Rental Market analytics interface
Rental Market notification interface
UT ICS Contest 2026
Rental intelligence platform

Rental Market, Üüriturg

May – Jun 2026 · UT ICS Student Project Contest

Brings rental listings together in one searchable market view.

Helps renters compare areas, track prices, and receive timely alerts.

4 servicesIndependently deployable<30 secTargeted price alertsCI-gatedIntegration tests
  • Architected a four-service Java/Spring Boot backend across independently deployable services, wiring Spring Cloud Gateway as the unified routing layer with Resilience4j circuit breakers to maintain availability under partial service degradation.
  • Engineered an event-driven price alert pipeline on RabbitMQ with Spring AMQP, delivering targeted notifications within 30 seconds of a matching listing appearing across aggregated portals.
  • Implemented stateless JWT authentication with Spring Security 6 and RBAC enforced at every service boundary, alongside JUnit 5 and Mockito integration tests enforced as a CI gate before every merge.
  • Containerised the full platform with Docker Compose behind nginx, with complete OpenAPI documentation via Swagger.
Java 21Spring Boot 3.4Spring Cloud GatewaySpring Security 6RabbitMQPostgreSQLVue 3Dockernginx
GitHub
Cloud-native CI/CD pipeline A four-stage pipeline flowing from source code through testing and container builds to Kubernetes deployment and monitoring. CODE TEST BUILD DEPLOY CLOUD-NATIVE DELIVERY PIPELINE GitLab CI/CD · Docker · Kubernetes · Prometheus · Grafana
Sep – Dec 2025
DevOps & full-stack application

Cloud-Native Delivery Platform

Built and containerised a full-stack application with a Next.js TypeScript frontend and Flask backend, orchestrated on Kubernetes using Helm.

  • Created a four-stage GitLab CI/CD pipeline covering lint, test, build, and deploy for reproducible releases.
  • Instrumented Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards for real-time service health and resource utilisation.
  • Tested privilege escalation, token tampering, and expiry edge cases to verify RBAC across service boundaries.
Next.jsTypeScriptFlaskPostgreSQLDockerGitLab CI/CDKubernetesHelmPrometheusGrafana
Coursework

Attack on Titan

A Phoenix application for managing Titans and student squads, with tactical combat simulation and structured domain workflows.

ElixirPhoenix
GitHub
Coursework

Earth Scanner

An agile University of Tartu group project focused on iterative delivery, collaboration and structured software engineering practices.

ElixirAgile
GitHub
Personal project

Portfolio Website

A responsive engineering portfolio designed to present project architecture, outcomes, education and professional experience clearly.

HTMLCSSJavaScript

Tools I use to ship backend systems

A focused view of the technologies and engineering practices I use to build backend and cloud-native products.

Backend engineering
Java 21Spring BootNode.jsREST APIs
Distributed systems
RabbitMQMicroservicesSpring Cloud GatewayResilience4j
Cloud and DevOps
DockerKubernetesAWS EC2AWS EKSHelm
Data and persistence
PostgreSQLSQLiteSchema designMigrations
Security and quality
JWTRBACCORS hardeningJUnit 5Mockito
Observability and delivery
PrometheusGrafanaGitHub ActionsTerraformAnsible

Engineering with backend depth

I focus on Java, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL and REST APIs, with hands-on work across microservices, RabbitMQ, authentication, testing and distributed-system resilience.

I also take ownership of delivery: Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Terraform, CI/CD, Prometheus and Grafana. My goal is to build software that is understandable, testable and operable after the demo is over.

Education and achievements

Software engineering foundation

Education

MSc Software Engineering

University of Tartu, Estonia
September 2025 to Present | GPA 4.6/5.0

Certifications and achievements

UT ICS Student Project Contest 2026

Presented Rental Market, Üüriturg, at the University of Tartu poster session.

Youth Participation Idea Competition

Team Soda Orange, GAMEIN project, Tampere University. Certificate for an EU co-funded project.

HackerRank

Technical challenge activity and hackathon participation. View HackerRank profile →

Contact

Looking for a backend engineer?

I am based in Tartu, Estonia. For backend, Java/Spring, cloud-native or software engineering opportunities, email is the fastest way to reach me.

hashim.ali@ut.ee+372 5847 6483
Email Hashim GitHub ↗ LinkedIn ↗ HackerRank ↗