I'm Max. I write backend services for a living — mostly in Go, some Python, occasionally Rust when the problem really wants it. I've been freelancing since 2022, before that I was a staff engineer at a logistics company most people in Germany have heard of.
I work on contracts of three to six months, usually as a one-person backend extension to a small product team. I'm picky about who I work with and try not to take more than two clients at a time. The work is mostly APIs, data pipelines, and the occasional rescue mission for a service nobody understands anymore.
Tools I reach for
- Go for almost everything network-shaped
- PostgreSQL, sometimes SQLite when one box is enough
- NATS for messaging when Kafka would be overkill
- Caddy in front of most things
justinstead of Make, because life is short
Things I don't do
- Frontend work, beyond what's needed for an admin page
- Anything involving ad-tech
- On-call rotations as a freelancer
Outside of work
I cycle, mostly along the Elbe. I read more non-fiction than is probably good for me. I keep a paper notebook for everything that isn't a git commit. The homelab is half hobby, half excuse to learn things I'd never get to touch at a client.
Contact
Email is the best way: max [at] reuter.work. I usually answer within a couple of working days. If you're reaching out about a project, a few sentences about scope and timeline saves us both time.
I don't have profiles on the usual social platforms anymore.