Tobias Schmidt
AWS & Serverless Expert | Fullstack Software Engineer
Mülbergerstr. 61, 73728 Esslingen, Germany
Web Presence
Professional Summary
I'm a passionate software engineer, architect, serverless enthusiast, and technical writer with several years of professional experience in the German automotive industry working for clients like Porsche AG. In those years, I've built and delivered several services to production with various technologies & migrated existing ones from on-premise to the cloud.
- 20+ years experience of programming, 8+ years hands-on experience with AWS
- Authored two books in the AWS space: AWS Fundamentals, and CloudWatch Book
- Built serverless & containerized systems that handle millions of API requests and events per month
- Ability to work across the whole stack, from frontend to backend to infrastructure
Technical Skills
Here is a non-exhaustive list of my technical skills. I feel confident in learning new technologies, frameworks, and tools.
AWS
- Serverless Architecture
- Event-Driven Architecture
- Infrastructure as Code
- Observability
- SQS, SNS, S3, Lambda
- Account Management
- AWS CodePipeline
- Cost Optimization
- IAM, KMS, Secrets Manager
Fullstack Development
- TypeScript/JavaScript
- React.js
- Next.js
- GraphQL, REST APIs, Trpc
- Docker
- PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite
- DynamoDB
- MongoDB
- Redis
Professional Experience
Cloud Architect & Software Engineer
since 11 / 2021, ongoing
- Developing a distributed identity-management solution for STIHL customers on Azure.
- Maintaining and extending a mono-repository platform for multiple teams to quickly building and deliver applications via blueprints and shared libraries.
Technologies/Stack: Azure, Node.js, Nest.js, Pulumi, TypeScript, Azure DevOps, NextJS
Backend Engineer
08 / 2022 - 04 / 2023
- Spearheaded the development and integration of a robust backend system to facilitate the seamless creation and synchronization of leasing contract details across various stakeholders. This involved architecting a scalable solution that could handle complex workflows and data exchanges, ensuring accuracy and consistency in contract management.
Technologies/Stack: AWS, Node.js, Nest.js, Terraform
Tech-Lead & Software Engineer
02 / 2017 - 10 / 2021
- Architecture & implementation of various services and processes: Customer Profile Core Backend · Consent Management System · Signup & Vehicle Registration/Confirmation · Communication with the Vehicles Gateway (MBB) and other external services · Kafka Integration · Apigee Proxies for Public APIs · Communication with SAP CRM Systems · Data Model Migration
- Migration of existing on-premise services to the AWS cloud with zero downtime.
Technologies/Stack: AWS (ECS, DynamoDB, Lambda, SQS, CloudFront, ...), Java, Kotlin, Node.js, Nest.js, Serverless Framework, CloudFormation, Terraform, Apigee
Insights: >1m users & serving millions of requests per day, 100% uptime with a multi-region & multi-availability zone setup with fail-overs & traffic shifting for deployments
Developer Advocate
09 / 2021 - 03 / 2023
- Increasing awareness of the product through talks, articles, podcasts and more.
- Educating users on how to get the best out of it & creating and maintaining a community.
- Being the intersection between the developers & the team at Dashbird.
Software Engineer, Architect & Consultant
02 / 2017 - 10 / 2021
- Helping clients to move to the AWS cloud while enhancing their core products in parallel.
- Creating new services from scratch, fully serverless with minimized operations and endless scalability.
Publications
I've authored two books, one video course, and more than 40 blog articles about AWS. Here is a non-exhaustive list of my work.
Author | 1,400+ copies sold
2024
AWS Fundamentals teaches AWS for the real-world. We explain the top 16 services in all major categories and how to use them to actually build things. The focus is on mastering these services and reusing them in a real-world setup.
- 350+ pages covering core AWS services and their configurations
- Infrastructure as Code introduction (Terraform, CloudFormation, Serverless, CDK)
- Visual learning approach with custom infographics for all core services
- Practical examples and real-world best practices
Author | 500+ copies sold
2024
The CloudWatch Book teaches the full CloudWatch suite. We show you how to use CloudWatch to observe your overall AWS Application. From Logs, Metric, up to traces, anomaly detection, and more.
- In-depth coverage of CloudWatch features and best practices
- Accompanying video course (6+ hrs) with practical demonstrations
- GitHub repository with code examples and templates
- Real-world monitoring and alerting strategies
How Azure Saved My AWS Project
AWS Fundamentals Blog
March 2025
A guide on how to migrate from Edgio to CloudFront.
Speaking
Selected speaking engagements. Full list can be found here.
I Bet You Didn't Know That CloudWatch Can...
October 2024
AWS Community Day Prague 2025
Considerations for AWS-native observability before jumping into a >100k/yr 3rd party tool
Challenging common misconceptions about AWS CloudWatch and highlighting its often-overlooked capabilities. Providing a deep dive into CloudWatch, demonstrating why it deserves greater attention and consideration before committing to costly third-party observability solutions.
Personal Projects
Here are some of my personal projects that I've worked on. Full list can be found here.
Education & Certifications
Education
Master of Science - Computer Science
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 2016
Bachelor of Science - Computer Science
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 2014
AWS Certifications
tpschmidt.com/cv