👋 Mikhail Ivanov `@syncended`

Head of Backend Development Team · Yandex Direct · Saint Petersburg

Kotlin Spring Java C++ Perl PostgreSQL Android React TypeScript Python FastAPI k3s Docker leadership

4 years on Android → 2 years on backend → 1 year leading.
Backend by day, pet projects by night.

📍 About

I'm a backend tech lead based in Saint Petersburg. Started on Android (4 years across freelance, agency and corporate), moved to backend at Yandex Direct in late 2023, and now lead the backend team there since July 2025. The team's stack is Kotlin-first (migrating away from Java), with parts in C++ and Perl.

After hours I run a polyglot indie monorepo — DedInsideTeam/Mono — on a self-hosted k3s cluster sitting on a Raspberry Pi mesh behind WireGuard. First public release: pricehub. Coming soon.

📊 Stats

Total experience

~7 years

Currently leading

1 team

After-hours uptime

99.9%

Activity

Less More

💼 Experience

When	Role	Where
2025 → now	Head of Backend Development Team	Yandex Direct
2023 → 2025	Senior Backend Engineer	Yandex Direct
2022 → 2023	Head of subgroup	Yandex Go
2022	Android Engineer	Yandex Go
2020 → 2021	Android Engineer / Lead	KRIT, Saint Petersburg
2019 → 2020	Android + PHP backend	Stechkin Lab · freelance

🛠 Stack

`@work` — Yandex Direct

# Kotlin-first backend (migrating away from Java)
backend: [Kotlin, Spring, Java(legacy), C++, Perl, PostgreSQL]
mobile:  [Android, Kotlin, Java]  # 4y past
lead:    [system_design, mentoring, interviewing, planning]

`@pet` — DedInsideTeam / Mono · evenings

backend:  [Kotlin, Ktor, Python, FastAPI]
data_ml:  [pgvector, Whisper, llama.cpp]
frontend: [React, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind]
infra:    [k3s, Docker, GH_Actions, WireGuard, RPi_mesh]