Roles in software, infrastructure, game systems, engineering management, and technical direction.
2008
First freelance work
2014
Joined Hypixel
2024
Co-founded Hypixel Studios Canada
Professional timeline
Experience by role.
Experience is organized by employer and position so it can be updated as the work changes.
Remote / Canada
Hypixel Studios Canada Inc.
Independent studio co-founded by Simon Collins-Laflamme, Philippe Touchette, Patrick Derbic, and Kevin Carstens.
Current
June 2024 - Present
Co-Founder & Technical Director
Saved Hytale and released it.
Work now focuses on Hytale's full release, safeguarding the studio's long-term legacy and the founders' reputation, and maintaining a healthy, sustainable company that gives the team a secure future.
The aim is to show that independent games can lead through craft, passion, and creative ambition, with long-term quality taking priority over short-term profit maximization.
Negenharrie, Germany
Fam. Carstens Media GmbH & Holding GmbH
Company providing contract and consulting services in software engineering, video games, social media, and related technical work.
Current
June 2024 - Present
Director
Provides contract and consulting services across software engineering, video games, social media, and related technical work.
Remote / Derry, UK
Riot Games / Hypixel Studios
Hypixel Studios operated as a wholly owned Riot Games subsidiary.
June 2023 - April 2024
Principal Software Engineer & Senior Engineering Manager
Engineering leader and technical lead across gameplay-system teams including Sandbox; Characters, Camera & Controls; Encounters and NPCs; Voxels and World Generation; Creator Tools; and Rendering.
Architecture Group member, setting standards for the studio's engineering process.
Managed 24 software engineers, 6 contractors, and 7 direct reports.
May 2022 - June 2023
Senior Software Engineer & Engineering Manager
Managed contractors and outsourced engineering teams during milestone planning and execution over a one-year period.
Product owner, technical lead, and manager for a team building multi-platform 3D rendering, game-world, and procedural-generation foundations for Hytale.
May 2021 - May 2022
Interim Technical Director
Served as engineering discipline lead and interim Technical Director while finding a successor and future mentor.
Improved budgeting, planning, and career progression by introducing and reviewing job levels based on Radford levels and IEEE SWECOM.
Managed 8 direct reports and 33 reports in total. Grew the engineering discipline by 50 percent, adding 16 engineers.
Led technical product vision and decision-making during an eight-month R&D phase to select a new engine for Hytale.
Introduced engineering standards, technical documentation, and process definitions based on IEEE SWEBOK.
January 2020 - May 2021
Lead Software Engineer
Programming and architecture of Java and C# software, including real-time simulation, networking, data structures, and driver support.
Architecture, design, and peer review of user-facing services with a focus on reliability, security, GDPR, and COPPA.
Recruitment, interviewing, training, and mentoring for roles from junior to executive positions.
Cross-team process analysis, planning, estimation, and progress reporting in a distributed Scrum environment.
Remote / Quebec, Canada
Hypixel Studios Inc.
Independent studio created to build Hytale.
December 2018 - January 2020
Senior Software Engineer
Helped announce Hytale publicly and managed AWS and Cloudflare deployment for the website, beta, and newsletter signup.
Represented engineering during due diligence and acquisition work, including technical presentations covering product vision, licensing, and security audits.
Built procedural world generation for three-dimensional infinite voxel levels and led a team focused on configuration for designers and third-party modders.
Remote / Quebec, Canada
Hypixel Inc.
Company responsible for developing and operating the Hypixel Minecraft server.
March 2014 - December 2018
Senior Software Engineer
Defended the company during the first recorded DDoS attack above 1.0 Tbps by the Mirai botnet, working with Cloudflare and OVH and sharing 24/7 on-call duties.
Network operations and scaling a modding environment to 216,762 concurrent users.
Reverse-engineering of software and binary network protocols.
Java programming in a Minecraft server modding environment.
On-site support and management at gaming conventions around the world.
Engineering representation during seed-investment diligence for Hytale.
Kiel, Germany
Provinzial NordWest AG
German public insurance group.
May 2014 - May 2015
Dual Student, B.Sc. Applied Computer Science
IBM z/OS mainframe programming using COBOL and DB2.
Java development using Swing, AWT, Lotus Notes, and Spring.
Initial planning for a mainframe batch-processing migration to a Spring Java cluster.
Insurance business training.
Mixed / Home
Freelance
Software projects acquired mostly through word-of-mouth referrals.
2008 - 2014
Software Developer
Developed websites, automation, and programs while still at school.
Supported family businesses with custom software solutions that remain in use.
Volunteer fire service
Service & qualifications.
Volunteer service with the fire service in Negenharrie and the Löschzug für Gefahrgut in Rendsburg.
Current service
Fire service
Volunteer member in Negenharrie.
Löschzug für Gefahrgut in Rendsburg
Also part of the unit in Rendsburg, serving the whole district.
