About me

Hi, I’m Ashwin, a software engineer with around five years of experience, based in the Southern Black Forest. I work in industrial cybersecurity and machine learning, building software for real-world industrial use. I’m especially interested in GUI development, API development, and full-stack development, and this website is self-hosted on my home server as well.

Outside of work, I spend a lot of time on side projects, self-hosted services, and home lab experiments. I enjoy learning new technologies hands-on, and I’m also really into automobiles, especially the engineering and communities around them.

What I'm doing

  • Homelab icon

    Homelab & Self-Hosting

    I self-host my tools and media, build reliable home infrastructure, and learn by running real services myself.

  • Software development icon

    Software Development

    I build web, desktop, and mobile applications with a strong focus on usability, APIs, and performance.

  • Cybersecurity icon

    Industrial Cybersecurity

    I build tools and workflows for industrial cybersecurity, including protocol testing and fuzzing.

  • Machine learning icon

    Machine Learning

    I work on practical ML systems for edge, mobile, desktop, and industrial use cases.

What I bring to the table

  • Build icon

    I Build, Not Just Code

    I design systems end-to-end — from architecture to deployment, not just the code in between. Someone has to decide what to build, how the pieces connect, and why one approach beats another.

  • Ship icon

    I Ship to Real Users

    My work runs in labs, on edge devices, and in production — not just in notebooks or demos. From Europa-Park science days to psychology studies with 100+ participants.

  • Stack icon

    I Own the Full Stack

    From firmware to frontend, from BLE sensors to CI/CD pipelines — I work across the entire chain. When something breaks between layers, I can find it.

Download My Resume

Resume

Experience

  1. Working Student — Industrial Cybersecurity Engineer

    Fraunhofer IOSB · Karlsruhe, Germany · Jul 2024 – Present

    Refactored execution workflows and moved protocol initialization into backend API flows, cutting protocol-loading time from ~2 minutes to under 3 seconds. Integrated FastAPI and WebSocket-based communication for real-time GUI-to-backend orchestration. Built custom fuzz map workflows, monitor handling, debug logging, and cross-protocol fuzzing support. Resolved 50+ engineering tickets covering crash fixes, QThread issues, and connection handling. Migrated a large production Python desktop app from Qt5/PySide to PySide6/Qt6.

  2. Working Student — Embedded & ML Engineer

    Hahn-Schickard · Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany · Jul 2024 – Present

    Developed Arduino and Nordic firmware for BLE-based sensor data streaming. Built Python desktop apps for live visualization and data logging from 100+ participant sessions, including unsupervised home recordings. Designed ML pipelines with multi-model fusion achieving 80%+ accuracy. Built a cross-platform Flutter app with integrated ML inference for real-time mobile prediction. Deployed models via TensorFlow Lite on microcontrollers, mobile devices, and FastAPI servers — showcased at Europa-Park Science Day.

  3. Working Student — Software Engineer

    livMatS · Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany · Jan 2023 – Jul 2024

    Engineered Vue.js web applications for the dtool ecosystem with OpenAPI-aligned workflows, pagination, and expanded test coverage. Developed Python GTK desktop applications for FAIR research data management. Automated release pipelines using GitHub Actions and Docker with Kubernetes-based orchestration and Amazon S3 integration. Built Python and FastAPI-based APIs for third-party integrations — tooling was presented at a data management conference in Düsseldorf.

  4. Programmer Analyst

    Cognizant Technology Solutions · Chennai, India · Jul 2021 – Sep 2022

    Built finance-domain software using C#, ASP.NET Core MVC, and dependency injection. Developed and optimized REST APIs with Docker and Kubernetes-based delivery. Contributed to database migration from MongoDB to Neo4j using Entity Framework Core. Implemented JWT-based authentication and optimized backend performance.

  5. Intern

    Cognizant Technology Solutions · Chennai, India · Mar 2021 – Jul 2021

    Developed web applications using Angular, React, Bootstrap, and ASP.NET Core Web APIs. Improved backend responsiveness with async patterns and Entity Framework Core. Assisted with AWS deployment for enterprise insurance applications.

Education

  1. Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

    M.Sc. Computer Science · Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany · Oct 2022 – Present

    Focus on AI, machine learning, software engineering, embedded systems, and cognitive load analysis. Master project on a smart pen system using ML for stress and cognitive load measurement (Grade: 1.0).

  2. Universität Basel — Exchange Semester

    Basel, Switzerland · Sep 2024 – Mar 2025

    Focused on reverse engineering, VPN networking, Git version control, proxy configuration, and system security.

  3. Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology

    B.E. Computer Science · Chennai, India · Aug 2017 – May 2021 · Grade: 1.6

    Core coursework in OOP, databases, networks, OS, and machine learning. Capstone project: a secure React-based web application (Grade: 1.0). Founded and led coding communities with workshops and peer learning.

Academic Roles

  1. Teaching Assistant — Wearable & Implantable Computing

    University of Freiburg · Jun 2025 – Sep 2025

    Supported lectures, lab sessions, and exam invigilation for a graduate course on wearable and implantable systems. Created a hands-on assignment on BLE-based sensor acquisition and TinyML inference using M5StickC Plus. Developed a cross-platform PySide6 desktop app for streaming, recording, and segmenting IMU sensor data via BLE. Wrote Arduino firmware for BLE communication and on-device TinyML. Configured GitHub Actions CI/CD for automated cross-platform builds.

Volunteering

  1. Elected Student Representative (SENI)

    Thomas Morus Burse Studierendenwohnheim · Freiburg · Oct 2024 – Oct 2025

    Built and deployed a PHP-based web application for the gate duty system, used by 300+ students daily. Digitized community workflows with online forms and anonymous feedback tools. Provided full technical setup for events including sound, lighting, and live coordination. Consecutively elected for 2 semesters. Organized events including the Christmas Market, Music Festival, and Silent Disco.

Publications

  1. dtool and dserver: A flexible ecosystem for findable data

    PLOS ONE · Co-authored

    Research paper on lightweight, decentralized data management using dtool and dserver for FAIR data practices.

Skills

Core Engineering
  • Python
  • C++
  • TypeScript
  • C#
  • FastAPI
  • Flask
  • ASP.NET Core
  • REST APIs
  • WebSockets
Application Development
  • PySide6
  • Flutter
  • Vue.js
  • React
  • Angular
  • Python GTK
Machine Learning
  • TensorFlow Lite
  • Feature Engineering
  • Model Deployment
  • Edge Inference
  • On-Device ML
Databases
  • Neo4j
  • MongoDB
  • MySQL
  • SQL Server
  • Supabase
DevOps & Infrastructure
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • GitHub Actions
  • GitLab CI
  • Linux
  • Prometheus
  • Grafana
Cloud
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • GCP
  • S3
Testing & Quality
  • PyTest
  • Unit Testing
  • Integration Testing
  • Debugging
  • Profiling
Domains
  • Industrial Cybersecurity
  • Embedded Systems
  • Mobile ML
  • Scientific Software
  • Homelab Infrastructure

Portfolio

Blog

Contact

Contact Form