Ticketing · current, Hamburg
Multi-tenant ticketing platform
14+ Docker microservices, FrankenPHP, plain PHP legacy code. PCI compliance remediation for the platform, GCP migration, AlloyDB integration.
Fractional tech lead
Your team ships features. Who drives the modernization?
I work in your team 1–2 days a week: prioritizing the legacy work, reviewing, pairing and settling architecture questions. Your team keeps shipping, and the codebase gets better month by month.
€1,500 per day · 1–2 days a week · 3-month minimum
Alecs Ghinea · You work with me directly. No juniors, no hand-offs.
Not a seat-filler. If you need a full-time hire, I'll tell you.
- per day, net
- €1,500
- per day, net
- per week
- 1–2 days
- per week
- minimum term
- 3 months
- minimum term
week-14.md
A typical week
- Tue Architecture review: splitting payments out of the monolith 2 h
- Tue Pairing with a junior dev: characterization tests 3 h
- Thu PHP 8.3 branch: CI green, rollout planned 4 h
- Thu Code reviews and a roadmap update for management 2 h
Roadmap
Quarterly goals · visible weekly
Where you are
Nobody is setting the direction.
Your team is good and fully booked. It ships what sales has sold. But nobody has the time or the experience to tackle the legacy systematically: the outdated version, the module nobody wants to touch, the architecture question that has been open for months.
A full-time senior lead is expensive and hard to hire. Outside consultants deliver slides and leave. And so it stays the same: every quarter the codebase gets a little harder to change.
What you need is an experienced lead who is regularly in the code and in the team, makes decisions and drives the modernization forward, without your roadmap standing still.
- The senior who knew the system has left
- Your team is small and busy with features
- A full-time lead role has been open for months
- Technical decisions keep getting postponed
What you have after 3 months.
A modernization that is moving instead of sitting on a list. And a team that is more confident with its own codebase.
I work in your repository, your tools and your meetings. No parallel universe of consultant documents.
- A prioritized modernization roadmap that management understands
- The most important legacy issues tackled, live in small steps
- Code reviews and architecture decisions with clear reasoning
- Junior and mid-level developers who become independent faster through pairing
- Progress you can see every week instead of a final report
How we work together.
-
01
Week 1
Onboarding
Getting to know the codebase, deployment and team. Conversations with developers and management.
-
02
Weeks 2–3
Roadmap
A prioritized list of legacy issues with effort and benefit, aligned with your product goals.
-
03
Ongoing
Fixed rhythm
1–2 fixed days a week: reviews, pairing, architecture and hands-on work on the critical parts.
-
04
Monthly
Visible progress
A short report for management: what is live, what comes next, which risks are open.
-
05
After 3 months
Extend or hand over
You decide whether to continue. If not, I hand over cleanly to your team.
Where I do this role today.
14+ years of PHP. 12+ years of Laravel. Based in Hamburg. German, English, Romanian.
Automotive marketplace
leasingmarkt.de (Autoscout24 group)
Multi-version Laravel migration for one of Germany's largest leasing marketplaces. Incremental, using the strangler pattern, without disrupting live operations.
What it costs.
Fractional tech lead
€1,500
per day, net
1–2 fixed days a week, 3-month minimum. You pay for experience and decisions, not for presence. After that, renewable monthly.
Billed monthly for the days worked.
Book an intro callIncluded
- Fixed days in your team, remote or on site in Hamburg
- Code reviews and architecture decisions
- Pairing with your developers
- Hands-on work on the critical modernization steps
- A modernization roadmap, kept up to date
- A monthly progress report for management
Frequently asked questions.
Why a 3-month minimum?
The first weeks are onboarding and the roadmap. Visible results in a grown codebase take some time. Three months is the minimum for the engagement to pay off for you.
Remote or on site?
Mostly remote. In Hamburg I'm happy to come to the office regularly, elsewhere in the DACH region by arrangement.
Do you replace our CTO or team lead?
No. I work with your technical leadership, not around it. Often I take load off exactly the person who had to decide everything alone.
Is this temporary staffing?
No. I work as an independent consultant with my own contract and equipment, towards an agreed goal, not integrated into your organization under instruction.
Can we start with an audit?
Yes, and it's often the best way. The audit delivers the roadmap that we then carry out together.
Next step.
Book a 30-minute intro call. We'll look at where your team stands, what keeps slipping and whether 1–2 days a week is the right format. If not, I'll tell you.
Book a 30-minute callFree and non-binding. Reply within one business day.