[VDZ22] Startup Architecture – How much “it depends”? by Michael Malcharek

As a software architect we put our focus on a clean and state-of-the-art architecture to be prepared for the future and to be able to scale for an ever-increasing number of employees and even more customers. On top of that, the architecture should be and remain maintainable, secure and fault tolerant. Through my 5-year background as a software architect at the largest online retailer in Switzerland, I have learned how to implement the above-mentioned points, such as maintenance and security of a system, in a well-established company. With the knowledge I learned in the past years, I have now founded my own startup in the healthcare industry and I am now the only software engineer and software architect in my new company. Despite my experience, I often ask myself: How does a sustainable software architecture for a dynamic startup with an unclear future look like? In my talk, I want to speak about my experiences in transferring my knowledge from a big architecture with multiple teams to something considerably smaller and encourage software engineers to be more fearless with their technical choices.