Mustafa Çetinkaya, MSc

Istanbul, Türkiye | mucet90@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/mucet | github.com/mucet | pluralsight.com/profile/mucet

learn.microsoft.com/users/mucet/transcript/vp1z9a1x5mw0qmj

Summary

Senior Software Engineer & Architect with over a decade of experience identifying systemic bottlenecks, navigating complex architectural trade-offs, and scaling mission-critical FinTech platforms. Proven autonomous ownership in architecting cloud-native backend systems serving 20M+ users under heavy concurrency (1,600+ TPS). Deep expertise in .NET, Microservices, Clean Architecture, Domain-Driven Design (DDD), Event-Driven Architecture (Apache Kafka), and Kubernetes/OpenShift. Adept at reducing operational risk, unblocking cross-functional engineering teams, and leveraging AI-augmented workflows to create high-impact business leverage with uncompromising production reliability.

Core Skills

Architecture & Backend: C#, .NET / .NET Core, ASP.NET Core Web API, Microservices, Clean Architecture, DDD, CQRS, Event-Driven Architecture, System Design & Trade-off Analysis, Distributed Background Workers

Messaging & Data: Apache Kafka, Redis (Distributed Caching), SQL Server, MongoDB, Entity Framework Core (EF Core), Dapper

Cloud-Native & DevOps: Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift, Docker, Helm, ArgoCD (GitOps), Microsoft Azure, CI/CD Pipelines, XL Release

Observability & Security: OpenTelemetry, Distributed Tracing, Structured Logging, Grafana, Prometheus, ELK Stack, LogScale / LogLake, Health Checks, OAuth2, OpenID Connect (OIDC), JWT, RBAC, OWASP Top 10, CyberArk Conjur

Testing & Engineering Velocity: TDD, xUnit, Integration Testing, Performance & Load Benchmarking (k6, Hey), Refactoring, AI-Augmented Engineering (GitHub Copilot, LLM Workflows)

Experience

Senior Software Engineer

Softtech, Istanbul, Türkiye | Jan 2023 - Present
  • Autonomous Architectural Ownership & Reliability: Lead backend engineer for Türkiye İş Bankası's flagship mobile banking platform (İşCep), taking end-to-end ownership of mission-critical distributed services for 20M+ users and sustaining 1,600+ peak TPS within a strict <2s end-to-end SLA.
  • High-Concurrency Trade-offs & Data Engineering: Engineered fault-tolerant, event-driven microservices (.NET, Java Spring) streaming 12+ GB of daily event data via Apache Kafka; mitigated database contention under peak load by utilizing Redis distributed caching, MongoDB, and making strategic ORM trade-offs between developer velocity (EF Core) and raw hot-path execution speed (Dapper) on SQL Server.
  • Business Leverage & Risk Reduction: Created direct revenue and user-acquisition leverage by architecting core banking APIs for digital customer onboarding, B2B2C partner product distribution, automated payment orchestration, and real-time asset valuation—eliminating security and compliance risks via OWASP Top 10 standards, OAuth2/OIDC, JWT authorization, and CyberArk Conjur secret management.
  • Unblocking Teams & Delivery Velocity: Spearheaded the decomposition of tightly coupled legacy monoliths and batch jobs into isolated, cloud-native microservices using Clean Architecture, DDD, and CQRS; unblocked parallel squad deployments, reduced blast-radius risk, and accelerated release cycles on OpenShift/Kubernetes via Docker, Helm, and ArgoCD (GitOps).
  • Proactive Problem Identification & SLA Guarantee: Eliminated production blind spots by establishing full-stack observability with OpenTelemetry, distributed tracing, structured logging (ELK, LogScale, LogLake), Health Checks, and Grafana/Prometheus; proactively identified and resolved latency bottlenecks prior to release through TDD (xUnit), integration tests, and load testing (k6, Hey).

Senior Software Engineer

Istanbul University, Istanbul, Türkiye | Aug 2022 - Dec 2022
  • Architected modular .NET applications using Clean Architecture, CQRS, and Mediator patterns, integrating REST/SOAP services, SQL Server (EF Core/Dapper), and reliable background job orchestration with Quartz.
  • Unblocked engineering teams and saved project setup time by standardizing enterprise solution templates, multi-environment CI/CD configurations, and automated unit/integration test suites (xUnit).

R&D Manager & Software Engineer

Council of Forensic Medicine (Gov.), Istanbul, Türkiye | Apr 2017 - Jul 2022
  • Promoted to lead technical R&D and software automation initiatives (R&D Manager, 2019–2022) after serving as Software & Forensic Engineer (2017–2019), autonomously identifying workflow bottlenecks and modernizing high-stakes digital investigation pipelines.
  • Saved thousands of manual engineering and analysis hours by developing full-stack ASP.NET Core web applications, distributed Windows Services, ClickOnce tools, and cURL-based automation scripts orchestrating sequential tasks across VM clusters.
  • Reduced operational and evidentiary compliance risks by designing a centralized Laboratory Management System enforcing strict role-based access control (RBAC) and multi-database integrations for end-to-end chain-of-custody tracking.
  • Solved complex digital extraction and volatile memory/storage analysis challenges for critical criminal investigations utilizing specialized forensic suites (Cellebrite UFED, Magnet AXIOM, X-Ways Forensics, FTK Imager).

Software Developer

Maxinn Corporate Services, Isparta, Türkiye | Sep 2012 - Sep 2014
  • Delivered commercial e-commerce web applications (ASP.NET MVC, SQL Server, RFID integration) and desktop POS systems that automated retail inventory and checkout operations.

Education

Master of Science in Computer Science

Istanbul University, Istanbul, Türkiye | 2019 - 2021

Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering

Istanbul University, Istanbul, Türkiye | 2014 - 2016

Bachelor of Science in Computer Teacher Education

Süleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Türkiye | 2008 - 2013

Certifications

Publications

Languages

English (Professional Proficiency), Turkish (Native)