Julien

Background

I've worked for 16 years as a system engineer, developer, UI designer, project manager, and consultant.
With experience as an entrepreneur from the age of 16, as a freelancer, in a web agency, and now as a CTO at a larger company based near Nantes (44).

I've toyed with lots of open-source technologies, especially around security hardening, high-availability/redundancy, and performance optimization, with a special interest in blending software and hardware, primarily on UNIX systems, with Debian being my favorite.
Since the early 2020s, I have diversified into traditional Machine Learning and the implementation of cutting-edge, on-premise Large Language Models (LLMs). I'm particularly focused on finding the perfect balance between model size, hardware capabilities, prompt engineering, and real-world application — always avoiding the AI hype.

Aside from system architecture and administration, I also develop web application interfaces, whether starting from scratch or using frameworks like Bootstrap.
While PHP is my backend language of choice — and one that I've mastered over the years — I've also used more decent languages such as Perl, Python, and Ruby to a lesser extent.
Feel free to browse my portfolio to see examples of my (visible) work.

My work is deeply influenced by my readings in anti-technology philosophy and fed by a constant dissatisfaction with everyday technological products. This gives me an acutely critical lens when approaching technology-related issues and solutions in my day-to-day work.
About 18 years ago, I worked in the graphics industry alongside a talented graphic designer, which fostered my lasting love for design, typography, and aesthetics.
That solid print background still informs my ability to create ergonomic and visually appealing software. Occasionally, I also revisit tools like InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator to craft visual identities, leaflets, sales brochures, or mailing templates.
With a TOEIC score of 980/990 (back in 2009), I am fluent in English.

I love challenges, learning new things, and delivering ergonomic, secure, fast, and reliable IT solutions that make both my colleagues and clients happier.

On average, my monthly intake of new knowledge is around 50 hours (in my free time). To that, my current employer adds an R&D day per week.
I mainly learn in the fields of IT security (DEFCON, BlackHAT, MISC Magazine, HackerNews, Threatpost, etc.), energy systems, acoustics, electronics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, and anything science or philosophy related. I've found that skills and ideas from these fields can often be transposed to IT.

I'm particularly fond of autopsy reports — be they NTSB/USCSB accident reports, IT post-mortems on blogs, or even the occasional human autopsy. They provide invaluable insights into how and why things fail, which I apply in my efforts to build the best systems time and money allow.

Although colleagues and clients sometimes see me as an expert in certain areas, I can't claim to be one in any. My true strength lies in having a solid grasp on a wide range of (sometimes seemingly unrelated) topics, allowing me to bring creative, well-rounded solutions to the table without blind spots.