Nemanja Kostic

AWS Cloud Architect


  • 20+ years of professional experience in designing and implementing commercial software solutions

  • Passionate technologist interested in AWS Cloud Architectures, Serverless DevOps, Microservices, Domain Driven Design and Event-Based Systems

  • 9 x Certified Amazon Web Services

  • Certified Master Architect by Open Group

  • Hands-on experience in developing modern web/mobile applications (full-stack developer)

  • Speaker at international conferences

  • Ambitious and experienced technical lead with proven technical and project management skills

  • Strong analytical, abstract and creative thinking

  • Experienced in managing and leading near- and off-shore software development teams and projects

Contact Details

  • Nemanja Kostic
  • nemanja.kostic@gmail.com
  • +41 76 435 52 80

What I Do?

1. Consulting

I have seen both successes and failures, have participated in many start-ups and open source projects, have developed large scale commercial systems for international clients, have set up nearshore IT departments and have worked with offshore developers. I have learned a lot from all of those experiences. Contact me and let's discuss how I can bring value to your company.

2. Highly Scalable Cloud-Based Architectures

The world is moving fast. Every application is reachable by millions of users globally. High scalability, 100% uptime, responsiveness, resilience, asynchronous messaging, microservices architecture are some of the requirements that are becoming a standard. Moving from 3-tier monolithic mindset to a new cloud-native mindset is shift that is not trivial to overcome. We need to deal with new concepts, new tools, new best practices and new design patterns.

3. Solution Architecture

No matter what kind of application you intend to build, the proper solution architecture is the prerequisite to a project success. Documenting your solution architecture with UML diagrams (use case, requirements traceability matrix, class, activity, sequence and deployment diagrams) simplifies communication between business and IT, between you and your on-premise/nearshore/offshore development team and enables full control and monitoring of the project's progress.

4. Practical Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise Architecture is the biggest mystery out there, partially because lots of people see it as a pure theoretical exercise. However, EA is a very practical discipline that can provide valuable insights to senior management about the enterprises they lead. From business & IT strategy, over EA Repositories, Governance and Roadmaps, to Dashboards and Metrics is what practical Enterprise Architecture should provide.

5. Mobile Applications

Just when you think you know everything about web applications, mobile apps showed up. Great, lets start from the beginning. The backend is still the same but front-end concepts are now different. Native or hybrid apps require new skills to be acquired. The number of devices that you can program against is rapidly growing - phones, watches, TV's, glasses, cars etc.

6. Web Development

I have been developing web applications for the last 20 years. Have tried lots of frameworks and even developed some of my own, but the job is not done yet. Innovation in the web development space is moving rapidly forward. Keeping up with advancements in this space requires lots of energy and time. I am constantly searching for better ways to server content to users via browsers.

My Strengths

82%
Social Intelligence
94%
Reliability
91%
Problem Solving
75%
Leadership
98%
Creativity

My Resume

Education
1992 - 2003

2001 - 2003

Masters Degree - University of Belgrade, Serbia

M.Sc. in Computer and Information Science from University of Belgrade, Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

Thesis title: “Applying Aspect-Oriented Methodology in developing Content Management Systems”.

Thesis goal was to show the applicability of aspect-oriented programming on complex software systems such as content management systems. Primary task was to identify crosscutting concerns as well as to examine possibilities of developing low level CMS functionality using aspects. As a product of thesis, AspectCMS framework was created as well as WebAspect (Web Content Management System) based on that framework. Both products are written in Java language with support of AspectJ, Tapestry, Spring and Hibernate frameworks.

1996 - 2001

Bachelors Degree - University of Belgrade, Serbia

M.Sc. in Computer and Information Science from University of Belgrade, Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

Thesis title: “BugBase - distributed bug tracking system”.

BugBase is a product for bug/issue tracking. Goal of thesis was to show distributed programming technology based on RMI protocol. BugBase was developed in Java language.

1992 - 1996

Graduation - Technical High School, Sombor

Main subjects of study were mathematics, electronics, physics and computer programming including the programming languages: Pascal, C, Fortran.

Work Experience
2000 - Now

2023 - now

1way2cloud GmbH, Zürich

Founder and CEO at 1way2cloud.com

AWS Cloud Architect, providing hands-on guidance and implementation for customers.

2021 - 2023

arch.cloud AG, Zürich

Co-Founder and AWS Consultant at arch.cloud AG

2016 - 2021

Amazon Web Services, Zürich

Solution Architect at Amazon Web Services.

AWS Cloud Architect, helping customers in Switzerland to transform their IT by providing technical consulting, defining architectures, performing architecture reviews, leading workshops / PoCs.

2016 - 2016

EntArchs GmbH, Zürich

Co-Founder of EntArchs - Agile Architecture Consulting

EntArchs are passionate technologists with common sense and substantial experience in designing and delivering complex enterprise applications in the world's leading financial institutions. Whether you are building a microservice ecosystem at scale, exploring modular independent services or simply maintaining a traditional monolithic application, EntArchs can help your organisation evaluate and evolve your architectural landscape. EntArchs specializes in defining the gap between legacy and new modular architectures and offers guidance in implementing DevOps, Solution and Enterprise Architectures, Delivery and their relationships to one another.

2015 - 2016

Enterprise Architect - Zurich Insurance Ltd., Zürich

In the role of the Head of Group Application Architecture I was responsible for establishing enterprise architecture practice in Zurich, with the focus on application domain. Some of my work products included creating reference architectures, establishing Architecture Repository, creating architecture governance/standards/principles and leading community of practice for application architects.

2013 - 2015

Solution Architect - Zurich Insurance Ltd., Zürich

Lead architect for Zurich Web Platform (zurich.com and 33 country websites), winner of 2014 Web Award for the best web site in insurance industry.

Lead architect for Solvency II, financial platform for regulatory reporting. Brought in to reshape program direction and re-architect the overall solution. IT owner and manager of the group application inventory.

Responsible for creating IT strategy and roadmaps for all the functions within Enterprise Application Services group.

2008 - 2013

Solution Architect - Zurich Insurance Ltd., Zürich

Lead solution architect for the global pricing and rating tool for Financial Lines and Property for Corporate and Mid-Market customers.

2003 - 2008

Java/JEE Developer - Youngculture AG, Zürich

Lead developer for a Java web framework (Avalanche).

Developer for a Java application server that was executing ColdFusion scripts (Smith Engine).

Developer on a web content management system that was used by many financial institutions in Switzerland (Webmanager).

2001 - 2003

Java/JEE Developer - Diosphere Ltd., Belgrade

Developer on an IT system for stock image exchange and management (Diomedia).

2000 - 2001

Research Assistant - Siemens AG, Munich

Member of a team that was developing software for simulating distributed IT systems and analysing their performances.

References

Naoo AG

"Having Nemanja as a sparring partner while architecting and engineering the naoo platform on AWS has been tremendously valuable and fun. I had set out to build a highly secure, automated and scalable solution from scratch and Nemanja was the perfect partner for discussing advanced topics around APIs, containers, lambdas, auth to CI/CD and data & storage. I fully recommend him for your AWS projects as an expert to help guide, lead or being that very valuable sparring partner when you aim for great solutions."

Tommy Back
CTO, naoo.com

Enterprise Consulting Ltd.

"Nemanja created an AWS architecture for our project, based on IoT and serverless microservices. We are in the implementation phase that is fully following Nemanja's design. His guidance is precious and vital for the success of our AWS journey."

Milos Petrovic
CEO, Enterprise Consulting Ltd.

QIO AG

"Nemanja created a detailed AWS architecture for our startup company QIO. His two-phase approach for using AWS services saved us a lot of time and reduced transition time to minimum. At QIO we keep relying on Nemanja’s professional expertise and guidance in all major aspects of our IT development over and over again."

Michael Markovich
CEO, QIO AG

Zurich Insurance Ltd.

"I was Nemanja's manager in his role as the Group Application Architect. Nemanja possesses remarkably profound expertise and above-average experience in his area of responsibility. When applying newly acquired knowledge, he is prompt and deliberate. Even when working under pressure, he remains consistent and steadfast."

Thorsten Gau
IBM Distinguished Engineer

Zurich Insurance Ltd.

"Nemanja was the lead architect on DBE (Digital Brand Experience) program from 2013 until 2015. During that time he produced the full architecture specification for DBE, was leading implementation teams in the successful delivery and was maintaining an excellent relation with his business and IT stakeholders."

David Patterson
Head of IT at Farmers Insurance

Zurich Insurance Ltd.

"Nemanja was the lead architect on CompaZ program from 2009 until 2012. He was leading every aspect of CompaZ architecture and was guiding offshore implementation teams in delivering Global Corporate's pricing platform. I was impressed by Nemanja's architectural skills and the way he managed IT challenges that we were facing."

Tony Wainner
Head of IT - Global Corporate Division at Zurich Financial Services

Zurich Insurance Ltd.

"Nemanja is a self-starter who require very little supervision. I perceived him as a trusted advisor and a very experienced architect. Nemanja is a good colleague to his coworkers and always shares ideas to help others manage their work. His kind personality and great social skills helped him in increasing his network within the company in a very short period of time."

Oliver Vogel
IBM Client Technical Advisor & Executive Architect

Zurich Insurance Ltd.

"Group Operations recognizes your extraordinary achievements and outstanding contribution to our common objectives and Zurich's ambition of becoming the best global insurer as measured by our customers, shareholders and employees. We thank you for your dedicated commitment."

Markus Nordlin
Global CIO at Zurich Insurance Ltd.

Skills

95%

Solution Architecture

87%

Enterprise Architecture

93%

Cloud

70%

Mobile Apps

97%

Web Technologies

83%

DevOps

Languages

English

94%

German

85%

Serbian

100%

Certificates

Security - Specialty Level

by Amazon Web Services, 2018

BigData - Specialty Level

by Amazon Web Services, 2018

Advanced Networking - Specialty Level

by Amazon Web Services, 2018

DevOps Engineer - Professional Level

by Amazon Web Services, 2017

Solution Architect - Professional Level

by Amazon Web Services, 2017

Cloud Practitioner

by Amazon Web Services, 2017

SysOps Administrator - Associate Level

by Amazon Web Services, 2017

Developer - Associate Level

by Amazon Web Services, 2017

Solution Architect - Associate Level

by Amazon Web Services, 2016

OpenCA Master Architect

by The Open Group, 2015

TOGAF 9.1

by The Open Group, 2015

Java Certified Developer

by Sun Microsystems, 2005

Milestones Achieved

1

marriage

2

kids

7

real friends

26

visited countries

Contact Me

Say
Hello

Nemanja Kostic

nemanja.kostic@gmail.com