About
Twelve years of building web products, from database to interface.
I am Simeon Zimmermann. I have worked as a backend engineer, software architect, and web designer, often all three on the same project.
That mix is the point. Many expensive problems sit between disciplines: a data model that makes a simple screen impossible, an interface that hides a failing background job, an architecture built for a scale the product never reached.
Today I work with founders and small teams, either as an advisor or as part of the team. I am most useful early: before the first architecture is set, when a product has outgrown its original model, or when reliability problems start to reach users.
Experience
What I work on
Software architecture
Module and service boundaries, data models, build-or-buy choices, and migration plans.
Backend
APIs, databases, background jobs, integrations, monitoring, and behaviour when things fail.
Frontend
Fast, accessible interfaces and design systems that keep them consistent.
UX and product
User flows, information architecture, and turning complicated workflows into screens people understand.
Principles
How I work
Written, not just said
Recommendations come as short documents you can share, question, and revisit later.
Small first versions
A first release should answer your riskiest question, not cover the whole roadmap.
Simple enough to explain
If the team cannot explain why a component exists and who looks after it, it is too complicated.
Failure is part of the design
Loading states, errors, and recovery are designed together with the feature, not patched in after launch.
Working on something similar?
Tell me what you are building and where you are stuck. I reply personally.