I wanted to learn container orchestration without breaking the bank, so I'm standing up a Next.js frontend, a .NET API, and Postgres database on a single €4.55 Hetzner VPS, using Nomad & Traefik for service discovery and load‑balancing.
Would love feedback on improvements, real-world tweaks, or war stories from your own budget infra experiments!
My setup includes docker compose with backend container(Django), postgres, redis for caching and celery worker for background queue. So total 4 containers to run backend.
Frontend is hosted standalone on vercel for free and points to backend Django api.
I then use caddy to reverse proxy and connect domain with the container port. Caddy takes care of ssl certificate through acme on cloudflare.
Lastly I use ufw to secure server and block all ports other than 443(https). I open all ports for my personal vpn server so that I can access the server while connected to my vpn.
With eight years of software engineering experience, I've developed technical expertise and leadership skills across fintech, SaaS, and enterprise environments. At BR-DGE, I led a 10-person cross-functional engineering team, maintaining hands-on involvement in architecture decisions. Throughout my career, I've balanced coding with leadership, having architected and delivered multiple full-stack products that directly generated sales while mentoring junior engineers and establishing best practices.
My approach focuses on balancing business requirements with technical excellence to create maintainable solutions. I'm particularly effective at bridging communication between product stakeholders and engineering teams, ensuring alignment and translating business needs into technical implementation.
I'm seeking a Senior/Lead Engineering role where I can leverage my technical depth and leadership experience to drive excellence and innovation while contributing directly to complex problem-solving. I'm drawn to opportunities where I can deliver impactful products while continuing to develop as both a technical expert and leader.
With eight years of software engineering experience, I've developed technical expertise and leadership skills across fintech, SaaS, and enterprise environments. At BR-DGE, I led a 10-person cross-functional engineering team, maintaining hands-on involvement in architecture decisions. Throughout my career, I've balanced coding with leadership, having architected and delivered multiple full-stack products that directly generated sales while mentoring junior engineers and establishing best practices.
My approach focuses on balancing business requirements with technical excellence to create maintainable solutions. I'm particularly effective at bridging communication between product stakeholders and engineering teams, ensuring alignment and translating business needs into technical implementation.
I'm seeking a Senior/Lead Engineering role where I can leverage my technical depth and leadership experience to drive excellence and innovation while contributing directly to complex problem-solving. I'm drawn to opportunities where I can deliver impactful products while continuing to develop as both a technical expert and leader.
Would love feedback on improvements, real-world tweaks, or war stories from your own budget infra experiments!