Maintenance
Maintenance & Modernisation
Root cause analysis for production issues, staged platform upgrades, and incremental modernisation of legacy codebases - keeping the systems you already run reliable, secure, and current without unnecessary rewrites.
Background
As Head of E-Commerce & Software Development at a German Software Development Agency, a significant part of my role was diagnosing production issues that had been open for weeks - performance regressions after deployments, intermittent checkout failures, broken order import jobs. These are the problems that don't reproduce in staging and require someone willing to go deep.
That debugging intuition carries directly into modernisation work: OpenMage LTS upgrades from legacy Magento versions, incremental improvements to ageing PHP codebases, and the judgment to know when a full rewrite is actually necessary and when it isn't.
What I Deliver
Root Cause Analysis
Systematic investigation of production bugs - tracing request flows, isolating variables, and identifying the actual cause rather than its symptoms.
Platform Upgrades & Migrations
Staged OpenMage LTS upgrades from legacy Magento versions, with compatibility testing and rollback planning before go-live.
Code Reviews
Structured review of codebases or pull requests, focused on correctness, security, performance implications, and maintainability.
Legacy Application Modernisation
Incremental modernisation of older PHP codebases - improving maintainability, security, and performance without full rewrites.
Architecture Assessment
Review of an existing codebase or infrastructure setup with a written report on what's working, what's at risk, and what to address first.
Technical Documentation & Knowledge Transfer
Written findings and handover material, not just a verbal explanation - so your team isn't dependent on a single person.
How an Engagement Works
Most engagements start with a call where you describe the problem or the system as it stands today. I'll ask targeted questions to understand the environment, recent changes, and what's already been tried, then provide an upfront estimate of scope.
Findings are documented - a written explanation of what the root cause was, why it happened, how it was fixed or upgraded, and what to watch for going forward.
Rates for diagnostic work: €70/h. For well-scoped reviews or upgrades, fixed-price is possible.
Environments I Work In
Have a problem nobody can figure out, or a platform overdue for an upgrade?
Describe the issue or the system. I'll tell you honestly whether it's something I can help with and what a realistic engagement looks like.
Get in Touch