About Umur Ozkul

CTO & Founder, High Tech Mind B.V.

Three decades of building high-performance systems. From low-level systems programming to AI-powered automation. Always learning, always shipping.

Expertise

Programming Languages

30+ years

Rust TypeScript JavaScript Python OCaml Elixir Elm Haskell Prolog

AI & Automation

2+ years

Claude AI OpenClaw LLM Integration AI Agents Workflow Automation

Systems & Architecture

30+ years

Distributed Systems Concurrent Programming Performance Optimization System Design

DevOps & Infrastructure

20+ years

Docker Linux AWS GCP CI/CD Security Hardening

Leadership

15+ years

Technical Strategy Team Building Architecture Review Mentorship Hiring

Philosophy

🦀 Memory Safety First

Entire classes of bugs — null pointer dereferences, buffer overflows, data races — simply don't exist in Rust. Why spend time debugging what the compiler can prevent? Memory safety isn't a feature; it's a foundation.

⚡ Performance Matters

Every millisecond counts in production. Zero-cost abstractions mean you don't choose between elegant code and fast code — you get both. Systems should be optimized for the machine, not just the developer.

🚀 Ship > Perfect

Production systems teach more than perfect prototypes. Ship early, measure everything, iterate fast. Real users, real data, real problems. That's where learning happens.

🤖 AI Augmentation

AI agents aren't replacing developers — they're multiplying productivity. Claude Code, OpenClaw, custom automation: these tools handle the tedious work, freeing humans for strategic thinking. The future isn't AI vs humans; it's AI + humans.

📚 Functional Thinking

Immutability, pure functions, algebraic data types — functional programming principles make code easier to reason about. OCaml taught patterns that translate beautifully to Rust. Good ideas transcend languages.

Background

Started programming in the early 1990s. Watched the web be born, saw mobile take over, witnessed cloud computing transform infrastructure. Through all the hype cycles and paradigm shifts, one thing remained constant: build things that solve real problems.

Founded High Tech Mind B.V. to provide CTO-level expertise to companies that need strategic technical leadership without the full-time cost. Whether it's architecting a Rust-based system, integrating AI automation, or scaling an engineering team — real-world experience matters.

Current focus: Rust systems programming (memory safety + performance), AI agent integration (Claude, OpenClaw, automation), and functional programming education (translating OCaml patterns to Rust).

Based in the Netherlands. Available for fractional CTO roles, Rust development, AI integration projects, and technical advisory.

Let's Work Together