Hi

I’m Alex. I’m a software engineer, currently building software for the International Space Station at Space Applications Services. I have a Master’s degree in Computer Security (VU Amsterdam & University of Amsterdam), and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science (VU Amsterdam). I’m interested in cybersecurity and Space. I’m an advocate for free and open-source software, and the simplicity and flexibility it brings. I’m a musician, and an amateur photographer and filmmaker.

My experience

I have a CV, here’s a link. I also have a LinkedIn.

I’ve published and presented papers on:

applying terrestrial software engineering practices to the domain of space exploration; second author. I presented it at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in 2024 in Milan. Published in the proceedings of IAC 2024, link to full paper.
large-scale non-Linux firmware analysis; first author, co-authored with Marius Muench. I presented it at BAR ’24 in San Diego.

Work experience in short:

Software Engineer at Space Applications Services
Intern at the European Space Agency in the Low Earth Orbit Exploration Group, ISS Ground Segment Systems Team (Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration)
Junior Malware Analyst at ESET
Python & Web Developer at Cloud-Based Social Robotics (VU Amsterdam)
JavaScript Developer at MolTour
Teaching Assistant (VU Amsterdam): Operating Systems, Computer Networks, Computer Programming in C++, Advanced Programming in Java, Web Technology, Introduction to Programming in Python

Education:

MSc Computer Systems Security (VU Amsterdam & University of Amsterdam):
- Thesis: FirmLine: a Generic Pipeline for Large-Scale Analysis Of Non-Linux Firmware. Later developed into a workshop paper and published at BAR ’24.
  
  Completed with VUSec, the Systems and Network Security group at VU Amsterdam. Thank you to my supervisors: Marius Münch, Enrico Barberis, and my second reader, Cristiano Giuffrida.
- Literature study: A Classification-Based Survey of Existing Firmware Research
BSc Honours Computer Science, Cum Laude (VU Amsterdam):
- Thesis: AdaFS: An Exploration of the Use of Formal Methods For More Reliable Filesystems. Completed with VUSec, the Systems and Network Security group at VU Amsterdam. Thank you to my supervisors: Herbert Bos, Sebastian Österlund, and Hany Ragab.
- Honours Project: How Do Cloud Services Fail? A Study of Provider-Reported Data. Completed with @Large Research, a research group focusing on massivizing computer systems. Thank you to my supervisors: Alexandru Iosup and Sacheendra Talluri.
- Studied abroad at Northeastern University (Boston, USA), awarded Dean’s List
International Baccalaureate Diploma (39 points; Higher Level Math + Physics + Computer Science)

My projects

I’m always creating new things on computers, here are a few of my spare-time projects:

This website, which also hosts my blog (mostly technical), my Git server, and a few other services.
A Homebrew tap for macOS
A dotfiles manager
Vim plugins: lf integration, a system for literate programming in Markdown, a colorscheme language, relative file completion, run visually selected lines as Vim commands
An Anki add-on to add stress marks to a selected Russian word
A command-line internet radio player, supporting RadioGarden, Sounds of Earth, SomaFM, Reddit, and more
A Chrome extension to add right-click redirects to Outline and Hypothes.is
A markdown annotation exporter for Hypothes.is
A VirtualBox command-line wrapper
Contributions to open-source projects: homebrew, homebrew-core, homebrew-cask, searx, zepl.vim, tldr, command_line_lint, RSS-Bridge, alacritty-color-export, cheat.sh, and more.
Several scripts
A new tab page (repo)

I’m also a musician, my music projects are:

My photos are up on Instagram. Taken with an iPhone 5S before 2019-08-27, and with a Galaxy S10 after. Hoping to buy a proper camera at some point.

I like collecting quotes, I’ve got a few good ones on this page of quotes. I also read a lot of stuff, I highlight what I think is most important on this page with my reading notes. And some random facts.

Contact info

Email: ue.yvaglab@xela (watch out when copying it)
Signal: abalgavy.01
My Github
My LinkedIn
If you need my phone number, please ask and provide your reason through one of the channels above.