From Demoscene Legends to Enterprise Saviors
Meet the Elite Engineers who learned assembler at 10, won demoscene competitions (where programmers compete to create impossible visual effects in microscopic file sizes), and now architect systems for banks, airlines, and gaming giants.
The Origin Story: From Pixels to Production
How a passion for technical excellence became expertise enterprises rely on for their most critical challenges
We started as hardcore nerds. Christian learned assembler at age 10, crafting impossible visual effects on 64KB of RAM. He wasn't just coding—he was competing in the legendary demoscene, the underground elite of programmers pushing hardware beyond its limits. Think of it as the Olympics of optimization: create stunning visual art in file sizes smaller than a typical email, using nothing but raw code. Multiple competition wins. Elite demo groups. Creating art with pure mathematics and machine code.
But when we entered the corporate world, we saw a harsh truth: Enterprise software was broken. Systems held together with duct tape. 'Good enough for now' solutions causing pain tomorrow. Projects that never finish, just endless firefighting. Developers running away when complexity explodes.
We founded Macstab to change that paradigm. To bring demoscene-level excellence to enterprise problems. To build software that's EASIER to maintain, more PERFORMANT, and CHEAPER to run—but also DURABLE and WITHOUT the constant pain. Not 'good enough.' Actually excellent.
We apply the same relentless perfectionism from squeezing impossible effects from 8-bit hardware to extracting maximum performance from modern cloud infrastructure. The mission hasn't changed: Push technology beyond what others think is possible.
The Elite Team
Every project gets 36 years of elite experience at the core—we scale expertise as needed, but you always work directly with the founders
Christian
Chief Technology Officer
Diplom-Ingenieur Informatik
36 years: From demoscene champion to mission-critical systems architect
Started at age 10 writing assembler on Commodore 64. Joined elite demoscene groups, winning competitions by creating impossible visual effects in microscopic file sizes. Built 3D engines for PlayStation I, Nintendo 64, and Jaguar. By 1997, was leading enterprise projects for multinational corporations.
🎮 Demoscene Veteran
Elite demo groups, multiple competition wins. Mastered the art of impossible optimization—creating Hollywood-quality visual effects in file sizes smaller than a Word document—before age 20.
☸️ Kubernetes Pioneer
Production deployment since 2014—when most people hadn't heard of it. Now architects auto-scaling systems handling 10,000+ TPS.
🔐 OAuth2/OIDC Specialist
Architected Zero-Trust authentication for a major banking IT provider serving hundreds of banks. Mission-critical security at massive scale.
🚀 Mission-Critical Veteran
Gaming platform with tens of thousands of concurrent users, Banking systems processing millions of transactions per day, Aviation entertainment (4-year project), Logistics infrastructure.
Specializes in:
Zero-downtime migrations, Cloud-native architecture, OAuth2/OIDC security, Performance optimization, Legacy system resurrection
Marina
Head of Business and Economics
18 years turning technical complexity into business success
Brings deep business and economics understanding to technical excellence. Since 2007, has been the strategic mind ensuring projects deliver real ROI, not just technical achievements. Co-founded Macstab in 2009 with a vision: Elite engineering that actually serves business goals.
💼 Business Economics Expert
Translates technical solutions into measurable business impact, with documented projects totaling over €5M in estimated client savings compared to previous setups.
📊 Strategic Operations
18 years managing complex IT projects. Ensures every technical decision serves the business strategy.
🤝 Client Relations Master
Direct communication with C-level executives. Understands both boardroom language and backend architecture.
⚡ Superhuman Multitasking
Mother of 5 children while running an elite software company. If she can handle that, your project's complexity doesn't scare her.
Specializes in:
Project economics, Strategic planning, Client relations, Business-technical translation, Operational excellence
The Boutique Advantage
Direct access to Elite Engineers with 36 years of proven expertise—not layers of project managers and junior developers.
What Makes Boutique Engineering Different
Experience at Every Level
With large teams, Lead/Principal architects often focus on sales and planning while implementation falls to less experienced developers. We keep Lead/Principal+ expertise involved throughout.
Direct Communication
Large organizations require multiple handoffs: sales → project manager → tech lead → developer. Each step risks losing context. You talk directly to the people building your system.
Fast Decision Making
Complex approval chains can delay critical decisions for weeks. We discuss, decide, and implement the same day when needed.
Dedicated Focus
When you're one of many concurrent projects, priorities shift as other clients demand attention. We limit our client count to ensure focused commitment.
Lead/Principal+ Expertise Throughout
Christian personally architects and codes every critical component at Lead/Principal+ level. We bring in specialists as needed, but the core architecture benefits from 36 years of high-end optimization expertise.
Direct Access to Decision Makers
You work directly with the CTO who writes the code and the CEO who manages the project. Clear communication, quick feedback, aligned understanding.
Agile Decision Making
Critical architecture decision needed? We can discuss, decide, and implement the same day when your timeline demands it.
Selective Partnership Approach
We take on 3-4 major clients annually, ensuring each gets our full attention. When projects scale or need specialized skills, we bring in carefully selected experts.
Where We Focus Our Expertise
We're selective about the projects we take on, focusing on complex challenges where our experience makes the biggest difference.
What We Don't Touch
- ✗ WordPress sites or basic web development
- ✗ Junior-level work or training projects
- ✗ 'Quick fixes' that create technical debt
- ✗ Projects under €50K (we focus on complex challenges)
- ✗ Cookie-cutter solutions from templates
What We Absolutely Dominate
Mission-Critical Migrations
In selected projects we have replaced 20-year-old banking systems without downtime. Millions of transactions and zero seconds of downtime during those cutovers.
OAuth2/OIDC Authentication
Our specialty since architecting security for a major banking IT provider serving hundreds of banks: Zero-Trust, token-based auth, social login integration, Keycloak customization.
Kubernetes & Cloud-Native
Production deployment since 2014 (yes, 2014!). GKE, AWS, Azure, OpenShift. Istio service mesh. GitOps with ArgoCD. Auto-scaling architectures.
Extreme Performance Systems
10,000+ TPS. Sub-200ms P99 latency. PostgreSQL partitioning for millions of daily transactions. Kafka event streaming. Redis clustering.
Legacy System Resurrection
Other teams run away. We run toward it. 20-year-old Oracle monoliths. SAP R/3 integration. COBOL replacement. Mainframe modernization.
The Macstab Philosophy
What separates competent developers from Elite Engineers who deliver impossible results
Optimization Is An Art Form
From demoscene 64KB demos to client infrastructure where we reduced annual costs by about €180K—we obsess over making things faster, smaller, and cheaper.
Code Is Communication
Clean code. Extensive documentation. PlantUML diagrams. Markdown specs. Future Engineers shouldn't need archaeology to understand our work.
We Never Quit
4-year aviation projects. Zero-downtime banking migrations. When complexity sends other teams running, we're just getting started.
Measurable Business Impact
Not just 'good code.' In specific client projects we've delivered up to about €180K/year savings, around 70% automation, up to 100x performance improvements and about 50% cost reduction—numbers from real case studies, not buzzwords.
Production-Grade or Nothing
We don't build prototypes or MVPs that collapse under load. We build systems engineered to run for decades at massive scale.
Battle-Tested Across Industries
Not theory. Not courses. Production systems at scale with real business impact.
🏦 Banking & Finance
Banking network (hundreds of institutions), Transaction systems processing millions of transactions per day, SAP factoring platform, Zero-downtime migrations
✈️ Aviation & Transportation
International airline entertainment systems (4-year project), Port logistics infrastructure, Real-time systems
🎮 Gaming & Lottery
Gaming platform with tens of thousands of concurrent users, high multi-million jackpot weekends, Machine learning automation, a zero-downtime migration during peak traffic
🏢 Enterprise & Retail
Retail conglomerate (ERP/Kubernetes), Energy services (digital transformation), SAP R/3 integration, Process automation
🏥 Insurance & Healthcare
Insurance provider (EPA systems), Cloud-native mobile backends, OIDC authentication, DocumentDB optimization
A Legacy of Elite Engineering
From 8-bit assembler to cloud-native microservices—36 years of pushing boundaries
Age 10: First assembler code on Commodore 64. Joined elite demoscene groups. Competition wins creating impossible effects.
Enterprise consulting: Leading Java projects for multinationals. 5M-product databases. Budget & team management.
Vision: Bring demoscene-level excellence to enterprise. SAP integration. Mobile apps. Complex eCommerce frameworks.
Aviation sector: Production Kubernetes deployment when it was brand new. Entertainment systems for airlines & cruise ships.
Gaming platform: Migrated a legacy Oracle monolith to PostgreSQL microservices with no customer-visible downtime during cutover, serving tens of thousands of concurrent users and high multi-million jackpot weekends.
Insurance sector: OIDC authentication systems. Istio service mesh. Native GraalVM. EPA mobile backends.
Banking network: Zero-Trust authentication for a major banking IT provider serving hundreds of banks. Spring Authorization Server. Redis/Kafka. Semantic Release. GitOps.
Ready to Work With Elite Engineers?
Tell us about your impossible challenge. Your zero-downtime requirement. Your legacy nightmare. That's exactly what we excel at.
Note: We only accept 3-4 major clients per year. Minimum project: €50K. We scale team size based on your requirements. If your challenge is truly complex, let's talk.