~/romerg-tech

RomerG Tech Solutions

Innovate. Automate. Elevate.

📧 info@romerg.de IT services on-site in the Cologne / Bonn / Niederkassel area and remotely via TeamViewer and AnyDesk.

Whether it's a technical problem, a new setup or a smart home project: RomerG Tech Solutions is your local IT service provider in the Niederkassel, Cologne and Bonn area — on-site or remotely. No long wait times, no surprise invoices.

🖥️
PC & Laptop
6 +
  • Windows and Linux setup and fresh installation
  • Repairs and fault diagnosis
  • Performance tuning for slow systems
  • Virus removal and security check
  • Hardware upgrades and buying advice
  • Raspberry Pi and single-board computer setup
Read more
🏠
Smart Home
8 +
  • Automated blinds and shutters
  • Smart lighting (Philips Hue, IKEA TRÅDFRI)
  • Energy monitoring and smart plugs
  • Smart thermostats and heating control
  • Doorbells, cameras and security systems
  • Voice assistants: Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit
  • Local hub with Home Assistant or openHAB
  • Device linking and automation setup
Read more
🌐
Network & Security
7 +
  • Router and Wi-Fi setup and optimisation
  • VPN configuration (WireGuard, OpenVPN)
  • Home network hardening with guest network and firewall
  • Network troubleshooting and diagnostics
  • Wired home network (LAN) planning
  • Password manager setup (Bitwarden, KeePass)
  • Two-factor authentication setup
Read more
📡
Servers & Home Servers
3 +
  • Server setup and configuration
  • NAS and network storage installation
  • Home server for cloud, media or backups
Read more
🔧
General IT Support & Consulting
5 +
  • Printer and peripheral device setup
  • Data backup and transfer
  • Straightforward advice without the jargon
  • On-site IT support in Niederkassel, Cologne and Bonn
  • Fast remote support via TeamViewer and AnyDesk
Read more

~/home

Hi, I'm Gilles Romer

I'm  CTO _

I study Data and Information Science and work as a CTO near Cologne. My background covers most of the IT landscape: infrastructure, networking, data engineering, e-commerce and technical leadership. I've been building and automating things since I was a kid taking apart the family computer. That hasn't changed.

0 CTO positions held
0 GitHub contributions
0 Languages spoken

~/about

Gilles Romer
Open to projects
📍 Niederkassel, Germany
🎓 B.Sc. Data & Information Science
💼 CTO @ HobbyGrow GmbH
🌐 DE · FR · EN

I grew up in Cologne in a Franco-German household, so both languages are native to me. Computers fascinated me from an early age. I taught myself to program and tinkered with anything I could get my hands on. That curiosity never went away.

Over the years I've worked across almost every corner of IT: networking, server infrastructure, databases, security, web development, data analysis and automation. Automation is what pulls me in most. If something is repetitive, I'd rather write something that handles it.

Outside of work
♟️ Chess 🏍️ Motorcycles 🎵 Music & Sound 🍳 Cooking 💻 Programming 🏠 Smart Home 🎮 Gaming 🎬 Films

~/timeline

2007 First Steps in IT +

Started primary school and simultaneously began taking apart the family computer to understand how it worked.

~2010 First Lines of Code +

Started teaching myself to program: HTML, small scripts, anything I could find online.

2011 Gymnasium Kreuzgasse +

Started secondary school at Städtisches Gymnasium Kreuzgasse, Cologne.

2019 Abitur and Bac +

Dual qualification with the German Abitur and French Baccalauréat. Started B.Sc. Data and Information Science at TH Köln.

2020 First Professional Work +

Translator at SoSafe and web developer for Les Petits Malins. First real-world projects.

2021 Vodafone +

Working student at Vodafone Group Services in the CIOT Data and Insights team.

2023 Kayoom GmbH +

Joined as a working student in IT with quickly growing responsibility.

2024 Promoted to CTO +

Promoted to Chief Technology Officer at Kayoom GmbH.

2025 HobbyGrow GmbH +

Joined HobbyGrow GmbH as CTO in November 2025.

2026 Bachelor's Thesis +

"Digital Kitchen": a Django-based self-hosted recipe management and meal planning system, my final academic project.

Next What's Next +

Finishing my degree and moving deeper into cybersecurity, ethical hacking and offensive security. Still building, still learning.

~/education

03
B.Sc. Data and Information Science
TH Köln (Cologne University of Applied Sciences), 2019 – present

A degree at the intersection of data, information systems and computer science. Core topics include databases, data analysis, information retrieval, software development, IT security and knowledge management. My bachelor's thesis, the "Digital Kitchen", is an open-source self-hosted recipe management system built on Django, with a focus on metadata quality, controlled vocabularies and GDPR-compliant data sovereignty.

02
Abitur and Baccalauréat économique et social
Städtisches Gymnasium Kreuzgasse, Cologne, 2011 – 2019

Dual qualification with the German Abitur and the French Baccalauréat, the natural result of growing up in a bilingual Franco-German household.

01
Primary School
GGS Geilenkircher Straße, Cologne, 2007 – 2011

Where it all began.

~/work-experience

CTO (Chief Technology Officer)
HobbyGrow GmbH
November 2025 – present +
  • Leading all technical areas and engineering strategy.
  • Responsible for architecture decisions, infrastructure and product development.
  • Migrating and modernising legacy systems towards scalable infrastructure.
  • Designing and implementing API integrations and system interfaces.
  • Defining development processes, tooling and deployment pipelines.
CTO (Chief Technology Officer)
Kayoom GmbH, Düren
2024 – October 2025 +
  • Ownership of the entire tech stack and IT strategy.
  • Deep involvement across all areas of day-to-day e-commerce operations.
  • Extensive work with the JTL warehouse management and ERP system.
  • Building and maintaining API integrations between internal and external systems.
  • Driving automation initiatives and standardising operational processes.
  • Primary technical decision-maker across all departments.
💼
Working Student (IT)
Kayoom GmbH, Düren
2023 – 2024 +
  • Supporting the IT department as a working student.
  • Hands-on experience with internal systems, tooling and infrastructure.
  • First exposure to e-commerce operations and the JTL ecosystem.
  • Grew into the CTO role through expanding responsibility and own initiative.
📊
Working Student / Data Analyst
Vodafone Group Services GmbH, Düsseldorf
2021 – 2022 +
  • Worked in Consumer Products and Services (CIOT, Data and Insights).
  • Analysed large datasets to surface actionable insights.
  • Started as a mandatory internship, then continued as a working student.
💻
Web Developer & Technical Support
Franco-German Nursery 'Les Petits Malins', Cologne
2020 – present +
  • Designed and built the website from scratch.
  • Ongoing technical support and maintenance.
  • Voluntary work for a Franco-German nursery.
📝
Translator (English → French)
SoSafe Cyber Security Awareness, Cologne
2020 +
  • Translated cybersecurity awareness content from English into French.
  • Ensured linguistic accuracy and cultural appropriateness.

~/skills

Languages
🇩🇪  German Native
🇫🇷  French Native
🇬🇧  English Fluent
Technical Skills
Python JavaScript TypeScript HTML CSS PHP SQL Data Analysis Data Modelling Information Retrieval ETL Pipelines Reporting Networking Linux Docker Server Administration IT Security Smart Home / IoT Databases Git GitHub VS Code Astro Django Docker Compose TCGdex API Technical Leadership Project Planning Problem Solving Self-Teaching Multilingual Communication JTL ERP API Integration System Interfaces Process Automation Inventory Management System Migrations IT Security Fundamentals System Hardening Attack Surface Analysis Ethical Hacking (in training) PC Hardware Hardware Diagnostics Raspberry Pi Arduino Electronics Prototyping Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Outlook Microsoft 365
Areas of Expertise
🌐
Networking
TCP/IP, DNS, VLANs, firewalls and VPNs. Set up and managed home and small business networks.
🖥️
Infrastructure
Server setup, virtualisation, self-hosting with Docker and managing Linux environments.
🗄️
Databases
Schema design, complex queries, relational and document-based databases.
🔒
Security
Attack surfaces, system hardening and security best practices. After my degree, cybersecurity and ethical hacking are where I plan to go deeper.
🏠
Smart Home
In-depth knowledge of home automation ecosystems, integrations and custom automations.
📊
Data & Analysis
From raw data pipelines to dashboards and insights, applied professionally at Vodafone and academically at TH Köln.
🛒
E-Commerce & ERP
Real-world experience across the full e-commerce operation with JTL ERP, API integrations and system migrations at Kayoom and HobbyGrow.
🍽️
Information Systems
"Digital Kitchen": a self-hosted Django-based recipe and meal planning system, built as my bachelor's thesis.
🔌
Hardware & Electronics
PC hardware, Raspberry Pi, Arduino and electronics prototyping, both professionally and personally.

~/contact

Whether you have a project in mind, a question, or just want to say hi: feel free to reach out. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

📧
📍
Location
Niederkassel, Germany
💼
🐙

~/projects

I build things because I enjoy it, not just for work. Here are some I'm particularly proud of:

Digital Kitchen

My bachelor's thesis: an open-source web app for self-hosted recipe management and meal planning, built on Django. Recipes are treated as structured information objects with rich metadata, controlled vocabularies and a focus on retrieval quality. Fully Docker-deployable, GDPR-compliant and data-sovereign.

Django Python Self-Hosted Docker Bachelor's Thesis Open Source

PokéCollector

A self-hosted full-stack Pokémon TCG collection manager with price tracking, card scanning, wishlists, analytics and a community leaderboard. Multi-user, role management, multilingual UI, TCGdex API.

Full-Stack Self-Hosted Docker TCGdex API Multi-User i18n

Advent of Code

Annual participation in the Advent of Code challenge. Template repository and archive of past solutions, used as a playground for sharpening algorithmic thinking and trying out new approaches.

Algorithms Problem Solving Python

Personal Website

This portfolio, designed and built by me. Previously built with HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript, now rebuilt with Astro and TypeScript.

Astro TypeScript HTML CSS i18n

Les Petits Malins

Design and development of the full website for a Franco-German nursery in Cologne, with ongoing technical support and maintenance.

Web Design Web Development PHP Pro Bono

Cologne Hawks

Designed and built the complete website for the Cologne Hawks, a recreational ice hockey team from Cologne competing in the Latenight Hockey League at Kölnarena 2.

Web Design Web Development Ice Hockey Pro Bono

~/privacy-policy