Sharing experience and building for people

Hola, I’m Alik Khilazhev, also known as alikhil online. I'm a:

  • Cloud Infrastructure Engineer

    I have 9+ years of experience in infrastructure development, DevOps and SRE practices. I specialize in Kubernetes and the surrounding cloud-native ecosystem.

  • Software Engineer

    I enjoy building platform services and tools that empower others. I'm always on the lookout for challenging problems to solve like puzzles by writing clean, efficient code in Go, Python, or whatever language the task calls for.

  • Open Source Enthusiast

    I'm passionate about open source software and enjoy building complex, resilient systems by combining various open source tools—like playing with LEGO. I also contribute to projects like Terragrunt and Updatecli, among others, to give back to the community.

  • and Tech Tinkerer

    Outside of work, I enjoy self-hosting, experimenting with systems, exploring new tools, and building things just for fun.

You can also find me at the links below.

How to not burnout

Burnout prevention for software engineers: practical ways to set work-life boundaries, recharge, and protect your motivation

How to control RGB on RAM sticks, motherboards, coolers, graphics cards programmatically with OpenRGB.

Install OpenRGB on Linux and use a systemd service to turn off RGB lighting on every boot.

Forward SMS to Telegram with Android

How I forward SMS to Telegram using a dedicated Android phone.

Goodbye, nix-darwin!

Why I stopped using nix-darwin on macOS after slow rebuilds, painful updates, installer script issues, and corporate tooling conflicts.

How to Quickly Prepare for Software Engineering Interviews

A few months ago, I found myself needing to prepare for a series of job interviews within a very limited timeframe. It was a stressful experience, but it ultimately worked out well. I decided to share my notes and reflections in case they’re helpful to others in a similar situation. This is especially relevant if you’re not actively job hunting and suddenly receive an interview invitation, leaving you with limited time to prepare but a strong desire to maximize your chances of success. ...