torben haack

from small town to software

i grew up in a small town in schleswig-holstein, germany - one of those places where the world feels both wide open and a little out of reach. my journey into tech began with minecraft. what started as a game quickly became a gateway: i wanted to know how things worked behind the scenes. i started hosting servers, writing plugins and soon found myself building web tools to make minecraft more accessible. that curiosity - how things work, how to shape your own little world - never left me.

after finishing my a-levels in social studies (2.8), i moved to berlin, eager for new challenges. i spent time building independent projects-like a hafas station monitor to keep up with public transit departures - while deepening my skills and preparing for the next step.

why i build

for me, software is about more than code. it's about creating order from chaos, expressing ideas through structure and shaping digital spaces with their own rules and logic. i love the feeling of building something from scratch - of seeing a project evolve from a rough prototype to something elegant and minimal. my approach is simple: dive in, get your hands dirty and iterate until it feels right. done is better than perfect, but minimalism and structure keep us grounded.

learning, teaching, sharing

i'm a self-taught learner at heart. i love reading, writing and exploring new ideas - whether it's philosophy, software, or just how we do things. early in my career, i discovered that teaching is the best way to learn. during my apprenticeship at a german automotive company, i led workshops on git and software best practices and later mentored new apprentices. i believe knowledge should be free and accessible and that everyone does their best when given the chance to grow.

professional experience & projects

current: software engineer at a german automotive company. design and build scalable platforms, data solutions, and developer tooling for global teams-streamlining workflows and ensuring long-term maintainability.

it specialist apprenticeship (data & process analysis): graduated 6 months early with the highest exam grade (1.4) in berlin for my profession (ihk exam winter 24/25). during my apprenticeship, i led workshops on git and software best practices and mentored new apprentices.

myp - manage your printer (2025): my capstone project at a german automotive company: an enterprise-grade printer management system (next.js, typescript) with sso, rbac, analytics and podman deployment.

promptlab (2024): a modular prompt engineering tool (react, radix ui, tailwind css) with live previews and a custom template interpreter.

warp-themes (2022): a web-based theme builder for warp terminal and vs code, built for fun and learning.

hafas station monitor (2021): a personal project to keep up with public transit departures-born from a need to make daily life a bit easier.

early projects (pre 2021): minecraft plugins, a 3d school exploration site and countless experiments that taught me the value of tinkering.

what matters most

i care about sharing knowledge, building things that last and helping others feel a little less lost on their own journey. i'm just someone who loves to learn, build and teach. if you find inspiration or guidance here, that's all i could hope for.

beyond the code

when i'm not building software, you'll find me working out, reading, writing, or thinking about life's big (and small) questions. i believe in minimalism, curiosity and the power of a well-placed idea.