A PERSONAL SITE FOR BACKEND ENGINEERS

Show the system, not the screenshot.

Backplane is a site builder for backend engineers. Write up the systems you built (the scale, the data model, the trade-offs, the results) and download one HTML file that's yours.

Open the builder See a finished site

No sign-up · Runs in your browser · Exports one .html file

01 · THE PROBLEM

Your best work never had a screenshot.

Portfolio builders were made for people whose work is a picture. They give you a project grid and an image upload. Yours is a write path that stopped losing money, and it doesn't fit in a 4:3 thumbnail.

So the work goes undocumented, or it gets written up as “improved performance”. Backplane asks for the numbers instead.

TYPICAL PORTFOLIO

  • Project 1
  • Project 2
  • Project 3
  • Project 4

BACKPLANE

Distributed rate limiter

  • Peak load · 1.2M checks/s
  • Added p99 latency · 0.4ms
  • Redis load · −86%

02 · HOW IT WORKS

Three steps. No account.

  1. 01

    Fill in guided sections.

    Profile, system design write-ups, a stack matrix and a role timeline, each with the fields a good one needs.

  2. 02

    Watch it take shape.

    A live preview sits beside the form and updates as you type, in your choice of three themes.

  3. 03

    Export one file.

    Download a self-contained HTML site with no scripts, print a résumé from the same data, or save a JSON backup.

Everything autosaves in your browser, 500 ms after you stop typing.

03 · SYSTEM DESIGN WRITE-UPS

Four parts. All of them required.

Every write-up asks for the same four things a design review would. You can't save one that skips the trade-offs.

Scale.

How big was the problem?

Requests a second, rows, tenants. At least one metric, each with a label and a value.

Data model.

What did the data look like?

A monospace block that keeps your spacing, so schemas and key layouts read the way you wrote them.

Trade-offs.

What did you choose, over what, and why?

This is where reviewers see your judgement, not just your result.

Results.

What changed?

Before and after, in numbers. “320ms → 45ms” says more than a paragraph.

Double-entry payments ledger

Replaced a balance-column wallet with an append-only double-entry ledger so every cent can be traced and every transfer is atomic.

SCALE

  • Peak load 40k transfers/s
  • Ledger size 9 billion entries
  • Accounts 120M

DATA MODEL

accounts(id, currency, created_at)
entries(id, txn_id, account_id, amount_minor, direction)
transactions(id, idempotency_key UNIQUE, posted_at)
-- partitioned by account_id hash, 256 shards
-- invariant: SUM(amount_minor) per txn_id = 0

TRADE-OFFS

CHOSE
Append-only entries with derived balances
OVER
Mutable balance column
BECAUSE
Auditors can replay history and concurrent updates never overwrite each other.
CHOSE
Shard by account id
OVER
Shard by transaction id
BECAUSE
Balance reads stay on one shard, and cross-shard transfers use a two-step outbox.

RESULTS

Reconciliation breaks 212/month → 3/month

p99 write latency 320ms → 45ms

Read Priya's three write-ups in the live builder →

04 · EXPERIENCE

“Improved performance” is not an impact.

Each role on your timeline needs at least one impact bullet, and Backplane checks that every bullet has a number in it. If it doesn't, you'll see the prompt the app shows: Add a number that shows the impact.

  1. Lumen Pay · Staff Backend Engineer

    Apr 2021 – Present

    Led the ledger rewrite that cut monthly reconciliation breaks from 212 to 3.

  2. Northwind Commerce · Senior Backend Engineer

    Jun 2017 – Mar 2021 · 3 yrs 10 mos

    Built the streaming indexing pipeline that brought search freshness from 24 hours to 4 seconds.

  3. Quickcart · Backend Engineer

    Jul 2013 – May 2017 · 3 yrs 11 mos

    Shipped the order API serving 3M requests a day.

Sorted for you: current roles first, then newest.

05 · STACK

Depth at a glance, not a logo wall.

Add each technology with a category, a level and, if you like, years. Backplane places it on the grid, with APIs, databases, caches, messaging, languages and infrastructure against Core, Production and Familiar. You never arrange a table by hand.

Priya Raman's stack
Core Production Familiar
API REST · 10y gRPC · 6y
Database PostgreSQL · 11y Elasticsearch · 5y
Cache Redis · 9y
Messaging Kafka · 7y RabbitMQ · 2y
Language Go · 8y Java · 6y
Infrastructure Kubernetes · 5y Terraform · 3y

06 · THEMES

One document. Three ways to wear it.

Pick a theme above the preview and the export uses it. The preview is the export, because the same stylesheet renders both.

Near-black console with monospace headings and a phosphor-green accent.

Terminal: Near-black console with monospace headings and a phosphor-green accent.

priya-raman.html

Priya Raman

Staff Backend Engineer

Bengaluru, India · GitHub · LinkedIn

About · System Design · Stack · Experience

ABOUT

About

I design and run the payment, traffic and search systems that other teams build on. Twelve years in, I still like the unglamorous parts: idempotency keys, backpressure and a clean runbook.

SYSTEM DESIGN

System Design

Double-entry payments ledger

Replaced a balance-column wallet with an append-only double-entry ledger so every cent can be traced and every transfer is atomic.

Peak load 40k transfers/sLedger size 9 billion entriesAccounts 120M

p99 write latency 320ms → 45ms

Paper: Warm off-white page with serif headings and an ink-blue accent.

priya-raman.html

Priya Raman

Staff Backend Engineer

Bengaluru, India · GitHub · LinkedIn

About · System Design · Stack · Experience

ABOUT

About

I design and run the payment, traffic and search systems that other teams build on. Twelve years in, I still like the unglamorous parts: idempotency keys, backpressure and a clean runbook.

SYSTEM DESIGN

System Design

Double-entry payments ledger

Replaced a balance-column wallet with an append-only double-entry ledger so every cent can be traced and every transfer is atomic.

Peak load 40k transfers/sLedger size 9 billion entriesAccounts 120M

p99 write latency 320ms → 45ms

Blueprint: Deep navy drafting grid with white text and a cyan accent.

priya-raman.html

Priya Raman

Staff Backend Engineer

Bengaluru, India · GitHub · LinkedIn

About · System Design · Stack · Experience

ABOUT

About

I design and run the payment, traffic and search systems that other teams build on. Twelve years in, I still like the unglamorous parts: idempotency keys, backpressure and a clean runbook.

SYSTEM DESIGN

System Design

Double-entry payments ledger

Replaced a balance-column wallet with an append-only double-entry ledger so every cent can be traced and every transfer is atomic.

Peak load 40k transfers/sLedger size 9 billion entriesAccounts 120M

p99 write latency 320ms → 45ms

07 · TRY IT HERE

This is the actual builder. Go ahead.

Below is Backplane itself, running on this page. Choose Explore an example to open Priya's site, then edit a metric and watch the preview change. Anything you type stays in this browser.

backplane / app
Open it full screen →

Tip: on desktop, the editor, form and live preview sit side by side.

08 · OWNERSHIP

No accounts. No server. That's the point.

  • AUTOSAVE

    Saved in your browser.

    Every edit is written to local storage half a second after you stop typing, and the header tells you when it's saved.

  • HTML EXPORT

    One file, zero scripts.

    A self-contained site named after you (priya-raman.html) that you can drop on any static host or open offline.

  • RÉSUMÉ

    Print-ready, from the same data.

    Experience, skills and selected system design in neutral black on white. Save it as a PDF from the print dialog.

  • BACKUP

    JSON in, JSON out.

    Download a backup any time. An import is checked before it touches anything, and it asks before replacing your site.

READY WHEN YOU ARE

Your systems deserve a better write-up.

Start from scratch, or open Priya's example and make it yours. It takes about as long as a design review.

Open the builder

Free · No sign-up · Works offline once loaded