Colin Finck
Software Engineer at ReactOS Foundation
Zürich Metropolitan Area Switzerland
Summary
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Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolColin Finck is a seasoned software engineer with 19 years of experience specializing in low-level systems, OS development and reverse engineering, based in the Zürich area. He has driven core kernel and user-mode improvements for ReactOS for over a decade while also porting and advancing a Rust-based unikernel (HermitCore) across x86-64 and AArch64, showcasing deep expertise in memory management, SMP, and syscall frameworks. At ENLYZE he bridged legacy industrial PLCs to modern data platforms with C++ and Rust, led hardware platform transitions, and introduced multi-platform DevOps and firmware management practices. Colin combines hands-on kernel craftsmanship with project leadership—he founded a nonprofit to support ReactOS, led its SVN→Git migration, and built its cross-platform build environment—demonstrating both technical depth and open-source stewardship. He is unusually fluent at bringing Rust into systems traditionally dominated by C/C++, making him a strong candidate for roles that require modernizing foundational software stacks.
18 years of coding experience
6 years of employment as a software developer
Master of Science (M.Sc.), Electrical Engineering, Information Technology and Computer Engineering, Master of Science (M.Sc.), Electrical Engineering, Information Technology and Computer Engineering at RWTH Aachen University
Stackoverflow
1reputation
0reached
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Github Skills (24)
debugging10
debug10
multithreading10
wp-api10
memory-management10
os-development10
c1110
winapi10
c1710
kernel10
system-calls10
kernel-mode10
arm10
rust10
ws-api10
Programming languages (17)
Github contributions (5)
hermit-os/kernel
Oct 2017 - Aug 2018
A Rust-based, lightweight unikernel.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer & System Architect
Back-end Developer & System ArchitectContributions:332 commits, 54 pushes, 2 comments in 9 months
Contributions summary:Colin primarily focused on low-level kernel development, contributing significantly to the HermitCore operating system. They implemented essential components like the Memory Manager, multi-core support including an SMP boot process, and threading APIs. They also integrated a networking stack and built a new framework for handling system calls. The user's work involved a transition from x86-64 to AArch64 architecture, demonstrating a deep understanding of system-level programming.
kerneloperating-systemscloud-computinghigh-performance-computingoperating-system
reactos/reactos
Dec 2017 - Feb 2018
A free Windows-compatible Operating System
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:46 reviews, 2 commits, 77 PRs in 2 months
Contributions summary:Colin's contributions focused on enhancing the ReactOS operating system's core functionality by implementing and modifying functionalities related to printing support. The commits involve improvements in code clarity, functionality, and efficiency through the utilization of default parameters and by ensuring the use of specific file flags to prevent data loss, which may suggest optimizations for the system's print spooler service and underlying hardware. The contributions also involved adding new printing program components such as a little test program named "winspool_print". Moreover, the user has contributed to making the test functions correctly with various operating systems.
driverskernelreactoswindowsgpl
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