🧐 About
Hello and welcome to my personal website! My name is Marvin Elsen, and I am an imaginative, ambitious, and inquisitive builder of digital things, maker, tinkerer, developer, and technologist devoted to using my skills and expertise to create a better and safer world. As a result of my natural inexhaustible thirst for knowledge, I possess a comprehensive and profound expertise in various disciplines.
I currently reside in Taipei, Taiwan and study Mandarin Chinese full-time at a language center.
Want to know more? Continue reading about me at the bottom of the page.
✉️ Contact
Email contact is preferred.
My email address is contact@marvin-elsen.com and my PGP key's fingerprint is 66F0 60EE 7995 33F9 6EEC 8F73 F09A ABD4 0089 5DB8
You can also reach me on the following platforms:
🧰 Skills and Expertise
I am a state-certified assistant for IT-systems with main focus on software development, and I graduated with distinction (1.1 German GPA) from the University of Applied Sciences Trier with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science.
My skills and expertise include, but are not limited to:
- Full-stack software development
- Programming in Java, Python, Solidity, Delphi, GDScript and Linden Scripting Language
- Linux command-line on Arch Linux via the xonsh shell
- Mastery of the vim texteditor
- Cybersecurity, internet privacy and data protection
- Cryptography (PGP, AES, RSA, elliptic curves, etc.)
- Development of Smart Contracts on the Ethereum blockchain
- Web development in HTML and CSS
- Application of Big-Data technologies, like Apache Hadoop, Docker, Kubernetes and Neo4J
- Design and implementation of GUIs in JavaFX, GTK and Qt
- Intermediate Mandarin Chinese (TOCFL Level 4, CEFR B2, ACTFL Advanced Mid)
- 3D-modelling using Blender
- Game development with Godot
- Texture creation and image manipulation using GIMP
- Writing documents in Markdown, AsciiDoc and LaTeX
- Creation and management of flashcards using Anki
- Editing audio using Audacity and ffmpeg
🚧 Projects
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Pleco Dictionary
- Elegance - Zim Desktop Wiki HTML Export Template
- Pandoc Letter Template (DIN 5008)
- Virtual Store in the Second Life Metaverse
🌌 About Me (The Sequel)
I live and breathe digital creation and technology, and I feel socially responsible to use my skills and knowledge to improve people's lives. In my life, I have benefited greatly from the work of others who have given of themselves for the benefit of everyone, and I feel I owe my work to others as repayment. I care deeply about this earth, all those I share this planet with, and the countless who will share it after I am gone. I wish for my work to have an enduring and sustainable impact, and to be part of a mission to transform the world and make it a safer and better place. As such, I focus my energy on innovation and progress.
I am ambitious and goal-oriented and apply the full force of my insight, logic, and willpower to every project I start, and won't stop until I have achieved my own definition of success. As such, I consider it to be important to constantly evolve, and tackle and ultimately solve new challenges and problems. In fact, problem solving is my forte, and my unconstrained determination and high standards for myself help me to fulfill my relentless desire to get to the bottom of things, cut through the noise and figure out the true cause of a problem - and then devise an inventive solution to fix it. It's exactly this desire that allows me to transform complex principles into clear, actionable strategies.
When it comes to fostering the mind, I am dedicated to developing rational, correct, and evidence-based opinions rather than hunches or half-baked assumptions. My conclusions are solely based on research and analysis. However, when the facts prove me wrong, I am happy to revise my opinion.
In my quest to find better ways of doing things, I value making my own discoveries and am not afraid to break the rules. There is no doubt about the value of conventional wisdom and our predecessor's paths taken, but at the same time, I consider it to be important to challenge old ways of thinking and try to be an agent of change. My open-mindedness, outside-the-box thinking, and insatiable curiosity act as natural tinder for my love to explore and experiment with new ideas.