./about

With Don Rossa at Comic Con Thessaloniki 2019
(with Don Rosa at The Comic Con Thessaloniki 2019)

Hello. Thank you for stopping by. I am Apostolos Kritikos, a Critical Engineer with a passion for new technologies and all things open. I am an advocate of Open Source Software, Open Data and Open Government and an active supporter of an Open & Inclusive World Wide Web. I love coffee, listening to music / podcasts, reading books / comics and doing the lindy hop (swing dancing).

🔭 I am currently building SaaS at Toggl.

TL;DR:

  • ✨ I am a fellow of the European forum of the software research community; received funding for advocating for the future of Open Source Software.
  • ✨ I am a fellow of the State Scholarships Foundation (ΙΚΥ), Greece; received funding for my Doctoral Research on Software Resilience and Open Source Software.
  • 🎤 Participated as a speaker at major international events such as OSS Conference, re:publica, Wordcamp Athens.
  • 🌱 Supported the EUvsVirus Hackathon as a volunteer mentor and matchmaker.
  • 🇪🇺 Participated in the preliminary study for the Open source software strategy 2020-2023 of the European Union, a project led by the European Commission.
  • 🌱 Curated the Open Coffee Thessaloniki Meetups for nearly 10 years, supporting the local entrepreneurial community.
  • 🛰 Participated in 10 Research & Development projects for 10+ years funded by the European Union.
  • 🏬 Worked in 150+ software projects for the private sector in 10+ years. Started as a freelancer, then founded a small software house that turned to a 12 person digital solutions agency (e-commerce – marketing – advertising). Exited in 2022 to re-focus purely on software engineering.

Open Source Software

The first time I heard about Open Source Software (OSS) was in 2001. But I really started getting a grasp of its true potential and actively working with it in 2005, during the 3rd year of my bachelor studies in the School of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Nowadays OSS is considered mainstream globally and I couldn’t be more happy. It has been the running force of all my professional endeavors, has fueled my academic research and makes my digital life easier every day.

Work

I started working as a software / web developer circa 2006. Back then developers were considered swiss knives so during the early years of my career I worked on IT support, networks, software / web development and research oriented ICT projects. It was amazing and I learnt tons of stuff about the profession.

In 2011 I founded a two-person software house with the aim of getting bigger contracts from being a solopreneur. In 2014 our little software house evolved to Social Mind, a web applications and digital marketing agency that is growing ever since. This journey came to end (for me, the company continues to grow) during 2022 when I exited Social Mind’s board of shareholders. I am currently serving as an Engineering Team Lead at Toggl, helping to provide the best time tracking and project management experience online. If you or your team are interested in high quality time tracking, project planning or hiring, I highly recommend that you give Toggl a try!

Research

After getting my Bachelor’s degree in Informatics, I completed a Master’s degree in Informational Systems. Today I am doing research on a PhD level with the School of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the fields of Open Source Software Engineering and Software Resilience. 

Academic Research has been professionally enhancing me with extremely useful skills for the last decade. Analytical thinking, out of the box design, agile methodologies, fact checking mechanisms, test first design approaches are only a select few.

See also: Google Scholar, DBLP, ORCID, Research Gate

Support & Voluntary Work

I am trying to support the following tech, business and / or innovation oriented networks, organizations or charities, either financially or with voluntary work: Open Coffee Club Greece, WordPress.org, Archive.org, MyData.org, World Wide Web Foundation, Mozilla Open Leaders, EUvsVirus.

I am also a proud signatory / supporter of:

Speaking & Press

I was honored to have been invited to talk and to have received some publicity over the years. Here are some selected items.

Speaking

Open Source Systems Conference 2020.
WordCamp Athens 2017: Challenges in Integrating ERP Systems With WooCommerce E-shops.
re:publica 2017: Open Data in Smart Cities – Enabling Citizens’ Participation.

You can find the whole list featuring both Greek and International speaking engagements here!

Press

You can find the whole list featuring both Greek and International press here!