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Phil Diegmann
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Curriculum vitae

Phil Diegmann

Hands-On Software Engineer & Coach · TypeScript · React · Python · SQL · LLM workflows

    Profile

    Software engineer with a PhD in Information Systems. From 2008 to 2017 I built production software, largely freelance and alongside my studies, and led a small development team. Since then I have built the data pipelines and tooling behind my research on how human and AI actors work together in software development, mostly in TypeScript and Python, and I still write code every week, most recently a SolidJS web application for LLM-assisted feedback. In parallel I have coached people for years: more than 86 bachelor’s and master’s theses supervised through regular 1:1s and structured feedback, student development teams coached through agile projects, and practitioner courses for Zurich Group Germany. I am looking for a role in which most of my time goes into designing, building and shipping production frontend code for complex business data, and the rest into helping other engineers grow.

    Technical skills

    Languages
    TypeScript / JavaScript and Python (primary working languages); SQL. Previously: Java, C#/.NET.
    Frontend
    React, SolidJS, Tailwind CSS. Built FeedForward, a SolidJS web application with a BPMN modelling workbench, an instructor review console and an admin UI with diff-before-import. Taught React and Tailwind CSS in a two-week crash course and coached student teams in building working prototypes.
    Coaching and mentoring
    Supervised 86+ bachelor’s and master’s theses since 2015 through regular 1:1s, written feedback and final assessments, favouring guidance on method and worked examples over ready-made solutions; onboarding, code reviews and pairing for the developers who joined my team; coaching of student development teams; design and delivery of practitioner courses.
    Engineering practice
    Git workflows; automated quality gates for human- and agent-written code (tests, ruff, mypy strict, hk git hooks); uv; mise; Scrum and agile project management with GitLab (sprints, epics, boards).
    AI and LLM systems
    Daily work with Claude and other LLMs, including coding agents and local open-weight models; LLM-as-judge pipelines with validation against human expert ratings; prompt and rubric design; human-in-the-loop feedback workflows. Statistical and network modelling (relational event models, SEM); text mining.
    Data and backend
    PostgreSQL, SQLite and document databases; REST and platform APIs (GitHub, GitLab, Jira); scraping and data acquisition; multi-source extraction, cleaning and reconciliation pipelines; pseudonymisation for linking datasets without re-identification.
    Infrastructure
    Linux, Docker, Kubernetes (self-run Talos cluster across home nodes and a cloud VPS), Authentik as identity provider for single sign-on, Cloudflare Tunnels and Workers, networking and DNS, SOPS/age secrets management.

    Experience

    1. Researcher (Tenure-Track Senior Researcher)

      04/2023 – present

      University of Bremen, Germany

      • Built FeedForward, an LLM-assisted formative feedback web application for my business process management course (Bun, SolidJS, Drizzle/SQLite): a BPMN workbench for students with deterministic pre-checks, an instructor console to confirm or reject AI-suggested findings, and a release gate so that no feedback reaches students unapproved. First live course run in winter 2026/27.
      • Build and run the data infrastructure for my research: Python and TypeScript pipelines that pull GitHub, GitLab and Jira data through platform APIs, reconcile it across sources and load it into event sequences for statistical models.
      • Built a metrics tool that analyses student teams’ GitLab repositories for course assessment (Python; uv, ruff, mypy strict, hk git hooks).
      • Building a pipeline in which LLM judges annotate a dataset of BPMN process models against task text, generated rubrics and reference solutions; the judges are validated against human expert ratings before their labels become fine-tuning data for a fast grading model.
      • Leading the trace-data collection and quantitative analysis in an industry study of how AI coding tools affect developer productivity and satisfaction; designed the pseudonymisation scheme that links survey responses to the partner’s Jira and GitLab data without re-identifying individuals.
      • Sole owner of six English-taught courses, including project courses run on GitLab with agile workflows, in which I coach student teams through sprints, reviews and peer feedback; co-founder of the Business Innovation & Transformation (bit) Institute.

    2. Coach and Academic Expert

      2023; 2024

      University of Cologne Business School × Zurich Group Germany

      Co-designed and delivered practitioner courses on digital product development, business process management and agile methods.

    3. Postdoctoral Researcher; Research and Teaching Assistant

      09/2017 – 03/2023

      University of Cologne, Germany

      • Capstone Project (agile software development): coached student teams through building working prototypes; designed and ran a two-week crash course in modern web development (React, Tailwind CSS) for them.
      • Owned the data collection and preparation pipeline for a study of task allocation and release cycles in open-source software development, and contributed substantially to interpreting the findings on developer habits and behaviour (MIS Quarterly, 2024).
      • DFG-funded project DigiAct on digital actors in healthcare (with KIT and University Hospital Cologne); drafted most of the successful renewal proposal. Visiting lecturer at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (remote, 2020–2022).
      • Database Systems: taught SQL and relational databases. Moved both courses to flipped online formats with digital assessment; both formats were kept after the pandemic.
      • Central contact for industry partners: led the acquisition of four fellowships (partners included the insurer Gothaer, EY, and BCG Platinion) and co-secured €30,000 for a student digital lab.

    4. Software Developer and Agile Trainer (self-employed)

      08/2012 – 12/2017

      Cologne, Germany

      • Led the migration of a proprietary B2B task-management and location-tracking application from Windows Embedded CE to Android, rolled out to several hundred devices; as the team grew from myself alone to four developers, I onboarded the new developers, reviewed their code and paired with them, and introduced Scrum in the development organisation.
      • Web and mobile application development for further clients (e.g., FRJSH GmbH & Co. KG); agile coaching for small and medium-sized companies. Part-time alongside my studies, about 20–25 hours per week.

    5. Student Developer

      02/2011 – 02/2014

      University of Cologne, Germany

      Web and iOS development for an e-learning platform.

    6. Software Developer

      04/2008 – 02/2011

      Webergy Internet Software AG, Lindlar, Germany

      Designed and built web-scraping and data-acquisition applications that fed a price-comparison platform.

    Projects

    • Self-hosted platform. Kubernetes (Talos) cluster spanning home nodes and a cloud VPS, with Authentik SSO, CoreDNS/Blocky DNS, Cloudflare Tunnels and Workers, and SOPS/age-encrypted configuration.
    • EV trip planner. Route planner with OSM/GraphHopper routing, elevation and weather data, a physics-based energy model and charging-stop optimisation (OR-Tools, NetworkX). In progress.
    • Energy data integration. Collector that pulls consumption data from my electricity provider’s (Ellevio) API into SQLite; Home Assistant integration for the energy dashboard in progress.

    Education

    1. PhD (Dr. rer. pol.), Information Systems

      2021

      University of Cologne, Germany. Dissertation on psychological safety in agile software development teams.

    2. M.Sc. and B.Sc., Information Systems

      2010–2015

      University of Cologne, Germany. Scholarship holder of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes).

    Selected research and recognition

    Journals
    • MIS Quarterly (2024, with Lindberg, Schecter, Berente, Lyytinen)
    • Project Management Journal (2021, 2017)
    Recognition
    • Best Paper Award, HICSS 2020
    • Best Paper Award, IRWITPM 2015
    Editorial
    • Six-time associate editor at ICIS, ECIS and WI
    Metrics
    • 26 publications, 936 citations (Google Scholar)

    Languages

    • German (native)
    • English (fluent, my working language in teaching since 2017)
    • Swedish (learning)
    • French (basic)