I'm Ivan — born in Dresden, and the short version is: I love servers, security, and understanding how things actually work underneath.
I never learned any of this in a company. Everything I know came from doing it myself — breaking things in my homelab, running my own servers, self-hosting whatever I could, reading until it clicked, and taking on freelance clients who trusted me to get it right. That self-taught path started the day I passed LPIC-1, which opened the door to the whole world of Linux, servers, self-hosting, and eventually networking.
A big part of why I do this is privacy and digital sovereignty — owning your own data, running your own services, and not handing everything to bloated platforms you don't control. Self-hosting, zero-cookie websites, lean setups: it's all the same belief that you should be in charge of your own corner of the internet.
I also love web design and building websites — not the WordPress kind, but clean, fast, properly-built sites from the ground up. It turns out the same person who hardens a server can also make a genuinely good website, and I enjoy both ends of that.
And I write and teach what I learn. This whole site exists for that reason: practical tutorials, guides, and written courses that make Linux, servers, and security approachable — the explanations I wish I'd had when I started.
One more thing I care about getting right: I use AI the right way now — to optimize my workflows and speed up my learning, as a tool that sharpens real skills rather than replaces them. Used well, it lets me move faster and go deeper, without becoming a crutch.
These days I'm studying Cybersecurity at BHT Berlin, deepening the security side of what I'd already been living. And most of what I build now points at one idea I care about a lot:
Most businesses use WordPress wrong — and it starts with the wrong host. They end up with slow, insecure, unoptimized websites, often because they never needed WordPress in the first place. So I'm building the fix from both ends. Webccino helps businesses who were never really "WordPress users" leave it behind — because they needed a website, not a CMS. And hostccino (my dream project, coming later) is proper hosting for the people who genuinely do need WordPress, done the right way.
Before building all that, I got my CCNA — I wanted to really understand how the internet works before launching a hosting company, not just stand on top of abstractions. That journey taught me far more than I expected, especially around wireless and WiFi.
Where I'm from
Both my parents are Syrian. I was born in Dresden, raised in Syria until I was 15, and I carry both with me — there's a German part of me and a Syrian part, and I'm proud of both. I speak German, English, and Arabic. Dresden is home; I genuinely love this city and don't ever plan to leave it.
Certifications
- CCNA — Cisco Certified Network Associate · earned May 2026 · verify
- LPIC-1 — Linux Professional Institute Certified · earned Feb 2023 · verify
- Linux Essentials — Linux Professional Institute · earned Aug 2022
What I work with
Operating systems & servers Ubuntu (my daily driver), Apache, NGINX
DevOps & automation Docker (almost daily), Ansible, Bash scripting
Security Server hardening, UFW (custom setups + scripts), iptables, nftables
Networking CCNA-level networking, home network configuration, helping small Dresden businesses set up their routers properly — putting the CCNA knowledge to real use
Programming Python and Bash today. Learned and used C#, C, C++, and Java in the past.
Web & design Building clean, fast, properly-coded websites (no WordPress bloat) — I enjoy the design side as much as the systems side.
Working with AI Using AI deliberately to optimize workflows and accelerate learning — as a tool that sharpens real skills, not a replacement for them.
What I'm doing now
Right now my focus is on the ccino ecosystem — building Webccino (web design that ditches WordPress for the people who never needed it) and Educcino (a Nachhilfe tutoring academy in Dresden for students supported through BuT), studying Cybersecurity, and laying the groundwork for hostccino down the line.
See what I'm currently focused on → Now
Say hello
- Email — hello@ivansalloum.com
- Instagram — @ivansalloum
Want my CV as a PDF? Download it here.