About me
Hi, I'm Cem.
Designer, developer, IT specialist — and the reason comnerds has no departments, but one person who holds everything together.
01
It started with pencils that never lasted
My uncle could draw, really well, and as a child I watched him for hours and then went at it myself. So much that my parents constantly had to buy new pencils. At some point a camera came along, a gift for a holiday so I could bring back a few memories. But on that very trip I understood something that has stayed with me ever since: a photo shows exactly what I want to show — and nothing of what lies to the left or right of it. I could capture a moment and stop time. That fascinated me, and it still does. The creative path was set long before I knew you could earn a living from it.
02
Then came the computer — and broke a few times
With my first own computer the second side awoke: the curious one that wants to know how things work. I started with Windows, turned to Linux early and wrecked the system completely more than once. Each time I set it up again and understood more than before. Learning by doing, in the most literal sense. Later the Mac came along, and the deeper I got into the technology, the clearer it became that design and technology are not two professions for me but two sides of the same curiosity. To this day I build nothing I do not understand — and design nothing without knowing how it feels to use it.
03
Training, A-levels, art director — and then fully on my own feet
I trained as a design technical assistant at the Richard Riemerschmid vocational college in Cologne's Südstadt. Afterwards I caught up on my A-levels — not because I had to, but because I wanted to keep every door open. That was a good decision. I was self-employed right after my training, with the first clients of my own, and worked as an art director alongside, sometimes full-time, sometimes part-time. Two of those years I spent as an IT systems technician at a systems house, with servers, networks and workstations that simply have to run. Over time my own clients grew and the employment mattered less, until switching to full self-employment was just the logical next step. To get fully to the bottom of the technical side, I began a degree in media informatics at Hochschule Düsseldorf and am close to graduating.
04
What clients say about me
Uncomplicated, fast, fair — and “he somehow does everything”. I am pleased by sentences like that, but they are not what I am after. What pleases me most is when my work changes something you can measure. A beautician, for example, has noticeably more time for her actual work thanks to her new booking system, tangibly more revenue and clients who suit her better. She looks after her craft, the technology runs in the background. That is exactly why I do this.
- „Uncomplicated“
- „Fast“
- „Fair“
- „Somehow does everything“
05
When I am not working
I take photographs and travel — the two combine wonderfully, and they have taken me to Japan, South Africa and Oman. I breakdance and coach kids, swim once a week and go to the gym. And the nerdy side gets its place: pen-and-paper role-playing with friends, the occasional big game — on Linux, of course — and chess, which has really got hold of me in recent years.
Principles
What I stand for — and what I don't do
01
Honest in what I offer
I recommend what you need, not what earns me the most. If a simpler solution is enough, I say so. Access, domains and data belong to you — I build no dependencies that you can only escape with me. A collaboration should last because it is good, not because switching would be too expensive.
02
Discreet with what I see
Anyone who entrusts me with servers, mailboxes and access entrusts me with a lot. Credentials are stored encrypted and never passed on by insecure means. What I see while working stays with me — even after an assignment ends.
03
Clear about my tools
I use AI tools where they make the work better or faster — researching, writing, coding. What comes out of them, I check and take responsibility for. No text, no code and no design reaches you without my having read it, understood it and found it good.
04
Equal in how I treat people
Origin, religion, gender, age, sexuality — none of it makes a difference to me, neither with clients nor with the people I work with. Whoever sits across from me gets the same work, the same tone and the same price. My client list is the proof: from gynaecologist to nightclub, from parish to software company.
05
Clear about the line
What I do not do: work for organisations that spread racism, antisemitism, homophobia or other forms of hostility towards people, or for extremist movements — of whatever political or religious direction. This line holds without exception.
06
What I don't do
No projects from crypto trading, no gambling, no arms trade, no political parties and no cease-and-desist or spam businesses. Not because I couldn't — but because I want to stand behind what carries my name.