Alp Bolukbasi
Karlsruhe, DE

M.Sc. Computer Science @ KIT : hardware-aware systems engineer

somewhere between the debugger and the datasheet

01 // Profile

M.Sc. Computer Science student at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), focused on hardware-aware systems software, embedded systems, FPGA/HLS workflows, low-level debugging, and reliable infrastructure.

Systems-oriented engineer with 5+ years of professional experience in Linux-based systems, network automation, DevOps, distributed telecom infrastructure, and production debugging. Current technical direction: computer architecture, embedded systems, FPGA/RTL, RISC-V, hardware security, accelerators, and hardware/software co-design.

02 // Experience

Student Assistant (HiWi) KIT Chair for Embedded Systems (CES) May 2026 – Present · Karlsruhe, Germany
  • Contributing to the Customized Embedded Processors Lab, rewrite focused on HLS-based accelerator development.
  • Designed and updated FPGA/HLS lab infrastructure, Vitis/Vivado workflows, hardware/software interfaces, and student-facing documentation.
  • Worked with Verilog, C, Vitis HLS, Vivado, embedded processors, and reproducible lab bring-up flows.
IP Integration Engineer Nokia Dec 2023 – Sep 2025 · Istanbul, Turkey
  • Built Python network/systems automation for configuration, validation, and integration workflows on carrier-grade routing platforms.
  • Supported large-scale network migrations across Nokia 7705, IXR 7250, and SR 7750 platforms in EMEA/APAC deployments.
  • Debugged Linux, Kubernetes, TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS, automation, and distributed deployment issues.
Integration Engineer Ericsson Oct 2022 – Dec 2023 · Istanbul, Turkey
  • Developed Python, Ansible, and shell tooling for telecom node integration, deployment, validation, and recovery workflows.
  • Troubleshot low-level connectivity, configuration, packet-flow, and Linux/networking issues in distributed deployment environments.
  • Hands-on Linux sessions and demonstrations delivered for the fellow graduates in the MMEA region (my manager encouraged and motivated me to do so)
DevOps Engineer Intern Huawei Jun 2022 – Sep 2022 · Istanbul, Turkey
  • Developed Go, Bash, and Ansible automation for network performance validation, provisioning workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and Linux infrastructure checks.
Cyber Security Intern PwC Oct 2021 – Jun 2022 · Istanbul, Turkey
  • Built a cyber security risk maturity model to evaluate, score, and visualize the security posture of a multi-entity enterprise environment.
Network Security Engineer, Part-Time Turkcell Jul 2020 – Oct 2021 · Istanbul, Turkey
  • Supported firewall, load balancer, WAN/LAN, VPN, routing, and network security troubleshooting in production environments.

03 // Education

M.Sc. Computer Science Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Oct 2025 – Present · Karlsruhe, Germany
  • Focus: computer architecture, embedded systems, low-level systems, hardware/software co-design, security, and reliability.
  • Selected relevant coursework: Embedded Systems I/II, FPGA Programming Lab, Hardware-Efficient AI, Low Power Design, Practical Introduction to Hardware Security, Internet of Everything, IoT Lab.
B.Sc. Computer Science Ozyegin University 2017 – 2022 · Istanbul, Turkey
  • Graduation project: B-Auth, a blockchain-based authentication and authorization protocol for SDN controllers.

04 // Projects

Hardware Security FPGA Work
  • Implemented FPGA-based hardware security experiments using Verilog, UART, Python tooling, cocotb, and open-source FPGA flows.
  • Built an SRAM PUF readout flow on Lattice iCE40HX8K and analyzed repeated power-cycle captures for reliability, uniqueness, uniformity, and bit-aliasing.
  • Implemented AES-128 hardware modules including SubBytes, ShiftRows, MixColumns, AddRoundKey, key scheduling, and UART wrapper logic.
rv32i-mla — RISC-V / ML Accelerator Playground
  • Built a compact hardware/software co-design playground around a custom RV32I-subset processor and a fixed-function 4x4 int8 matrix multiplication accelerator.
  • Worked across Verilog RTL, FPGA integration, Python board bring-up, and C-side runtime interaction.
B-Auth — Blockchain-Based Authentication for SDN Controllers
  • Designed a decentralized authentication and authorization protocol for SDN controllers.
  • Integrated Python-based Ryu controllers with Go chaincode and performed formal verification tests with AVISPA.

05 // Skills

programming C, C++, Python, Go, Bash, Verilog, SystemVerilog basics, Rust basics
low-level / hardware FPGA, RTL design, HLS, RISC-V, accelerators, embedded C, STM32, UART, SoC concepts
systems Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, CMake, Make, GDB, Git, Ansible, CI/CD, automation, observability/debug workflows
networking TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS, routing platforms, distributed telecom infrastructure
languages Turkish native · English C1/professional fluency · German A2