About
About Dan Podina
Dan Podina is a software architect in Cluj-Napoca, Romania: twenty years in backend systems, GraphQL and Go specialist, founder of SystemTrails, creator of LabraGo and lead architect of Sabra.
Why architecture
The interesting problems are in the spaces between things: where one service trusts another, where two copies of the same fact drift apart, where a retry turns into a duplicate payment. Twenty years of building and rescuing backends taught me that those spaces are where systems fail, and that they are also where a small, early decision saves a very large, late one.
That is the work: making the boundaries explicit, the data honest and the failure modes known, then writing it down so the next engineer can see it too.
Where I have done it
Healthcare (clinical trials, EHR integration, HL7 and FHIR, HIPAA and 21 CFR Part 11), payments (PCI-DSS Level 1), insurance and enterprise SaaS (SOC 2), and open source. I created LabraGo, an MIT-licensed Go and GraphQL backend platform, and I am the lead architect of Sabra, the club management product built on it. In 2026 I founded SystemTrails to give teams that built fast with AI a fast, honest way to find out whether it holds.
How to work with me
Start with a free 30-minute call. Bring the diagram you are worried about, or the decision you cannot make. If I can help, you get a written scope with deliverables, timeline and price before anything starts. I am based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and work remotely with clients in Europe and the United States.
How I work
- Boundaries first
- A system you can explain in five boxes is a system you can change. Most problems I am hired for are boundaries that leaked.
- Types are contracts
- Schema-first APIs and typed services catch the expensive class of bugs before production. The compiler is the cheapest reviewer you have.
- Measure, then optimize
- Sub-100 ms is a design outcome, not a wish. Profile the path that matters, fix the specific thing, prove it with a benchmark.
- Teach while solving
- Every engagement leaves the team able to make the next decision without me. Documentation that matches reality is part of the deliverable.
Ways to engage
Advisory
Reviews, designs and decisions. One to two weeks of focused work, written deliverables, a walkthrough.
Fixed scope
A migration playbook, a compliance gap analysis, an MCP platform design: scoped, priced and delivered as a unit.
Retainer
Ongoing architecture support and code review, monthly, with implementation through senior engineers I have shipped with for years.
What I build and run
- SystemTrails
- Productized architecture reviews for AI-built products. Free 72-hour teardown, then hardening sprints and ongoing oversight. Start here if you built fast with AI.
- Labra
- Open-source Go and GraphQL backend platform and headless CMS. MIT licensed. The platform under Sabra and the reference for how I structure Go services.
- Sabra
- Club management SaaS built on Labra. Multi-tenant fencing and club management, one tenant per club at <slug>.sabra.club.
- danpodina.com
- Personal site and log. Design notes, the log, and the longer biography.