Igor Baiborodine

From Push to Pull: Completing Insurance Hub Phase 1 with CI/CD and GitOps

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

The previous article concluded with the system successfully running on Kubernetes, yet it still relied on a manual deployment model. While validating the cluster foundation and service manifests was a significant milestone, it also revealed a lingering operational gap: the platform had a Kubernetes runtime, but it lacked a Kubernetes-native delivery process.

Lift Completed, Now Shift: Making the Insurance Hub Kubernetes-Native (Enough)

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 08:00:00 -0400

The Insurance Hub migration continues. Following Phase 1’s “lift” —provisioning clusters and infrastructure—we are now focusing on the “shift” required to make the legacy system run on this new foundation. This article summarizes the targeted changes needed to move our existing Java services into Kubernetes.

From Docker Compose to Kubernetes: Lifting the Insurance Hub into the Cloud

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 17:00:00 -0400

In the inaugural post of the “Insurance Hub: The Way to Go” series, I unveiled my ambitious strategy: modernizing a Java-based insurance system into a cloud-native Go application. With that roadmap firmly in place, the past two months have been dedicated to hands-on engineering, transitioning the vision from architectural diagrams to tangible implementation. This article chronicles the execution of Phase 1—a foundational “lift and shift” that establishes our new cloud environment.

From Java to Go: Kicking Off the Insurance Hub Transformation

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 17:00:00 -0400

After years spent mastering Go through books, hands-on exercises, and migrating my Campsite Booking API from Java, I’m setting out on my most ambitious project yet: transforming a Java-based insurance system into a modern, cloud-native Go application. This post marks the start of a comprehensive migration journey—one that will dive into every aspect of system modernization, from architecture redesign to deployment strategy.

Bilberry Hugo Theme: Summing Up the Year 2023

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 18:00:00 -0500

How quickly time flies. It seems that we recently summed up the results of 2022 for the Bilberry Hugo theme, but 2024 has already arrived, and again, it is time to take stock of what has been achieved over the past year.

Campsite Booking API : Revisited 3

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 06:45:03 -0500

Another year passed, and I decided to return to this project again and implement a new batch of improvements. So, continuing the series “Campsite Booking API (Java)” with this installment, I detail changes to the project and its current state.

Add Image Lightbox to Hugo Theme

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 16:40:06 -0400

If you need to add an image lightbox to your Hugo theme and have no idea how to approach it, read this article, where I present a simple and effective technique for achieving this. It is a continuation of the series “Hugo Theme Recipes”.

Bilberry Hugo Theme v4 Released!

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 07:43:00 -0400

The long-awaited v4 of the Bilberry Hugo theme that has been in the works for the last six months is finally released. The new release is a major version containing a few breaking changes and other essential improvements. In this post, I shed more light on v4 features and how they were implemented.

Bilberry Hugo Theme: Summing Up the Year 2022

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0500

In November 2021, I became the official maintainer of the Bilberry Hugo theme, and this post is a quick overview of how this theme has evolved in 2022.

Campsite Booking API : Revisited 2

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 07:53:35 -0400

It has been almost a year and a half since I published the article “Campsite Booking API: Revisited”. During this time, I kept the project up-to-date and implemented numerous improvements. So, in this article, which is the second part of the series “Campsite Booking API (Java)”, I describe in detail what was achieved and how.

Use Video Embeds in Hugo Theme

Thu, 12 May 2022 18:05:12 -0500

In this article, I will show how to handle video embedding when creating content for a Hugo-based website or enhancing a Hugo theme; it continues the series “Hugo Theme Recipes”.

Integrate Google Analytics with Hugo Theme

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 13:25:12 -0400

This article provides a quick recipe for integrating Google Analytics with a Hugo theme. Hugo comes with a group of built-in internal templates, including those required to use Google Analytics, and I’ll show you how to incorporate them into the Hugo theme.

Automate Data Upload to Algolia Index with GitHub Actions

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 17:56:13 -0500

In this post, you will find a ready-made recipe for automating the upload of index records to Algolia using GitHub Actions workflow. It complements my previously published “Automate Data Upload to Algolia Index” and “Automate Data Upload to Algolia Index: Revisited” articles.

Simplify Development and Testing with Bilberry Sandbox

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 07:55:47 -0500

After becoming an official maintainer of the Bilberry theme a few months ago, I was faced with the problem of how to facilitate and speed up the testing of changes submitted by other contributors. I felt that just testing in my local dev wasn’t enough and that I needed a production-like environment with a website powered by a vanilla Bilberry theme.

Therefore, I created the Bilberry Sandbox, which helps me develop, test, and maintain the Bilberry theme. So this post details this new testing environment and its use in my development process.

Install Hugo on Ubuntu

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 08:00:50 -0500

In this post, I will show how to install Hugo on Ubuntu in three different ways.

Use Aliases to Redirect Old URLs

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 08:14:54 -0400

This article provides a quick guide to using Hugo aliases to redirect old URLs when reworking already published content.

Configure Custom Domain and HTTPS in Netlify : Revisited

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 07:53:45 -0400

After publishing the article “Configure Custom Domain and HTTPS in Netlify”, one reader asked in the comments if the same instructions could be used to set up a custom subdomain. So in this post, I expand on my answer.

GitHub Actions in Action

Fri, 07 May 2021 07:11:44 -0400

After trying to use GitHub Actions for the first time in my Campsite Booking API project, I migrated three more projects to GitHub Actions. In this article, I want to share my experience in automating software development workflows in GitHub repositories.

Automate Data Upload to Algolia Index : Revisited

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 07:46:59 -0500

Updated on 2025-08-06

I recently made some changes to the automated upload of data to Algolia; namely, the script that reads and sends data to the appropriate index has been reimplemented using Algolia’s JavaScript API client. In this post, which is an addition to the original post on this topic, I go into detail about JavaScript implementation and upload automation with npm.

Campsite Booking API : Revisited

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 08:00:01 -0500

Originally the Campsite Booking API project was a coding challenge for a developer position I applied to at Upgrade Inc.. Back then, in 2018, the coding challenge was followed by a series of interviews, but in the end, I didn’t receive an offer. I recently revisited this project, and in this post, I go over the various improvements and new features that have been implemented.

kiroule.com: Summing Up After 6 Months

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 22:00:56 -0500

It’s been 6 months since the inception of my website, kiroule.com, and it’s time to take stock. On 29th April, I published my first article, “Start Blogging With GitHub, Hugo, and Netlify.” Since then, I’ve published seven more articles while starting two series: “Building Your Blog, the Geeky Way” and “Hugo Theme Recipes.”

Prepare for Certification Exam with Quizlet

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 22:07:24 -0400

Here are the links to flashcard study sets I created on Quizlet to prepare for the following certification exams:

Add Table of Contents to Hugo Theme

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 08:08:54 -0400

This post introduces another enhancement to a Hugo theme - the Table of Contents (TOC). It’s based on Hugo’s built-in ability to parse Markdown content and generate a table of contents that can be used in templates. This article is the second one in the series “Hugo Theme Recipes”.

Add Series Taxonomy to Hugo Theme

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 07:00:02 -0400

In this post, I will show you how to implement a series taxonomy in a Hugo-based theme. The presented solution is based on Hugo’s built-in support for user-defined groupings of content. With this post, I am starting a new series called “Hugo Theme Recipes”, where I will share various how-tos on adding new features to a Hugo-based theme or enhancing existing ones.

Manage Environment-Specific Settings for Hugo-Based Website

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 08:48:43 -0400

In this post, I describe how I migrated the configuration of my site from a single config file with placeholders to the Hugo way of managing environment-specific settings, namely the “Configuration Directory” method. This article is the fifth part of the series “Building Your Blog, the Geeky Way”.

Multi-Variant Docker Images for Liferay Portal Community Edition

Thu, 25 Jun 2020 06:20:46 -0400

In this article, I elaborate on one of my pet projects, which was part of preparations for the Docker Certified Associate exam. You will be presented with detailed information about the initial implementation and some refactorings that have been done recently.

Automate Data Upload to Algolia Index

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 06:24:20 -0400

This post summarizes how to automate the manual upload of index records to Algolia if you use Netlify to host your website. With this enhancement, every time you add new or update existing content, it will be automatically indexed and uploaded to Algolia. This article is the fourth part of the series “Building Your Blog, the Geeky Way”.

Please read this post if you want to use JavaScript/npm-based implementation.

Add Favicon to Hugo-Based Website

Tue, 12 May 2020 08:19:56 -0400

In this third article of the series, we continue enhancing the website that we created earlier. This time I will demonstrate you how to generate a favicon image set and integrate it with a website implemented with Hugo.

Configure Custom Domain and HTTPS on Netlify

Tue, 05 May 2020 06:31:46 -0400

In the previous post, I showed you how to create a Hugo-based website and deploy it on Netlify. It’s time to make some improvements, namely, configure DNS records, set up a custom domain and enable HTTPS.

Start Blogging With Hugo, GitHub and Netlify

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 19:47:04 -0400

By this post, I start a series where I share my experience in how to start a journey as a blogger from a technical perspective. This tutorial will show you how to set up from scratch a blog using Hugo, GitHub and Netlify.