About

Owner’s eye. Engineer’s hand. Quiet about the machinery.

I am Ondřej Podhorný. I co-founded a technology company and spent more than two decades building it, and a defining stretch of that work was in the defense industry — environments where a slow feedback loop is not an inconvenience, it is a risk.

That combination is the practice: the owner’s view of cost and throughput, the engineer’s view of build, test and runtime, and the patience to change only what pays back. I also teach .NET teams to use Marten and Wolverine as they are meant to be used — on their domain, not on a demo shop.

Outside the work I train the same discipline in the ring, and I have tested planning and risk on a solo motorcycle journey across the Arctic and Alaska.

The work before this practice.

Before this practice I worked in defense and simulation, as a lead developer, a product and project manager, and a technical director. The systems had to be correct, and the teams had to be able to run them.

Led core software development for the Czech Air Navigation Services (ŘíLP s.p.), delivering in a mission-critical environment where system reliability and precision were non-negotiable.

Architected and implemented key components of the Technical Information System (TIS), a foundational platform used by air traffic control engineers and technicians. Beyond system development, streamlined engineering workflows by building internal developer tooling and established the technical evaluation standards for hiring new programmers.

Drove engineering, system architecture, and technical product ownership across mission-critical simulation platforms in the defense sector.

Bridged deep C++/graphics programming with end-to-end delivery for complex training environments, working directly with international defense clients. Led technical development and execution across key domains: Remote Weapon Station (RWS) trainers, high-fidelity Air Traffic Control (ATC) image generation, and naval simulation interoperability.

Represented Saab's simulation portfolio at major global defense expos (I/ITSEC, DSEI, Eurosatory, ITEC), aligning engineering capabilities with operational military requirements.

Co-founded the Czech branch and drove the technological vision for defense simulation systems.

Built and scaled the core engineering units from the ground up: the Image Generator team (custom 3D simulation engine), Visual Database (environments & graphics), System Integration, and Firmware.

Owned system architecture and tech roadmaps in a high-stakes, mission-critical domain. Successfully stepped in to resolve stalled projects through architectural re-alignment, integrated emerging tech (including AI/ML), and mentored engineering leads to run teams autonomously.

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