devops

I saw a post on Reddit recently that really struck a nerve. It was from a Cloud Systems Administrator who effectively runs everything for their organization—AWS networking, server management, Azure, Intune, migrations—but they’re doing it all manually. No Infrastructure as Code (IaC), no CI/CD, just the console and a lot of clicking. Their question was simple but terrifying: “Am I hurting my career by staying here?” The short answer? Maybe. But the long answer is that you have two distinct paths out of this trap, and both require you to stop being a “technician” and start thinking like an architect.

Hi there! I appreciate the outreach from recruiters and peers. To make sure we’re both focused on the right opportunities, here’s a snapshot of where I am and where I’m going. Since 2023, I’ve been serving as a Director of Cloud Engineering, leading the centralized strategy for a global fleet of 400+ AWS accounts. Most recently, I’ve been obsessed with solving the ‘unsexy’ problems that break at scale: formalizing global network architecture across 26 regions using AWS CloudWAN and IPAM, and building custom Python tooling to visualize complex cloud topologies.