This past November 2021, I joined OpenSpace as a Senior DevOps Engineer. What pulled me in? The culture, the people, and the technical challenges that were set forth. I have been here for about 3 months now and it’s a breath of fresh air. After the interview process, I had extremely high expectations for the culture. A few weeks in and my expectations were blown away. This motivated me to set some ambitious technical goals for the new year knowing I had landed a position like this. It was like finding a needle in a haystack.

So far, my professional journey has revolved around AWS, IAC, Security, Kubernetes, and to automate everything I possibly can. While focusing on these, I put extra emphasis on providing as much value as I can to teach, mentor, and architect. At Veracode, I felt like I was paving the way for experienced engineers to learn a new technology, and trying to curate an inclusive culture. Implementing events for the DevOps team like MoB sessions, frequent demos, knowledge transfers, and munch n’ learns. I figured these types of events would generate input from the other engineers on my team, share the knowledge so no one gets left behind, and allow for team bonding experiences other than daily standups.

This year at OpenSpace, I plan on bringing these types of events with me while focusing on sharpening my skills around the board. A lot of my professional experience has revolved around the cloud, specifically AWS and how best to automate and secure it.

While my 9-5 has been focused primarily on infrastructure, I have also been ramping up in Solidity, JavaScript, and overall front end development. The new Web3 movement has taken me by storm, bringing me new perspectives and knowledge.

Furthermore, my main technical goals for 2022 are:

• Getting an AWS certification.
• Fully indulging in Solidity and the capabilities it holds.
• Becoming a better front end developer
  • Learning the best practices
  • Abstracting as much as I can
  • Working on better user experiences
  • Implementing moving parts
• Giving a technical talk at one event.
• Expand Sage Labs and land at least 2 clients a month in the NFT space.

Focusing on these goals will allow me to continually get better at my position as a DevOps engineer, and help me grow Sage Labs. My overall mission is to deliver the best experience possible, whether that be for OpenSpace or any clients that I take on at Sage Labs. Working on these goals will help me bring that to fruition.

To a great year, 2022!