Allan Guan
Verified Expert in Engineering
Solution Architect and Developer
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Toptal member since February 14, 2023
As a solution architect, technology leader, and consultant, Allan has over 15 years of proven success in designing innovative solution architecture for clients in the public and private cloud across different industries. His technical expertise includes cloud platforms, DevOps, site reliability, big data, SaaS software development, and process automation. Allan excels in leading large-scale and complex digital enterprise transformation initiatives.
Portfolio
Experience
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 10 years
- Python - 10 years
- Cloud Migration - 10 years
- VMware - 5 years
- Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BCDR) - 5 years
- DevOps - 5 years
- Terraform - 4 years
- Kubernetes - 4 years
Preferred Environment
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kubernetes, Python, Solution Architecture, Back-end, Data Processing, Databases, Amazon API Gateway, AWS Control Tower
The most amazing...
...thing I've done is co-found a startup company focusing on data analysis in the retail industry, building everything on AWS and growing the team from 2 to 70.
Work Experience
Solution Architect (Contract)
OpsGuru
- Participated in cloud-native solution designs and delivered high-quality solutions to the customer as part of the OpsGuru Vancouver team.
- Provided deep technical expertise and leadership across several technologies, including cloud migration, Kubernetes, Helm, data lake, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure as code (IaC).
- Drove architecture design and tool selection, resolved complex engineering issues, and guided best practices.
- Led teams of cloud engineers to execute project roadmaps, guiding them in technical tasks and priorities and providing technical assistance when needed.
- Recommended cloud-based solutions that improved the operational efficiency of public cloud operations.
- Advised on best practices for configuration management and IaC.
- Developed CI/CD pipelines and future state architectures.
- Communicated with clients on a business level and translated their needs into technical cloud solutions.
CTO
Harbdata
- Oversaw technology operations as co-founder and CTO of this data technology company providing SaaS-based retail data intelligence to retail enterprises.
- Wrote most of the back-end and data-processing system code. Utilized PHP for the back end and SQL on PostgreSQL for ETL and algorithm-based batch jobs.
- Designed, implemented, and configured the solution architecture for transforming the product delivery model into a DevOps process with Kubernetes and Jenkins automation software.
- Improved processes by developing standard toolkits for collecting and processing desensitization data from customers, decreasing manual labor and cost by 70%, increasing processing speed by 50%, and enhancing data accuracy by 30%.
Solution Architect
VMware
- Managed large-scale, high-profile accounts for enterprise and government customers.
- Provided consulting services to key customers for solution architecture and strategic planning, including server migration, server consolidation, virtual desktop management, disaster recovery, security, and private cloud computing.
- Developed highly detailed proof of concepts (POCs) to establish the value of solutions for customers.
- Spearheaded development efforts for the vRealize Suite of management solutions focused on increasing customer migrations from core server virtualization to software-defined data centers, DevOps, and private cloud.
Solution Architect
Symantec
- Collaborated with a global team as a developer for the Backup Exec software on the Linux platform using C++ and Perl scripts from 2005 to 2007.
- Delivered comprehensive solution architecture support to the local sales team and the China Engineering Center team from 2007 to 2010.
- Engineered highly effective architectures for data management and security solutions from 2010 to 2012.
Experience
Cloud Migration from Oracle Cloud to AWS
This project included terraforming all the AWS infrastructure, including Amazon: Virtual Private Cloud, Relational Database Service, Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Identity and Access Management, ElastiCache, and MQ. I also created Helm charts for all core applications, handled business continuity and disaster recovery, and performed blue/green deployments on Kubernetes. Additionally, I built a customized Kubernetes autoscaling tool on Oracle Cloud.
Cloud Migration and Data Lake Infrastructure
I drove the design and implementation of the infrastructure to support the core application running on Kubernetes and the data lake on Databricks.
DevOps and CI/CD
Database Modernization
Cloud Migration from On-premises to AWS
I engaged as the subject-matter expert, helping customers assess the cost and feasibility of adopting the new services on AWS, including EKS, OpenSearch, Keyspaces, Cassandra, Ceph, and DataSync, when retiring the on-premise Elasticsearch. I also led the POC creation to verify the data migration on Elasticsearch and Cassandra.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Shanghai Jiao Tong University - Shanghai, China
Certifications
AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
Microsoft
AWS Certified Database – Specialty
Amazon Web Services
AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty
Amazon Web Services
Certified Kubernetes Administrator
Cloud Native Computing Foundation | via The Linux Foundation
Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect
Google Cloud
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
Amazon Web Services
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
Amazon Web Services
Skills
Tools
Terraform, VMware, AWS CloudFormation, Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), Amazon EKS, Helm, Amazon CloudFront, Amazon Cognito, Ansible, CircleCI, AWS PrivateLink, AWS CodeDeploy, AWS CodeBuild, AWS DataSync
Languages
Python, SQL, PHP, Java
Paradigms
DevOps, HIPAA Compliance
Platforms
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kubernetes, Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Docker, Databricks, Amazon EC2, Azure IaaS
Frameworks
AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM)
Storage
Databases, PostgreSQL, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Cassandra, Elasticsearch
Other
Cloud Migration, VMware ESXi, VMware vCloud, VMware vCenter, AWS Certified Solution Architect, Identity & Access Management (IAM), AWS DevOps, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), CI/CD Pipelines, Azure Administrator, Amazon API Gateway, AWS Control Tower, Pulumi, FTP, Solution Architecture, Back-end, Data Processing, Software Development, Hardware, Operating Systems, Data Migration, NetBackup, Storage, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BCDR), Web Security, Data Analysis, Streaming Data, AWS CodePipeline, AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
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