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Ferat Imrak
Verified Expert in Engineering
DevOps Engineer and Developer
Chicago, IL, United States
Toptal member since July 18, 2024
Bio
Ferat is a motivated and results-driven DevOps engineer with extensive experience in container orchestration and infrastructure as code (IaC) tools and automation. He specializes in Kubernetes, Terraform, Jenkins, and other automation and containerization tools. Ferat has excellent communication, intuitive, and analytical skills and can work efficiently independently and in team environments.
Portfolio
Aptive Environmental
Kubernetes, Terraform, Linux, Pulumi, Datadog, Rundeck, GitHub, GitHub Actions...
Allstate
Kubernetes, Terraform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Datadog, SonarQube, PagerDuty...
Beyond Finance
Kubernetes, Helm, Docker, Amazon EC2, Jenkins, Terraform
Experience
- Terraform - 8 years
- GitHub - 8 years
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 8 years
- Kubernetes - 7 years
- Datadog - 6 years
- GitHub Actions - 6 years
- GitLab CI/CD - 4 years
- Argo CD - 3 years
Work Experience
Platform Engineer
2023 - PRESENT
Aptive Environmental
- Utilized Terraform and Pulumi for IaC to provision cloud resources efficiently.
- Led the migration of applications from traditional virtual machines to Kubernetes clusters to reduce costs through improved efficiency and optimized infrastructure management.
- Integrated GitHub Actions with Argo CD to automate the update process of applications, enabling seamless CI/CD pipelines.
- Implemented CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, streamlining the development process and enabling rapid iterations.
- Managed Kubernetes clusters using Argo CD for automated application delivery and continuous deployment.
- Leveraged Datadog for monitoring and observability, ensuring system performance and availability met desired standards.
- Employed Kubernetes for application deployment and environment updates, ensuring scalability and reliability.
Technologies: Kubernetes, Terraform, Linux, Pulumi, Datadog, Rundeck, GitHub, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Argo CD, Docker
DevOps Engineer
2020 - 2023
Allstate
- Built the Terraform module for Datadog dashboards to monitor services.
- Created alerts in Datadog with Terraform to notify users on different platforms.
- Used PagerDuty to send alerts from Datadog when an error or service usage passed the threshold.
- Managed Kubernetes clusters efficiently using Lens, a Kubernetes IDE, providing a centralized and intuitive interface for monitoring, debugging, and configuring cluster resources.
- Scheduled on-call duty between the US and offshore teams in Terraform using different time zones.
- Integrated SonarCloud with GitHub Actions to monitor code quality.
Technologies: Kubernetes, Terraform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Datadog, SonarQube, PagerDuty, Terraform Cloud, Docker, GitHub, GitHub Actions
DevOps Engineer
2018 - 2020
Beyond Finance
- Deployed Docker containers using Helm charts into Kubernetes clusters.
- Leveraged AWS cloud services such as EC2 and Auto Scaling.
- Created and maintained fully automated CI/CD pipelines for code deployment using Jenkins.
- Built custom Terraform modules for projects to manage code with the Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) approach.
Technologies: Kubernetes, Helm, Docker, Amazon EC2, Jenkins, Terraform
Cloud Engineer
2016 - 2019
Expedia Group
- Collaborated with software engineers, product managers, and QA engineers in an Agile–Scrum environment to ensure features were delivered effectively.
- Deployed the website from front to back end using JavaScript, HTML, React, and Node.js.
- Designed the architecture of microservices and web applications.
- Implemented software components of highly available, scalable, and robust cloud services.
Technologies: Amazon S3 (AWS S3), JavaScript, PostgreSQL, AWS IAM, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Amazon CloudWatch
Project History
Application Deployment with GitHub Actions
Used GitHub Actions to run the pipeline and build the Docker image and pushed the Docker images by creating an Amazon ECR private repository. I also securely enabled AWS access and secret keys in GitHub Secrets for use in the pipeline configuration.
I set up the pipeline to automatically trigger builds when code was committed or a pull request was opened for development and staging environments. For production, the pipeline was triggered when a release was created. I implemented branch protection rules to prevent direct pushes to the main branch and required code reviews before merging pull requests. I also created AWS Secrets Manager with Terraform to store sensitive data securely for the application.
I set up the pipeline to automatically trigger builds when code was committed or a pull request was opened for development and staging environments. For production, the pipeline was triggered when a release was created. I implemented branch protection rules to prevent direct pushes to the main branch and required code reviews before merging pull requests. I also created AWS Secrets Manager with Terraform to store sensitive data securely for the application.
Terraform Module for Datadog
I developed a Terraform module for creating monitors, dashboards, and alerts in Datadog. Additionally, I integrated PagerDuty and Slack to notify users of any errors in the monitored services. The Terraform code was dynamic, allowing it to be easily implemented across different environments.
Migrating an Application from EC2 Machine to EKS Cluster
CONTRIBUTIONS
• Created a Kubernetes deployment with a temporary domain name to test the application before the final cutover.
• Coordinated with developers to create a new release and push the application image to ECR.
• Added all necessary environment variables to ensure the application could be tested effectively within the container.
• Encountered issues with obtaining the correct environment variables from developers.
• Conducted multiple tests and communicated frequently with developers via Slack and meetings to clarify requirements and gather necessary information.
• Took a dump file from the existing database instance and imported it into an RDS instance.
• Created a ticket with the database team to obtain the necessary permissions, as write access was required to import the dump file.
• Tested the application extensively with developers and testers after deployment to ensure it ran smoothly.
• Integrated CloudWatch for monitoring and logging application errors.
• Created a Kubernetes deployment with a temporary domain name to test the application before the final cutover.
• Coordinated with developers to create a new release and push the application image to ECR.
• Added all necessary environment variables to ensure the application could be tested effectively within the container.
• Encountered issues with obtaining the correct environment variables from developers.
• Conducted multiple tests and communicated frequently with developers via Slack and meetings to clarify requirements and gather necessary information.
• Took a dump file from the existing database instance and imported it into an RDS instance.
• Created a ticket with the database team to obtain the necessary permissions, as write access was required to import the dump file.
• Tested the application extensively with developers and testers after deployment to ensure it ran smoothly.
• Integrated CloudWatch for monitoring and logging application errors.
Education
2010 - 2014
Bachelor's Degree in Healthcare Administration
Dicle University - Diyarbakır, Turkey
Certifications
JULY 2024 - JULY 2027
GitHub Actions
GitHub
JUNE 2022 - PRESENT
Certified Jenkins Engineer (CJE)
Jenkins
FEBRUARY 2022 - PRESENT
Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)
APRIL 2021 - PRESENT
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Terragrunt, Jenkins Pipeline
Tools
Terraform, GitHub, GitLab CI/CD, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Amazon EKS, Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), Rundeck, SonarQube, Helm, Jenkins, AWS IAM, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR)
Paradigms
DevOps, Management, Continuous Delivery (CD), Continuous Integration (CI)
Platforms
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kubernetes, Linux, Docker, Amazon EC2, PagerDuty
Storage
Datadog, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), PostgreSQL
Languages
JavaScript
Other
GitHub Actions, CI/CD Pipelines, Argo CD, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Containerization, Networking, Pulumi, Terraform Cloud, AWS Secrets Manager, Amazon RDS, Build Pipelines, Release Management
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