Dan is available for hire

Dan Garthwaite

Verified Expert in Engineering

Backup & Recovery Developer

Location

Manchester, NH, United States

Toptal Member Since

March 3, 2020

Dan has 20 years of experience running Linux systems in production and has worn many hats that encompass website eCommerce, Python programming, container virtualization, continuous delivery, embedded systems, build and test automation, databases, and security. He reduced one company's AWS bill by $30,000 per month after reviewing their stack and identifying alternative scaling strategies.

System Administration Linux Python DevOps MySQL Amazon Web Services (AWS)Jenkins Continuous Delivery (CD)Agile Software Development SaltStack Docker Ansible AWS CloudFormation Packer Terraform

Portfolio

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kubernetes, GitLab CI/CD, Terraform...

FlightLookup

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linode, Python, System Administration, DevOps...

Wagz, Inc

AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, Android, Docker, Ansible, Kubernetes, Python, Go...

Experience

Backup & Recovery - 20 years Python - 20 years Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 10 years Docker - 5 years Terraform - 5 years Kubernetes - 4 years Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - 3 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kubernetes, Python, Google Cloud, Terraform

The most amazing...

...thing in my career was creating seaworthy data centers on ocean vessels that mapped international shipping ports around the world.

Work Experience

Solutions Engineer Executive Advisor

2021 - PRESENT

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Implemented a GitOps-based release pipeline to deploy through multiple AWS environments. Worked with developers to foster a DevOps relationship that empowered developers to create and deploy their own pipelines.
Migrated a Kubernetes cluster from AWS EKS to Azure AKS.
Led a major project with the business continuity plan (BCP).

Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kubernetes, GitLab CI/CD, Terraform, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), System Administration, Azure, Amazon EKS, Google Cloud, DevOps, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Linux, Continuous Delivery (CD), Agile Software Development, Docker, Redis, Backup & Recovery, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), Continuous Integration (CI), APIs, REST

Senior Systems Engineer

2010 - PRESENT

FlightLookup

Migrated two in-house data centers to AWS and Linode cloud providers for significant cost reductions for this global flight-matching system.
Introduced Agile methodologies to the existing development team. Established and automated the entire build, validation, and delivery pipeline from scratch.
Found and executed cost-saving opportunities continuously as technologies improved for this veteran company for a decade.

Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linode, Python, System Administration, DevOps, DigitalOcean, Linux, Continuous Delivery (CD), Agile Software Development, Docker, JavaScript, Elasticsearch, Redis, Backup & Recovery, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), Continuous Integration (CI), APIs, REST, Django, PHP 7

Senior DevOps Engineer

2018 - 2020

Wagz, Inc

Eliminated $30,000 per month from an acquired company's AWS bill after reviewing their scaling and automation strategy.
Managed continuous integration, testing, and deployment for an embedded Android cellular device, and automated the over-the-air updates to tens of thousands of devices.
Developed the back-end API and CI/CD for the CollegeBoard's AP student assessment and teacher dashboard system used in high school classrooms across America.
Served as the system administrator for a digital animation movie studio.
Operated a two-developer Drupal development company that specialized in eCommerce.
Leveraged the free GitHub Actions platform to eliminate self-hosting pet Jenkins servers when building and deploying AWS microservices.

Technologies: AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, Android, Docker, Ansible, Kubernetes, Python, Go, System Administration, Amazon EKS, DevOps, Linux, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Continuous Delivery (CD), Agile Software Development, Redis, Backup & Recovery, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), Continuous Integration (CI), APIs, REST, ARM Linux

Software Engineer

2015 - 2017

FinetuneLearning / AcademicMerit / CollegeBoard

Contributed as part of the small team that won the CollegeBoard contract to build the AP student assessment application used across American classrooms.
Leveraged Amazon SQS to manage two-way database reconciliation on a nightly basis between multiple stakeholders.
Automated Blue/Gold production deployments in order to speed up client validation of new features.

Technologies: AWS CloudFormation, Jenkins, JavaScript, Python, System Administration, DevOps, Linux, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Continuous Delivery (CD), Agile Software Development, Docker, Backup & Recovery, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), Continuous Integration (CI), MySQL, APIs, REST

System Adminstrator

2010 - 2012

LinePlot Production, LLC

Acted as the UNIX administrator for a movie studio's in-house render farm.
Automated the nightly renderings of terabytes of film data.
Implemented the fiber-channel SAN network for artists' digital workstations.

Technologies: Ansible, Python, Cisco, Dell EMC, Linux, System Administration, DevOps, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Continuous Delivery (CD), Agile Software Development, Docker, Backup & Recovery, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), Continuous Integration (CI), MySQL, APIs, REST, Django

UNIX Systems Administrator

1998 - 2007

SAIC- Science Applications International Corporation

Designed floating datacenters for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Naval Oceanographic, and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Traveled most of the major seaports in America to support ongoing data collection operations.
Provided tech support for two Rhode Island offices with over 100 employees each.

Technologies: Red Hat Linux, System Administration, DevOps, Linux, Backup & Recovery, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), Continuous Integration (CI), MySQL, PHP 7

Experience

FlightLookup, Inc

http://flightlookup.com/

A C/C++ embeddable flight route engine that traverses the graph across multiple carriers' route data up to a year in advance. I transitioned this company away from manual spreadsheet checklists to cloud-hosted and automated CI/CD pipelines for monthly data processing and weekly mobile app updates.

FineTune Learning

https://www.finetunelearning.com

A Python back-end and React front-end application that the college board uses to administer student and teacher certification assessments across American classrooms. Millions of AP students have used the app, and the back end makes recommendations to teachers based on assessment results.

DevOps Engineer Work

http://realresponse.com

I handled AWS infrastructure and regulatory compliance across two countries (US and UK) for an edtech company. I used Terraform code to stand up VPC, DNS, WAF, S3, ECR, KMS, RDS, and EKS Kubernetes clusters in any AWS region. Collaboration with regulatory and auditor agencies was done to ensure GDPR and US education regulatory compliance.

Skills

Languages

Python, JavaScript, PHP 7, Go

Tools

Ansible, SaltStack, AWS CloudFormation, Jenkins, Packer, Terraform, GitLab CI/CD, Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), CircleCI, Dell EMC, Vagrant

Paradigms

Agile Software Development, Continuous Delivery (CD), Continuous Integration (CI), DevOps, REST

Platforms

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), DigitalOcean, Linode, Red Hat Linux, Android, ARM Linux, Azure

Storage

MySQL, Google Cloud, Elasticsearch, Redis

Other

Backup & Recovery, Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), System Administration, Cisco, APIs, Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Frameworks

Ruby on Rails (RoR), Django

Education

1998 - 2000

Associates Degree in Computer Science

Community College of Rhode Island - Warwick, RI

Certifications

JUNE 2021 - PRESENT

Certified Kubernetes Administrator

Linuxfoundation.org

JANUARY 2014 - PRESENT

SaltStack Certified Engineer

SaltStack

JUNE 2004 - PRESENT

RedHat Certified Engineer

Red Hat

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