Marius Ducea, Developer in Austin, TX, United States
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Marius Ducea

Verified Expert  in Engineering

DevOps Engineer and AWS Developer

Austin, TX, United States

Toptal member since July 24, 2020

Expertise
Open Source DevelopmentAWS DevOpsSystem AdministrationLinuxDevOpsAWS RDSServerlessMacOSGitHubLinux System AdministrationSite Reliability
Bio

Marius is an accomplished DevOps engineer with 10+ years of experience designing and implementing automated, secure, and reliable systems for companies such as AdMob, Thumbtack, and Zillow. He specializes in DevOps culture building through build, package, and release automation; infrastructure coding on AWS; Kubernetes; Terraform; and configuration management, monitoring, and instrumentation.

Portfolio

nClouds
ARM, ARM Linux, AWS Graviton2, AWS Fault Injection Simulator (FIS), Linux...
nClouds
Amazon Web Services (AWS), DevOps, Amazon EKS, Python, Terraform, Terragrunt...
Omnyway
Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Lambda, Serverless, AWS Fargate, ECS, DevOps...

Experience

  • Linux - 15 years
  • DevOps - 10 years
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 10 years
  • Security - 10 years
  • Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) - 8 years
  • Terraform - 5 years
  • Python - 5 years
  • Kubernetes - 4 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kubernetes, Terraform, Vim Text Editor, Git, MacOS, Python, GitHub

The most amazing...

...project I've worked on is AdMob—from the first server deployed to the end—when we had thousands of servers before the Google acquisition.

Work Experience

VP of DevOps Practice

2020 - 2021
nClouds
  • Developed new services and capabilities for the DevOps practice related to Graviton2 migrations and chaos engineering solutions (based on AWS FIS).
  • Helped position nClouds as a thought leader in the DevOps space and supported related activities, such as webinars, blog posts, and podcasts.
  • Participated in nurturing a critical partnership relationship with AWS.
Technologies: ARM, ARM Linux, AWS Graviton2, AWS Fault Injection Simulator (FIS), Linux, Kubernetes, Terraform, Helm, AWS DevOps, Ingres, Datadog, Continuous Delivery (CD), Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Continuous Integration (CI), CI/CD Pipelines, Linux Server Administration, GitOps, Amazon EKS, Docker, Cloud Security, Monitoring, Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), Ubuntu, Open Source, GitHub, Git, ECS, AWS Fargate, Amazon EC2, DevSecOps, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), DevOps Engineer, DevOps, Amazon CloudWatch, System Administration, Linux Administration

Senior DevOps Engineer

2020 - 2020
nClouds
  • Planned and implemented application modernizations and migrations to container-based workloads on Amazon EKS or self-managed Kubernetes clusters, in a well-architected, self-healing, and scalable way for nClouds customers.
  • Improved 20 custom Terraform modules, including EKS, ECS, ECR, VPC, SQS, RDS, OpenVPN, and Elasticsearch, by setting up a CI/CD pipeline based on GitHub Actions to validate and test the modules when new changes were submitted.
  • Set up a CI/CD pipeline for a Terraform-based IaC deployment to automatically test and push changes in AWS environments. The production environment required manual approval.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), DevOps, Amazon EKS, Python, Terraform, Terragrunt, ECS, Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR), Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), AWS Lambda, Amazon RDS, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Delivery (CD), Jenkins, Git, GitOps, GitLab, GitLab CI/CD, Kubernetes, Docker, Pulumi, Prometheus, Grafana, Helm, Linux, Security, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Networking, AWS DevOps, Ingres, Datadog, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), CI/CD Pipelines, Linux Server Administration, Chaos Engineering, Serverless, Cloud Security, Monitoring, Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), Debian, Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, Open Source, GitHub, Databases, AWS Fargate, ELK (Elastic Stack), AWS Fault Injection Simulator (FIS), ARM, ARM Linux, Amazon EC2, DevSecOps, AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK), Packer, DevOps Engineer, Amazon CloudWatch, System Administration, Linux Administration

Senior DevOps Engineer

2017 - 2020
Omnyway
  • Designed and implemented Omnyway's next-generation infrastructure—deployed in redundant, multiple active-active AWS regions and built on modern technologies like API Gateway, Lambda, Docker, and ECS/Fargate.
  • Built infrastructure as code (IaC), using Terraform and following best practices for Agile teams. Automated the process of bringing up entire AWS accounts and environments.
  • Implemented security solutions for a highly secure PCI environment, using cloud-based tools such as AWS Lamba, GuardDuty, and Dome9.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Lambda, Serverless, AWS Fargate, ECS, DevOps, Terraform, Linux, Security, Docker, AWS DevOps, AWS CloudFormation, Kubernetes, Python, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Networking, Datadog, Continuous Delivery (CD), Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Continuous Integration (CI), CI/CD Pipelines, Linux Server Administration, Chaos Engineering, Cloud Security, Monitoring, Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), Debian, Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, Open Source, GitHub, Databases, Git, Amazon EC2, DevSecOps, Packer, DevOps Engineer, Amazon CloudWatch, System Administration, Linux Administration

AWS Consultant

2016 - 2018
Zillow
  • Advised and assisted various teams during Trulia's migration from a data center to AWS. Trulia is a subsidiary of Zillow.
  • Implemented Terraform-based workflows, designing and creating most base modules (e.g., VPC, ALB, Kafka, Hadoop, EMR) that enabled multiple teams to reuse and share Terraform code, which sped up internal onboarding and management of Terraform code.
  • Led cost-saving initiatives across all Trulia teams, such as using open-source tools, like Cloud Custodian, to take advantage of cloud-based elasticity and on-demand, automated shutting down of unused resources during off-hours to save costs.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), EMR, Apache Kafka, Hadoop, DevOps, Terraform, Linux, Jenkins, Serverless, Docker, AWS DevOps, AWS CloudFormation, Security, Python, Networking, Ingres, Datadog, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Linux Server Administration, Amazon EKS, Cloud Security, Monitoring, Debian, Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, Open Source, GitHub, Bash, Databases, Git, Amazon EC2, Packer, DevOps Engineer, Amazon CloudWatch, System Administration, Linux Administration

Site Reliability Engineer

2015 - 2017
Thumbtack
  • Provided AWS expertise and cloud-based automation during Thumbtack's migration to AWS. Designed and implemented AWS account separation for a secure and reliable environment.
  • Optimized system security with proactive changes, such as automated Linux system upgrades that were staged and controlled in various environments.
  • Tuned system performance to optimize the efficacy of new and existing ELK clusters. Automated ELK cluster deployment with Terraform.
  • Increased the availability of the infrastructure through planning, thorough testing, automated implementation, and chaos engineering.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), ELK (Elastic Stack), Security, Puppet, DevOps, Linux, Jenkins, Terraform, Docker, AWS DevOps, AWS CloudFormation, Python, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Networking, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Linux Server Administration, Chaos Engineering, Cloud Security, Monitoring, Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), Debian, Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, Open Source, GitHub, Bash, Databases, Git, Amazon EC2, DevSecOps, Packer, DevOps Engineer, Amazon CloudWatch, System Administration, Linux Administration

Founder, Principal Consultant

2013 - 2016
Opscale, LLC
  • Founded Opscale to help startups in the Bay Area with their infrastructure automation challenges. Grew the firm to a six-person consultancy focused on bringing value to our clients and being very involved in the local DevOps community.
  • Consulted to clients such as eBay/Paypal, Deutsche Telekom HBS, Electric Cloud, Balanced, and Continuuity, helping them manage and automate infrastructures using configuration management tools like Chef and Ansible on cloud solutions like AWS or GCP.
  • Implemented Docker-based solutions that helped clients take advantage of cutting-edge technologies to achieve speed and portability for their businesses.
  • Spearheaded DevOps community involvement: co-organized DevOpsDays Silicon Valley, organized the Bay Area Chef Meetup group, founded the Infracoders Bay Area Meetup group, and presented topics like configuration management and monitoring to Meetups.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, Puppet, Ansible, Chef, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), DevOps, Linux, Jenkins, Security, AWS DevOps, AWS CloudFormation, Python, Networking, MongoDB, Datadog, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Linux Server Administration, Chaos Engineering, Cloud Security, Monitoring, Debian, Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, Open Source, GitHub, Ruby, Bash, Databases, Git, ELK (Elastic Stack), Amazon EC2, Packer, DevOps Engineer, Amazon CloudWatch, System Administration, Linux Administration

Senior DevOps Engineer

2009 - 2012
Promet Source
  • Assisted clients in managing and automating their infrastructures: AdMob and Episodic (both acquired by Google), Card.io (acquired by eBay), Demandforce (Intuit), ChooChee (Deutsche Telekom), and Zuberance.
  • Assisted in building scalable solutions by using cloud infrastructures, such as AWS or Rackspace, for most projects.
  • Performed configuration management, using tools like Opscode, Chef, and Puppet.
  • Built a solution for a scalable private cloud based on OpenStack and automated the cluster setup and high-availability deployment.
Technologies: Chef, Puppet, Security, DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Linux, Python, Amazon EC2, Amazon Web Services (AWS), HAProxy, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, Bash, Boto, Networking, Git, GitHub, AWS DevOps, Linux Server Administration, Cloud Security, Monitoring, Debian, Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, Open Source, Ruby, Databases, DevOps Engineer, System Administration, Linux Administration

Linux System Administrator

2006 - 2009
NetForce
  • Managed high-traffic sites for various clients, configuring high-availability solutions, load balancing, and various clustering solutions, using open-source implementations.
  • Ensured application scalability and conducted performance tuning on various systems, using Apache and PHP; Lighttpd; Nginx; and MySQL clustering, replication, and proxy.
  • Managed security and monitoring for Linux servers and Cisco firewalls and routers.
  • Worked on various flavors of Linux distributions, including Debian and Ubuntu; Red Hat, CentOS, and Fedora; SUSE; Slackware; and Gentoo.
Technologies: Linux, Linux Administration, Shell, Shell Scripting, Security, Python, HAProxy, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Networking, Bash, Bash Script, Git, GitHub, Linux Server Administration, Monitoring, Debian, Red Hat Linux, Open Source, Ruby, Databases, System Administration

Experience

Knife-Backup

https://github.com/mdxp/knife-backup
Knife-Backup is a Knife plugin that helps users back up and restore a Chef server. This can be useful when migrating from one Chef server to another during upgrades or to back up current objects on the Chef server for disaster recovery purposes.

aws-env

https://github.com/mdxp/aws-env
aws-env makes it easier to work with multiple AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) profile keys and configs. It allows easy switching between different AWS profiles by simply running: aws-switch profile_name. It's very useful for anyone who has more than one AWS profile in their local config.

Certifications

AUGUST 2018 - AUGUST 2024

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional

AWS

MARCH 2018 - APRIL 2024

AWS Certified Security – Specialty

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

NOVEMBER 2017 - NOVEMBER 2020

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Skills

Libraries/APIs

Terragrunt

Tools

Terraform, Chef, GitHub, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Git, Vim Text Editor, AWS Fargate, AWS CloudFormation, AWS CLI, Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), Amazon EKS, Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR), Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), Boto, Shell, Packer, Amazon CloudWatch, Puppet, Ansible, Jenkins, ELK (Elastic Stack), GitLab, GitLab CI/CD, Grafana, Helm, AWS Graviton2, AWS Fault Injection Simulator (FIS), AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK)

Languages

Python, Bash Script, Ruby, Bash, SQL

Paradigms

DevOps, Continuous Delivery (CD), Continuous Integration (CI), DevSecOps

Platforms

Linux, Kubernetes, Docker, Debian, Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Unix, MacOS, Amazon EC2, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), AWS Lambda, ARM Linux, Apache Kafka

Storage

MongoDB, Datadog, Databases, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, Ingres

Frameworks

Hadoop

Other

Security, Open Source, Serverless, Networking, AWS DevOps, System Administration, Linux Administration, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Cost Reduction & Optimization (Cost-down), CI/CD Pipelines, Cloud Security, Linux Server Administration, Monitoring, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, Amazon RDS, HAProxy, Shell Scripting, AWS Certified Solution Architect, Chaos Engineering, DevOps Engineer, ECS, GitOps, Pulumi, Prometheus, ARM, EMR

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