Robert Jackson, Developer in Orem, UT, United States
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Robert Jackson

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Location
Orem, UT, United States
Toptal Member Since
September 28, 2021

Robert has been working with computer technology for over 20 years, primarily on the Linux platform, but he has much experience with other platforms as well. Over the last seven years, he has been working with virtualization and cloud platforms. In his current roles, he has supported many development teams with the help of third-party tooling as well as custom in-house tooling to create a more streamline CI/CD development and deployment process.

Portfolio

Skywaves Broadband
Networking, Firewalls, Customer Support, Customer Service
Rackspace Technology
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Terraform, React, AWS CloudFormation, Azure DevOps...
Sorenson Media
Amazon Web Services (AWS), ELK (Elastic Stack), SaltStack, Ansible, Chef, Ruby...

Experience

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Git, Vagrant, Docker, Atom, Vi, Linux

The most amazing...

...circuit boards I've designed and built helped take analog and digital signals with various formats and protocols and convert them to a single formatted output.

Work Experience

Owner

2015 - PRESENT
Skywaves Broadband
  • Founded a wireless internet provider in a rural town. From digging trenches for fiber to installing wireless radio equipment on antenna towers and rooftops, I managed all aspects of the operation.
  • Led customer relations for customer acquisitions, support, and retention. This included on-site installations for customers and answering tech support phone calls, texts, and emails.
  • Managed network infrastructure by maintaining connectivity and security through a series of firewalls, switching, and radio antennas. This also included monitoring and proactive monitoring and alerting.
  • Supervised over 10 site locations with radio equipment, networking hardware, battery backups, and monitoring devices with remote management in case of network failures or maintenance.
Technologies: Networking, Firewalls, Customer Support, Customer Service

DevOps Engineer

2018 - 2021
Rackspace Technology
  • Curated and deployed infrastructure on AWS for company clients. This required proofing architecture design with the clients. After client approval, I would build out the infrastructure while continually working with the client until completed.
  • Helped design back-end process using Python and Terraform for multi-cloud automation using AWS, Azure, or GCP. This back end supports a single pane front end for building infrastructure on each specified cloud.
  • Designed and developed a front-end component using React for a previous project I had worked on. The features allowed for data-driven content that was easier to maintain and operate than previous tools.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Terraform, React, AWS CloudFormation, Azure DevOps, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), DevOps, PostgreSQL, CI/CD Pipelines, Amazon RDS, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Cloud Architecture

Senior DevOps Engineer

2016 - 2018
Sorenson Media
  • Supported the development teams in code deployment and troubleshooting.
  • Architected the CI/CD deployment process and strategies.
  • Created many tools and processes to help improve integration with our CI/CD platform.
  • Built a platform to improve the debug output of third-party devices for the company product.
  • Performed many ROI and cost reductions with our cloud platform.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), ELK (Elastic Stack), SaltStack, Ansible, Chef, Ruby, Python, Kubernetes, Docker, Linux, DevOps, Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Bitbucket, PostgreSQL, CI/CD Pipelines, Cloud Architecture

DevOps Engineer

2015 - 2016
EchoStar (now Sling TV)
  • Managed system and software deployments, upgrades, and maintenance. Used scaleability platforms such as Saltstack, Chef, and Ansible to manage these processes.
  • Designed a command-line tool that would act as a media device such as an Apple TV or Roku to troubleshoot errors that were previously impossible to track down and had been causing daily outages. The tool was continually used to track the errors.
  • Managed hundreds of CDN servers for media content. Many of these configurations were complex and spread over multiple regions to seed third-party CDN networks. A primary task was to mitigate the occasional cash flushing of a third-party CDN.
Technologies: Python, CI/CD Pipelines, SaltStack, Chef, Ansible, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), NGINX, Varnish, ELK (Elastic Stack), Splunk, DevOps, Bamboo, Bitbucket, PostgreSQL, Cloud Architecture

Senior DevOps Engineer

2011 - 2015
Ancestry
  • Collaborated with a team to build a continuous delivery infrastructure for automated builds, tests, and deployments. Migrated hundreds of codebases deployed using a monthly roll to individual code rolls pushed live multiple times a day.
  • Built and maintained process utilizing Chef for automating system provisioning, code builds, and deploys to a multi-environment network with unit testing and integration testing before rolling to production.
  • Created and maintained core infrastructure pieces such as Chef, Stash, Go, Jenkins, and Artifactory and all other components related to builds and deployment processes.
  • Contributed to plans to use microservices on Docker. Set up several test environments for developers to start using the services and design the deployment process.
Technologies: Chef, Docker, GitHub, Stash, Artifactory, Jenkins, GoCD, DevOps, Bamboo, Bitbucket, Nagios, PostgreSQL, CI/CD Pipelines, Cloud Architecture

Hadoop Architect

2010 - 2011
Ancestry
  • Designed and implemented multiple Hadoop solutions using Apache Hadoop, Hive, HBase, and Pig.
  • Managed hardware specs and builds for MapReduce optimization. Monitored cluster utilization to create an efficient calibration of hardware and software.
  • Automated the deployment and management of multiple clusters utilizing Puppet. Managed clusters consisted of as little as 10 nodes up to 60 nodes.
Technologies: Hadoop, MapR, Apache Hive, HBase, Puppet

Senior Storage Administrator

2006 - 2010
Ancestry
  • Worked with a team managing all aspects of the storage environment. Managed SAN infrastructure using Brocade director-class switches. Managed 5+ petabytes of multitiered storage disk systems ranging from high-speed HA fiber channel disk systems.
  • Designed, architected, and deployed a new technology to increase availability and reliability while helping reduce operational costs. This required keeping up to date on new and upcoming technology and products.
  • Managed backup infrastructure with a 2,000 tape library. Managed data deduplication strategies with WAN optimization and helped design and implement remote DR facility to meet 15 minute RPO business requirements.
  • Collaborated with multiple value-added resellers and vendors to fully maximize our value with our products as well as bring new products to the table. This had become a valuable asset to get the best product while getting better pricing.
Technologies: NetApp, Isilon, SAN Brocade, Commvault, SANs, Fabric, FibreChannel, EMC DataDomain

Senior Unix/Linux Systems Administrator

2001 - 2006
Ancestry
  • Performed regular maintenance, upgrades, log processing, and security updates for systems. Installed custom applications and software which required some development, including many operating systems such as RedHat, Solaris, Debian, and CentOS.
  • Managed all storage systems running Unix/Linux and multi-tiered storage systems using a combination of near-line IDE/SCSI storage, NAS devices, and fiber channel storage.
  • Assisted as a network administrator. Managed Cisco firewalls and switches.
  • Managed all non-internal mail, including all customers, bulk mailings, bounce management, and blacklists. Also managed mailing lists that contained over 30,000 lists and over 600,000 users.
  • Managed the migration of hardware that reduced footprint from seven full racks into half of a rack.
Technologies: Linux, Unix, DNS, BIND, Cisco, Sendmail, Postfix, Perl, Shell Scripting, NAS Servers

Omnidata

https://bitbucket.org/toyssan1/105_can_test
This is the code for a personal project that converts incoming data to automotive CAN protocols to use generic software to monitor compliant applications.

Car Finder

An application that queries multiple third-party web sources with search criteria that is limited by the third party. After retrieving a collection of vehicles that meet the basic search, a further search using the VIN to pull dealer-specific build sheets. These can come in various formats, such as JSON or PDF. The data is filtered through a PDF processor, where I can search for more detailed information about a vehicle that does not show up in other searches.

I have used this multiple times for myself and others to help find particular vehicles, which often leads to cross-country acquisitions.

This also includes an easy-to-use function to request specific data just by VIN. I have publicly given out this endpoint. Currently limited to one type and one data point, but I am looking to expand.

Campsite Reservation Cancellation Tool

In the world of RV reservations, some RV parks are almost impossible to book. They book months in advance, sometimes over a year in advance. Thousands of people know when these spots get a reserve release, and they are all trying simultaneously. I have yet to be able to get one.

I developed a tool to notify me quickly of a cancellation. Since nobody knows when the cancellation will happen, you have to get these when they happen. At some places, these cancellations will be gone within 30 seconds, so you have to act quickly.

I am currently working on integrating with a chat system because I have found out that text messages will sometimes delay.

Platforms

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Linux, Amazon EC2, Docker, Icinga2, Kubernetes, AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), MapR, Unix, AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Other

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, CI/CD Pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Amazon RDS, Cloud Architecture, Vi, Shell Scripting, Networking, Firewalls, Customer Support, Customer Service, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), GoCD, SAN Brocade, Commvault, SANs, DNS, BIND, Cisco, Software, AWS DevOps

Tools

AWS OpsWorks, Chef, SaltStack, ELK (Elastic Stack), Atom, Vagrant, Nagios, AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Puppet, Ansible, Bamboo, Git, Bitbucket, NGINX, Varnish, Splunk, GitHub, Stash, Artifactory, Jenkins, Sendmail, Postfix, Slack

Paradigms

DevOps, Azure DevOps

Languages

Ruby, Python, Perl

Frameworks

Django, Flask, Hadoop

Libraries/APIs

Node.js, React, Fabric

Storage

MySQL, PostgreSQL, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Redis, Apache Hive, HBase, NetApp, Isilon, FibreChannel, EMC DataDomain, NAS Servers

MARCH 2023 - MARCH 2026

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional

Amazon Web Services

DECEMBER 2020 - PRESENT

HashiCorp Cloud Engineer Certification - Terraform Associate

Hashicorp

FEBRUARY 2019 - FEBRUARY 2022

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate

AWS

OCTOBER 2012 - OCTOBER 2016

SNIA Certified Storage Professional

SNIA

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