Tony is available for hire
Hire TonyTony Worm
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Denver, CO, United States
Toptal member since August 5, 2018
Bio
Tony is an automation and DevOps specialist. He has designed and built systems that power IBM Watson, support enterprise migrations, and help startups to get off the ground. His passion for learning and teaching increase his own skill sets and those around him.
Portfolio
Astronomer
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Amazon EKS...
TurbineLabs
IBM Watson, Erlang, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)...
Ferrum Health
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, Bash, Terraform, Ansible...
Experience
- Linux - 18 years
- Go - 9 years
- DevOps - 7 years
- Docker - 7 years
- Kubernetes - 6 years
- Google Cloud - 6 years
- Agile - 5 years
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 5 years
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
Vim Text Editor, Google Cloud, Linux
The most amazing...
...thing I've worked on was migrating IBM Watson's largest service to Kubernetes, while helping wider IBM with cultural changes around agile and dev enablement.
Work Experience
DevOps Consultant
2019 - PRESENT
Astronomer
- Slashed Kubernetes bill by 50% in less than two months, achieving $30,000+ in monthly cost savings by addressing cost control and configuration issues.
- Introduced the Tracer Bullet Method to establish a path for end-to-end testing and continual improvements.
- Created tests for platform operation and installation, integrated into CI/CD pipeline for automation.
- Improved experience and automation for enterprise installations of the Astronomer platform.
- Worked with team members to improve visibility and monitoring in Kubernetes. Established SLAs, created dashboards and alerts to report on uptime and an RCA process for improving when mistakes happen.
Technologies: Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Amazon EKS, Helm, Kubernetes, Google Cloud
DevOps Consultant
2019 - 2019
TurbineLabs
- Devised, developed, and deployed Kubernetes on Google Cloud for six environments.
- Collaborated with developers to incorporate necessary configurations to support application lifecycle management across multiple environments.
- Enabled self-reliance through detailed technical documentation, improving developer productivity, system stability, and process.
Technologies: IBM Watson, Erlang, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Google Cloud, Kubernetes
DevOps Consultant
2018 - 2019
Ferrum Health
- Established build automation for a complex, monorepo healthcare appliance with Jenkins.
- Automated and simulated an airgapped installation down to a single script via Ansible.
- Built developer tooling to simplify release packaging, testing, and verification.
- Incorporated intrusion detection, antivirus, and site-to-site VPN into appliance.
- Facilitated the migration from AWS to Google Cloud for improved developer productivity and happiness.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, Bash, Terraform, Ansible, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Jenkins
DevOps
2016 - 2017
IBM
- Completed first installation of Kubernetes in IBM Cloud, managed 10+ Kubernetes clusters, Migrated Waton's largest service to Kubernetes.
- Facilitated Kubernetes dev onboarding to educate peers on Kubernetes and DevOps best practices through user guides, presentations, and mentorshi.
- Built in-cluster service Crosstalk to facilitate Mesos / Kubernetes inter-cluster service discovery, yielding non-disruptive and independent upstream/downstream migrations. Leveraged Crosstalks advanced metrics and monitoring to inform IBM Cloud of malfunctioning networking equipment corrupting ~1/10000 packets.
- Managed AWS account for AlchemyAPI. Worked with IBM Research Knowledge Graph to port work to Docker and deploy to AWS.
- TLE speaker on scaling developers and processes. Participated in internal grassroots efforts for cultural change and education.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), IBM Cloud, SaltStack, Kubernetes
Teaching Assistant
2012 - 2015
Binghamton University
- Designed and co-taught a Flipped Machine Learning course.
- Developed automated grading systems.
- Served as an advisor for students on capstone projects and students in web development.
Technologies: Machine Learning, Google Workspace, Docker, C++, C, Python, Go
Experience
IBM Watson Natural Language Understanding (NLU)
Ported NLU to Docker and Jenkins. Designed and implemented the system for deploying Kubernetes to IBM SoftLayer. Managed 10+ clusters for public and dedicated deployments. Educated and assisted multiple teams from IBM Watson, Research, and GBS in their transition to Kubernetes.
Broader IBM Support
Educated and evangelized for developer productivity and enablement. Technical Leadership Exchange speaker and award recipient for "Scaling People and Processes with Agile Introspection." Participated in the grassroots effort for internal cultural change.
IBM Watson Discovery
Deployed a cluster to AWS for an internal prototyping hackathon for Watson Discovery. Worked with the lead developer to deploy more than two dozen versions in two days. Helped the lead developer understand the Kubernetes systems. Explained his “Ah ha” moment when Kubernetes stopped a bad deployment from interrupting the 50+ IBMers building on top of the Discovery prototype.
Crosstalk
Built micro-service in Golang to facilitate cross-cluster communication between Kubernetes and Mesos/Marathon clusters. Designed to seamlessly manage service resolution between Mesos and Kubernetes. Services running in Kubernetes could communicate with services in Mesos as if they appeared in Kubernetes, and services running in Mesos saw the services in Kubernetes as if they were in Mesos. Crosstalk monitored both Eureka and the Kubernetes API to update service resolution records in real-time. The service enabled teams to migrate from Mesos to Kubernetes without creating work for other teams whose services had upstream or downstream dependencies of the migrating teams' service. Crosstalks advanced metrics and monitoring were additionally able to inform IBM Cloud of malfunctioning networking equipment which was corrupting ~1/10,000 packets.
AlchemyAPI
Supported the AlchemyAPI (now Watson Natural Language Understanding) development teams. Managed the AWS account with IAM, EC2, S3, and auto-scaling groups. Rebuilt internal service registry and load-balancing to remove cross-product interference.
Education
2013 - 2016
Ph.D. in Computer Science & Machine Learning
Binghamton University - New York
2011 - 2012
Master's Degree in Computer Science
Binghamton University - New York
2007 - 2010
Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Computer Science & Mathematics
Binghamton University - New York
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Node.js, Google Cloud API
Tools
React Apollo, IBM Watson, Ansible, Terraform, Vim Text Editor, Google Workspace, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Jenkins, Helm, Amazon EKS, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Babel, Packer, Systemd, NGINX, Docker Compose, Docker Swarm, Let's Encrypt, SaltStack
Languages
Bash, Go, Bash Script, GraphQL, JavaScript, C, C++, Ruby, Erlang, Sass, CSS, HTML, Python
Platforms
Docker, Linux, Kubernetes, Hyperledger Fabric, Google Cloud SDK, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Frameworks
Express.js, Ruby on Rails (RoR)
Paradigms
DevOps, Agile, Continuous Delivery (CD), Automation, Templating
Storage
Google Cloud, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), PostgreSQL
Other
Mixed Reality (MR), Software Development, IBM SoftLayer, IBM Cloud, Machine Learning, Distributed Systems, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DNS Configuration, DNS Servers, DNS
Collaboration That Works
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
1
Share your needs
Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2
Choose your talent
Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3
Start your risk-free talent trial
Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring