User details
Michael Connaker
@michael_connaker_54lovjk45
IT Engineer
Austin, TX, United States
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Member since: Jan 20, 2025My name is Michael Connaker, and I am an experienced Site Reliability Engineer and Cloud Engineer.
With over a decade of experience in Information Technology, I have worked across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including networking, systems administration, desktop support, and cloud management. Currently I specialize as a Site Reliability Engineer and Cloud Engineer, where my expertise in Infrastructure as Code (IaC), GitOps, Configuration Managment and CI/CD tools is used to automate deployments for improved efficiency, scalability, and cost optimization. I have a strong ability to drive collaboration with clients and teams, ensuring seamless execution and delivery of results.
I have extensive leadership experience, serving as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to clients and colleagues, as well as a Team Lead managing a team of 8 to 12 members. In this role, I provided guidance and direction, collaborated with management to develop and enhance onboarding procedures, SLAs, SLOs, technical documentation, and shaped the team’s vision and strategy. Additionally, as an Agile leader, I facilitated sprints, reported progress to senior leadership, and led Scrum of Scrums and retrospectives to drive continuous improvement.
I am educated with a Bachelors of Arts in General Studies and Associates of Applied Science in Computer Networking & Systems Administration. I have also achieved several industry certifications.
Outside the technical realm, I’m an avid reader with a passion for Sci-Fi and Supernatural genres, and a dedicated gamer, having explored countless virtual worlds across multiple platforms. Yet, my most fulfilling adventure is fatherhood to my two teenage daughters and a newborn son — a role that brings immense joy and fresh challenges every day.
Contracted as a Site Reliability Engineer to support a client's multi-cloud infrastructure spanning AWS, Azure and GCP. Primarily focused on AWS, recognized as a Subject-Matter Expert, delivering advanced solutions, and ensuring scalable, secure, and resilient cloud operations.
• Enhanced the quality and quantity of technical documents and workflows, leading to improved understanding and usage of technologies across the organization.
• Consistently maintained current knowledge of AWS technologies. Researched, evaluated and tested new tools and software for potential AWS deployment, implementing proof of concept environments in sandbox to ensure thorough testing and validation.
• Collaborated with managers to define and track project milestones, deliverables, and issues using agile methodology, ensuring effective project management and continuous improvement.
• Ensured compliance with corporate policies and standards to minimize costs associated with the implementation of applications and services in AWS.
• Cultivated a strong partnership with the clients' internal teams, fostering seamless communication and collaboration across infrastructure domains.
• Developed AWS SDK Pythons scripts to retrieve data from AWS and deployment.
• Architect and maintain CI/CD deployment pipelines to streamline infrastructure deployments and enhance reliability.
• Engineered tailored IAM policies, roles and user management for secure, delegated access within AWS.
• Developed Ansible playbooks to automate routine tasks such as software installation, configuration management and infrastructure provisioning at scale.
• Implemented and maintained Terraform configuration to automate the provisioning and management of cloud resources, reinforcing the Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approach.
• Managed, maintained and troubleshoot Kubernetes on AWS (EKS).
• Developed a solution that incorporated CIS image hardening for both Linux and Windows environments, along with deployment of security tools using Packer to ensure efficiency, designed the solution for repaid deployment across multiple accounts and regions.
• Implemented a robust patching solution using AWS Systems Manager. Deployed VPC endpoints, created IAM instance role profile to enable AWS Systems Manager to effectively manage the EC2 instances, and developed an Ansible playbook to install SSM agents on existing RHEL servers.
• Collaborated with client to successfully deploy Prisma Cloud within AWS. This solution involved executing CloudFormation StackSets templates to facilitate access across multiple organizations and accounts, as well as deploying Prisma Cloud Defender on ECS to enhance security and monitoring capabilities.
. Collaborated with client to utilize FinOPs in AWS through the Cost Optimization Hub.
As a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) at Brightpearl, supported an AWS multi-account infrastructure using DevOps and SRE practices and ensured scalable, secure, and resilient cloud operations.
• Delivered Tier3 break/fix support with a specific focus on swift resolution of large-scale production outages to drive continuous operation and optimal performance.
• Partnered with cross-functional teams to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues.
• Transformed Terraform from a monolith project approach to using modules for reusable bits of code that can be used to organize configuration into logical components.
• Created Ansible playbooks to deploy software onto servers.
• Facilitated and led agile scrum meetings.
As a Site Reliability engineer at Privo-Navisite, facilitated and delivered tier 1 and tier 2 support for clients, efficiently managing and optimizing AWS cloud infrastructure, resulting in seamless operations and improved resource management.
• Designed, implemented and maintained AWS CloudFormation configurations to automate the provisioning and management of cloud resources, ensuring consistency, scalability, and operational efficiency.
• Expertly managed and optimized cloud infrastructure across various AWS services and delivered robust, tailored solutions that enhanced overall performance and reliability.
• Fostered strong partnership and collaboration with clients on ticket and project requests, ensuring seamless and timely communication on all requests.
Equipped team with the leadership and direction needed for the success of daily activities and long-term initiatives for a sophisticated, virtualized infrastructure of 5K+ Linux and Windows servers on the IBM Cloud.
• Leveraged time management and organization skills to ensure success in a 24/7 production setting.
• Championed the creation of an inclusive, support team culture with a focus on team development and high morale.
• Employed communication skills as the liaison for backend outage issues involving coordination with network teams to solve disruptions and reporting production outages to upper management to minimize downtime.
• Designed and maintained on-call schedules, developed a team charter aligning with SRE and Agile goals, and drafted comprehensive documentation and policies.
• Oversaw server management, leading incident management processes, fostering open communication and ensuring compliance with SLOs to maintain high standards of service and reliability.
As a Cloud Infrastructure Specialist at IBM, played a key role in the optimization of a sophisticated virtualized environment of Linux and Windows servers, which included overseeing the administration of essential services (including OS, storage, networking, and middleware), backend storage systems, networking infrastructure, and the introduction of new optimizations for performance, scalability, and security.
As a Windows 10 specialist at IBM, played a key role in fostering relationships with senior Windows Engineers to enhance problem-solving efficiency and work around solutions. Consistently documented technical problems and maintained a collection of technical resolution documents and workflows for the team and managed calls and chats, diagnosing, and resolving issues to minimize disruption and optimize system performance. Collaborated with the development of a team charter aligned with SRE and Agile principles to foster a unified direction and operational focus. Fostered relationships with senior Windows Engineers to enhance problem-solving efficiency and workaround solutions.