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Experience

Chaos Master (Pty) Ltd., Cape Town - Founder, Digital Solution Consultant - 2024-10 - Current

I operate as a highly versatile systems architect and consultant, helping clients cut through their digital chaos, by designing, automating, and stabilizing critical infrastructure. I specialize in Linux and UNIX systems, DevSecOps, HPC deployments, documentation, and technical training. I don't just build systems—I build sustainable habits for teams. My goal is to replace duct-taped legacy chaos with elegant, reproducible, and revision-controlled environments. I help clients define, document, and deploy technical infrastructure that works, scales, and makes sense to the humans who rely on it.

Main duties:

  • Infrastructure Architecture & Automation
  • Design, deploy, and manage high-availability infrastructure across hybrid environments (bare-metal, cloud, and HPC clusters).
  • Implement end-to-end automation using Ansible, GitLab CI/CD, Terraform, and shell/Python scripting.
  • Standardize infrastructure provisioning via Infrastructure-as-Code, ensuring everything is version-controlled and repeatable.

Technology Stack: Project Planning, Technical writing, HPC, IAM, IaC*

Rain, Cape Town - Senior Systems Administrator - 2024-06 - 2024-08

Main duties:

  • Protect Rains critical information, systems, and assets.
  • Build and implement new software and hardware solutions
  • Provide training and Mentorship to junior and intermediate techs
  • Assist in the design and development of overall systems strategies

Technology Stack: ubuntu, kubernetes, rancher, nagios.

Icon Oncology, Cape Town - Linux Systems Administrator - 2022-08 - 2023-07

My two primary assignments were to create a long term plan for the uncertain future of the CentOS based Linux systems and also to start deploying a technology stack and procedures that can begin to align the development and deployment process in line with modern DevOps Practices.

Main duties:

  • Technical, architectural and procedural documentation
  • Introduction and deployment of git, Gitlab and docker swarm
  • Migration from Jira to Gitlab, from Jenkins to Gitlab CI/CD
  • Introduction and deployment of ansible and AWX
  • Migration from nagios to check_mk and from ELK to Grafana Loki
  • Replace alert and bulletin emails with webhook notifications using MS Teams.

Technology Stack: AlmaLinux 8, Gitlab CI/CD, Ansible, Docker Swarm and Portainer, check_mk, PCP, Grafana Loki, MS Teams and Mattermost.

Weill Cornell Medicine (Qatar) - Advanced Computing Lead Engineer - 2012-02 - 2021-08

Primary technical contact for for HPC and Scientific Computing, primarily serving the various Omics Core Research Divisions (Genomics, BioInformatics, Microscopy, BioStatistics, Proteomics)

Main duties:

  • Planning and architecting system improvements
  • System admin, maintenance
  • Data management and data management policies
  • System automation and Performance optimization.
  • Scientific Instrument automation and pipeline consultation
  • Cluster Job management and maintenance

Technology Stack: CentOS, IBM GPFS, gcc/icc, SLURM, MySQL, docker, swarm, oVirt, foreman, Infiniband, active directory, Matlab, ISC DHCPD, BIND

Weill Cornell Medicine (Qatar) - Server Administrator - 2009-06 - 2012-02

Member of the Server Applications Team, Primary Unix/Linux Lead for Academic, E-Library and Enterprise platforms

Primary Duties

  • Platform Integration / Windows / OS-X / Linux / AIX
  • Integrate existing AIX/Linux/OS-X/Windows Infrastructure
  • Consolidate disparate/duplicate services across the platforms
  • Maintain development infrastructure for .NET and Java

Technology Stack:* Linux, RedHat, CentOS, Debian, FreeBSD, MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL, Shell Scripting, puppet, git, redmine, check_mk, nagios.

Telefonica O2 / BeUnlimited (London, UK) - Senior Systems Administrator - 2006-08 - 2008-10

Team Leader for Broadband Infrastructure and CRM Systems

Main Duties:

  • Project design, deployment, documentation and maintenance
  • Developer support
  • 24/7 Customer Support

Highlights: Fastest DNS for Broadband provider in the UK (BIND Auth, djbdns resolvers on FreeBSD. Voted IT Manager of the Month for London IT Magazine

Technology Stack: Linux, CentOS,JBOSS, FreeBSD, MySQL, Oracle, Linux, Shell Scripting, puppet, git, redmine, check_mk, nagios.

Ancient History

Global Reach Technology (London, UK) - eCommerce Application Developer - 2006-05 - 2006-07

Enable new eCommerce features in the bleeding edge release of PHP

Primary Duties:

  • Custom compiled PHP and PHP debugging
  • Linux Kernels hacks, custom compilations and debugging

Imagination Group Ltd (London, UK) - Systems Developer - 2005-04 - 2006-04

  • Develop solutions for in house IT infrastructure
  • Custom FreeBSD OS and Kernel patches
  • Awk Automation.build AfterEffects Render Farms

Syzygy Ltd (London, UK) - Systems Administrator - 2004-07 - 2005-04

Support Designers and .NET and Java Developer Environments

  • Manage Customer CRM Platforms (websphere) and Messaging Platforms (postfix)
  • Build Systems for Targeted Research Tracking (apache, sendmail)
  • Build, deploy new UNIX (Solaris), Linux (RedHAT) and Mac systems
  • 24/7 support

Rackspace (London, UK) - Support Engineer - 2003-12 - 2004-05

Part of the original “Fanatical Support” Managed Services Team

  • Single and Complex Managed Server deployments (Multi-Server, FW, Content Switches)
  • All support functions.

A valuable learning experience:

We (the techs), spent many an evening, working totally alone, in a huge warehouse data-centre in a very bad neighbourhood in Slough, West London; surrounded by around 10000 servers, doing new deployments as well as being the Bastions of Rackspaces “Fanatical Support”, a mantra, we experienced as a noose around our necks. Our performance baseline being: “Any call must be answered by a human within 3 rings”. A daunting, anxiety ridden, near impossible promise, that created much conflict between engineers and operational management. This, coupled with a bizarre, rotational shift schedule (on: 3 nights 12 hours, off: 2 days off, on:2 days 8 hours, off: 3 days, on: 2 nights 12 hours, back-to-back with 2 days 12 hours), meant that we experienced a frighteningly fast turnover rate for new employees, and making me understand why they had a perpetual probation policy which kept staff off the books as permanent, until probation was arbitrarily deemed complete. I was always tired, my relationship was on the rocks and my attempts to stand up for the rights of my teammates and mine, ensured that I would never get out of probation; no matter how I performed. It’s safe to say, I’ve been intolerant of such abuse since, and happy to say that not too long after I and a slew of other top techs left, drove Rackspace to move from the worst place to work at, to one of the best.

Primarily, I served as the sendmail gateway specialist and Lead Unix Specialist for Large Managed hosting clients. Our premium product being Lotus Notes, its core driven by a very complicated Sendmail to Notes Gateway

  • All Unix and Linux deployments, maintenance and administration
  • Core BIND DNS, ISC DHCPD and Radius
  • Core mail gateway customisation (sendmail m4 hacking, Lotus Notes)

Dimension Data (Bryanston, RSA) - Systems Administrator - 1999-11 - 2001-08

I spent much of my early time here, consolidating Solaris 5 and 6 servers into larger Sparc 64 Solaris 7 servers. For the latter half, I was either onsite at clients, fixing or upgrading the clients Network Monitoring Infrastructure (Netcool, Spectrum Network Analyzer, BMC Patrol)

Primary Duties:

  • Unix Systems Administration
  • System Security Administration
  • Enterprise Network Monitoring Specialist
  • Pre-Sales Consultant for Customer on Enterprise Network Management Systems

NetActive Internet (JHB, RSA) - Contract Internet Engineer - 1999-08 - 1999-11

Deploy Internet Business Solution to SME Market

  • Install Digital Links for Internet
  • Setup intranets for customers
  • Setup mail gateways for customers

CKS (JHB, RSA) - Software Manager/Site Engineer/Helpdesk - 1995-01 - 1999-06

This is actually such a significant place for me. I had never even touched a computer before starting here. Initially, the Owners, Ken and Gordon, hired me as a paid apprentice on less money I had earned in my previous jobs as a Tiler and Carpenter. I was basically told, “We will pay 1000 Rand a month. If, in 3 months' time, you suck, you should return to your prior labour. If, however, you are decent, we will pay you a lot better and make you permanent”. So, I really started from the absolute bottom, and took to computers like a duck to water, and very quickly rose in the ranks. Ken and Gordon, kept their promise, they made me permanent, and raised my salary to 5k.

This company was, and still is, the developer of Unisolv, the most popular and widely deployed pharmaceutical retail software in South Africa. Amazingly, to this day, it is still actively developed using Cobol 85 on Linux and Windows. The very first machine I touched was an Intel 286 that I had to put together, using a manual I barely understood. The first OS I learnt was SCO/Microsoft Xenix. I first built pcs, next: deployed them at customers, initially just installation, but within a few weeks, provided training for this new digital MIMS as well; soon after, I was deploying our entire offering for small to large customer; everything from Servers, to terminals, archives, multihomed site muxing and data-warehousing.

I eventually got tired of driving 100k every year, so I moved to the Helpdesk. I was a tireless and enthusiastic phone support nerd, so it didn't take long till I was running the Helpdesk too. Eventually, I needed to get back out again, I had sores on my ears from spending days on 8 hour calls, helping tech inept Pharmacist Assistants reinstall and restore entire systems supported by me on the opposite end, armed with a 9600 baud rate connection, uucp, rz/sz and gopher; a necessity driven by the minimum 12 hour journey separating them and the closest tech. My time to leave was soon approaching, I had served my final year as the Software Manager, where I planned and managed customer feature development in the software. I loved this place, I had served in every technical role the company had, so, I left the only way I would have, for a girl.