Hi there! I am

@chriswachira

Builder of scalable, reliable and highly-available secure cloud infrastructure...

I am a passionate Platform, DevOps & Cloud Infrastructure engineer making use of modern cloud technologies to run web applications at scale, fast and secure. All for the users’ best experiences.

Resume

This site's tech stack

About Me

I am a software developer with a strong passion for cloud computing and web security. I have a background in computer science and mathematics, and I have a strong interest in the intersection of technology and art, mostly films and video games :).

I am currently a Cloud Support Engineer (Containers) at Amazon Web Services in Nairobi, Kenya.

Here are a few technologies I've been working with recently:
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
  • Hetzner Cloud
  • Elastic Kubernetes Services / Google Kubernetes Engine
  • Docker / containerd
  • Python

Experience

Cloud Support Engineer I (Cont.) - Amazon Web Services
April 2024 - Present
Providing support to AWS customers working with containerized workloads in their environments e.g. EKS, ECS, Fargate and more…
Lead DevOps and Infrastructure Engineer - Savannah Informatics Ltd
Nov 2020 - Dec 2023
  • Lead a small team of DevOps and infrastructure engineers; introduced site reliability engineering as a culture and standard.
  • Planned and provisioned optimised infrastructure on Google Cloud and AWS - VMs, buckets, DNS, managed databases, GKE clusters.
  • Architected a partner cloud-based EMR (based on OpenMRS) on Hetzner baremetal servers and automated creation of customer VMs using Virsh, Qemu with Bash and Ansible.
  • Centralized sprawled Helm charts across dozens of GitLab repos into standardized charts stored in GitLab’s Helm registry.
  • Implemented company-wide standards for application deployment and lifecycles.
  • Spearheaded an incremental upgrade of legacy systems from VMs to container-based workloads to both GKE and EKS.
  • Conducted trainings for developers on new technologies and changes across several fields e.g. Kubernetes basics, DevSecOps etc.
  • Oversaw information security practices for both developers (OWASP, CVE scanning etc) and non-technical teams by training them on cybersecurity - avoiding suspicious websites, verifying email senders, social engineering etc.
  • Reduced overall expenditure of cloud costs and SaaS subscriptions by USD 4,500 monthly.
  • Migrated access to our fleet of OpenSSH servers to using Teleport SSH for better secured developer access to servers, PostgreSQL databases and Kubernetes clusters.
  • Rolled out encryption of production database backups stored on Amazon S3 using GPG keys.
  • Architected and implemented an autoscaling fleet of GitLab runners on GKE using Spot VMs; reduced CI runner wait times to nearly zero, increased developer productivity by 60%.
Lead I.T. Systems Technician - Net Pro Systems
Nov 2017 - Oct 2020
  • Setup internet for homes and business with a focus on reliability and customer satisfaction.
  • Developed custom PHP modules for Prestashop e-commerce website.
  • Lead digital marketing for internet and product sales by properly setting up SEO and social media marketing campaigns.
  • Setup applications and tools that helped management of growing customer base including accounting and networking applications on Linux servers e.g. Odoo ERP, Ubiquiti Network Management System (UNMS) with proper TLS security from Let’s Encrypt with Cloudflare DDNS aiding in updating DNS records on public IP changes.
  • Moved company’s ecommerce website from a poor web hosting provider to self hosting on an on-premise Linux server (a humble Lenovo Core 2 Duo desktop), increasing performance by at least 300% and resulting in website appearing on top 3 Google search results (We all know Google loves fast websites).
  • Researched and implemented a switch from static IP to PPPoE authentication for customer routers which allowed for easier management and scaling.
IT Technician - Gigabyte Systems Ltd
June 2015 - May 2017
Responsible for computer repair/maintenance, setting up of computer networks, operating systems’ installations (Windows & Linux), Mail setup and troubleshooting etc.

Get in Touch

My inbox is always open. Whether you have a question or just want to say hi, I’ll try my best to get back to you!
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