Steven Connolly

Senior Cloud Architect

AWS (12x), K8s (3x), GCP (1x)

SAPC01 Certificate DVOC01 Certificate ANSC00 Certificate DASC01 Certificate MLSC01 Certificate DBSC01 Certificate SCSC01 Certificate PASC01 Certificate CSAA Certificate DC01 Certificate SOAC01 Certificate CLFC01 Certificate k8 Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist Certificate k8 Certified Kubernetes Administrator Certificate k8 Certified Kubernetes Application Developer Certificate Terraform Associate Certificate GCP ACE Certificate

Skills

LANGUAGES

Python, JS, CSS, HTML, BASH, SQL, YAML, JSON, Terraform

IaaC

Terraform, CloudFormation

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Windows, Linux, Ubuntu, CentOS

SOURCE CODE MANAGEMENT

GIT, GitHub, CodeCommit

DATABASES

DynamoDB, MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB, ElasticSearch, SQL Server

AWS CLOUD SERVICES

IAM, Lambda, S3, Glacier, Route53, SQS, SNS, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, EC2, Elastic Beanstalk, EBS, EFS, VPC, Fargate, ECS, EKS, DynamoDB, RDS, Kinesis, CloudFront, CloudFormation/SAM, API Gateway, CodePipeline, CodeBuild, ElasticSearch, CodeDeploy, CodeStar, etc.

CONTAINERS

Docker, Docker Compose, Docker Swarm, Docker Registry, Docker Desktop, Kubernetes

KUBERNETES

Setup (Cluster, EKS), Deployments, Secrets, RBAC, Microservices, Service Mesh Istio, Network Policies, Ingress, Security (AppArmor, Falco, Trivy)

Certifications

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (SAP-C01)

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional (DOP-C01)

AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty (ANS-C00)

AWS Certified Data Analytics - Specialty (DAS-C01)

AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty (MLS-C01)

AWS Certified Database - Specialty (DBS-C01)

AWS Certified Security - Specialty (SCS-C01)

AWS Certified SAP on AWS - Specialty (PAS-C01)

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C02)

AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA-C01)

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA-C01)

AWS Certified Cloud Practioner (CLF-C01)

CNCF Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)

CNCF Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

CNCF Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)

Hashicorp Certified: Terraform Associate (HCTA0-002)

GCP - Associate Cloud Engineer

Featured Projects

View selected projects below. More information can be found at github.com/SConnolly1886.

Cloud Resume Challenge

Cloud Resume Challenge

Amazon S3, Amazon CloudFront, Amazon Route 53, AWS API Gateway, AWS SAM, AWS DynamoDB

Deployed an HTML static website for my resume using AWS S3. Configured AWS CloudFront, OAI and ensured S3 website is secure via HTTPS. Configured AWS Route 53 for a custom domain name and pointed to the CloudFront distribution (using SAM). Included a JS snippet inline in the HTML to call an AWS API Gateway with an AWS Lambda backend. The Lambda retrieves and updates the visitor count in a DynamoDB database. This was all done using IaaC (Infrastructure as Code) with an AWS SAM template. A CI/CD pipeline was created for both the front and back end using CodeCommit and CodePipeline. A Lambda is called as the last stage of the pipeline to invalidate the cache whenever the frontend github repo is updated.

Follow the steps on my blog
Diagram of AWS and On-Premises Environments

AWS Site-to-Site VPN

Amazon S3, Amazon CloudFront, AWS Customer Gateway, AWS Transit Gateway, VPC, Subnets

Creating a highly available dynamic VPN connection between AWS and a simulated on-premises environment. 2 Cloudformation templates were created for this project that simulate the 2 environments. Ipsec tunnels are created between the on-premises routers and the AWS environment. This is done through BGP and dynamic routing.

View the project
Showing VPC and subnets created using Terraform

AWS EKS Cluster with Terraform

AWS VPC, Subnets, EKS, Kubernetes, Terraform

A project that uses Terraform to create an AWS EKS Cluster. A VPC with 3 private and 3 public subnets is created. Auto-Scaling groups of two EKS Worker groups are created in the private subnets. The necessary IAM roles and security groups are also created. A Kubernetes Dashboard is then created using "kubectl"

View the project
Showing Monolith to HA picture

AWS Monolith to Fault Tolerant Infrastructure

AWS VPC, Subnets, EFS, RDS, Aurora, ALB, CloudFormation

A project that uses CloudFormation to create a VPC with 3 public and 6 private subnets. Several steps show how to transform a monolith application into a multi-tiered highly available application. This is done using an Auto-Scaling Group behind an Application Load Balancer. Using EFS as a shared file system and finally, an Aurora cluster for the database tier.

View the project

Work Experience

See my complete work history on LinkedIn.

Senior Cloud Architect - CAE

Caylent Inc.

Oct 2023 – present

  • Advanced knowledge applied to solve complex issues
  • Successfully operates in the most complex disciplines
  • Develops strategy and sets functional policy
  • Development of innovative solutions/services
  • Technical thought leadership
  • Cross-practice, multi-function teamwork

Cloud Architect - CAE

Caylent Inc.

Sep 2022 – Sep 2023

  • Develops POCS, migration strategies for clients
  • Contributes to the development of new processes/methods
  • Provides Mentoring and Guidance.

Senior Cloud Engineer - CMM

Caylent Inc.

Sep 2021 – Aug 2022

  • Helped to attain AWS DevOps Competency
  • Migration of CDN to AWS CloudFront
  • Transit Gateway/TGW Attachment setup
  • DR Assessments
  • Control Tower Catalyst set up
  • 2021 MVP - Cloud Migration and Modernization ('Caylien' Awards)

Logistics Manager

Market Connections Inc.

Jan 2015 – Sep 2019

  • Integrating with IT Department to correct/implement strategies on data formatting/access.
  • Migration of data to devices. Implementing setup and software access
  • Oversee production, shipping, letter shop, and machine operations
  • Lead and execute workflow and operational best practices and manage related machine software
  • Manage/maintain inventory and orders (Data input, spreadsheets Macros/VBA)
  • Assign job responsibilities to operators and material handlers
  • Continuously assess operational needs, workflow and project process
  • Coordinate and ensure accuracy of multiple complex tasks and projects
  • Track and forecast inventory and budget (SQLite)
  • Format and refine data including graphic templating
  • Regularly communicate with external stakeholders, clients
  • Coordinate with system managers to ensure accuracy of inventory management

Shipper/Receiver

Market Connections Inc

May 2010 – Dec 2014

  • Oversee incoming and outgoing shipping of large scale direct marketing mail
  • Maintain accuracy with shipping documentation
  • Regularly communicate with external stakeholders, clients
  • Manage machine set up and run multiple simultaneous tasks independently

Sales Representative

Frito-Lay Canada

Aug 2006 – Apr 2010

  • Identification of the optimal product deployment for customers in area.
  • Track, monitor, analyze sales and projected sales for each client
  • Communicate and negotiate with external stakeholders
  • Confirm inventory, verify accuracy of stock and create new orders
  • Develop rapport with managers and problem solve collaboratively
  • Observe and analyze consumer trends

Education

York University - Toronto, ON

Bachelor of Arts, 2001-2004

Administrative Studies and Information Technology.

Ryerson University - Toronto, ON

Data Analytics, Big Data, and Predictive Analytics Certificate

2020-2021