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#+TITLE: resume
#+AUTHOR: Nikolai Shields
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#+ADDRESS: Willing to relocate
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* Summary
- Fluent in Go, Python, Bash, Perl, C, Lisp, and Java
- 8+ years of experience in Kubernetes, Terraform and other DevOps tooling
- 9+ years of experience in implementing infrastructure as code in hybrid cloud environments, i.e., AWS and GCP
- 10+ years of experience in developing and administrating production infrastructure

* Work Experience
** Senior Devops Engineer, D-Wave Systems (2023 - Present)
*** Platform, D-Wave Systems
- 2024 D-Wave Hackathon Winner
- Lead the strategic design of a global quantum computing platform that enables fleet-level scaling and calibration. Spearheaded the first major infrastructure expansion in 5
  years by deploying a new US-East quantum compute region, directly supporting international operational growth.
- Engineered the novel integration of Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) into Kubernetes, enabling direct, high-performance access from the container orchestrator. This was
  achieved by developing a proprietary driver stack and contributing key upstream enhancements to Talos Linux, creating a new paradigm for quantum workloads analogous to GPU
  utilization in Machine Learning.
- Resolved a critical performance bottleneck in a low-level driver stack that had historically plagued both deployment velocity and quarterly maintenance cycles, resulting in
   a more stable, incident-free system that consistently meets uptime targets
*** Processor Development Software, D-Wave Systems
- Managed the development, maintenance, and operation of all quantum computers in the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Canada, and North America
- Created a containerized development environment reducing developer onboarding time from weeks to a day.
- Improved workload scheduling and end-user problem submission by developing a kubernetes operator
*** Development Operations, D-Wave Systems
- Increase deploy frequency by 50% by implementing zero-downtime deployments with CI/CD best practices
- Provided a self-service platform for teams by designing and deploying bare-metal GPU clusters into production.
- Oversee a junior developer team and interns, including hiring and conducting interviews
** DevOps Engineer, Enterprise Container Management, SUSE (2021 - 2023)
- Oversaw the release process as the primary release captain of k3s with 100% KPI success
- Operated production infrastructure across hybrid cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Equinix, and On-prem)
- Designed a suite of internal tools to unify team efforts and automate the release process
- Developed a SLSA Compliant CI/CD System
- Fostered a culture of safety around critical operations
** Software Developer, DevOps Department, cPanel - Houston, TX (2020 - 2021)
- Developed a containerized development environment that decreased onboarding time by over 90%
- Automated existing production deployments with GitLab CI/CD that increased deploy frequency from quarterly to daily/at will
- Captured metrics (DORA) in an ELK/Influx stack on multiple projects
- Created a reliable and repeatable process for delivering software efficiently by standardizing infrastructure with infrastructure-as-code principles
- Cultivated test driven developments for infrastructure to ensure developers' success in building robust, high-quality software
** Software Engineering Consultant / IT Operations Manager, Ergosphere LLC - Houston, TX (2018 - 2021)
- Implemented company-wide security protocols and technologies
- Optimized clients' daily business transactions by developing and maintaining websites and by deploying highly reliable technology
- Decreased clients' operating costs by facilitating cloud migration to the cloud [AWS, DO, GCP, Azure]
- Developed a Python program which automated data migration into a centralized platform to consolidate, structure, and organize data from 20+ partner carriers
- Digitized over 20+ years of paper records into a searchable, cloud-based office suite
** University of West Florida - Pensacola, FL (2015 - 2018)
*** Research Assistant, Cybersecurity & Mechanical Engineering
- Developed forensic procedures by testing industry toolsets on smart devices
- Developed a cyber-range for security training, competition, and research in collaboration with IHMC
- Aided in the development of a Software Assembly Pipeline
- Designed and administrated a 32 Node cluster-computer
- Fabricated 3D food printing mechanisms
- Modeled hydrodynamic drag forces of satellite tags on marine life
- Manufactured and designed application specific tools using CNC machines & 3D printers

* Publications
** "Design Opportunities for Sea Turtle Satellite Tracking Devices." ASME 2018 International Design Engineering
Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 4: 23rd Design for
Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference, 2018
** "A Pilot Study on Introducing Continuous Integration and Delivery into Undergraduate Software Engineering
Courses", 2017 IEEE 30 Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T), 2017

* Education
- Associates in General Studies - Pensacola State College, May 2015
- Pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Software Engineering - Western Governors University