133 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
133 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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name: Nikolai Shields
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header:
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- text: <span class="iconify" data-icon="tabler:phone"></span> (+1) 804 714 7020
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newLine: true
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- text: <span class="iconify" data-icon="tabler:mail"></span> contact@nikolaishields.com
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link: mailto:contact@nikolaishields.com
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- text: <span class="iconify" data-icon="tabler:brand-github"></span> nikolaishields
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link: https://github.com/nikolaishields
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---
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## Summary
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- Fluent in Go, Python, Bash, Perl, C, Lisp, and Java
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- 8+ years of experience in Kubernetes, Terraform and other DevOps
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tooling
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- 9+ years of experience globally scaling HPC and hybrid cloud environments across all major hyperscalers
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- 10+ years of experience in developing and administrating production
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infrastructure
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## Work Experience
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### Senior DevOps Engineer, D-Wave Systems (2023 - Present)
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#### Platform, D-Wave Systems
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- 2024 D-Wave Hackathon Winner
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- Lead the strategic design of a global quantum computing platform
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that enables fleet-level scaling and calibration.
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- Spearheaded the first major infrastructure expansion in 5 years by deploying a new US-East quantum compute region, directly supporting internationaloperational growth.
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- Ingtegrated Quantum Processing Units (QPUs)
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into Kubernetes, enabling direct, high-performance access from the
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container orchestrator.
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- Contributed upstream enhancements to Talos Linux, creating a new paradigm for quantum workloads analogous to GPU utilization in Machine Learning.
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- Resolved a critical performance bottleneck in a low-level driver
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stack that had historically plagued both deployment velocity and
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quarterly maintenance cycles, resulting in a more stable,
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incident-free system that consistently meets uptime targets
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#### Processor Development Software, D-Wave Systems
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- Managed the development, maintenance, and operation of all quantum
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computers in the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Canada, and North
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America
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- Created a containerized development environment reducing developer
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onboarding time from weeks to a day.
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- Improved workload scheduling and end-user problem submission by
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developing a kubernetes operator
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#### Development Operations, D-Wave Systems
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- Increase deploy frequency by 50% by implementing zero-downtime
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deployments with CI/CD best practices
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- Provided a self-service platform for teams by designing and
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deploying bare-metal GPU clusters into production.
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- Oversee junior developers and interns, including hiring and
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conducting interviews
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### DevOps Engineer, Enterprise Container Management, SUSE (2021 - 2023)
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- Oversaw the release process as the primary release captain of k3s
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with 100% KPI success
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- Operated production infrastructure across hybrid cloud environments
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(AWS, GCP, Equinix, and On-prem)
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- Designed a suite of internal tools to unify team efforts and
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automate the release process
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- Developed a SLSA Compliant CI/CD System
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- Fostered a culture of safety around critical operations
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### Software Developer, DevOps Department, cPanel - Houston, TX (2020 - 2021)
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- Developed a containerized development environment that decreased
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onboarding time by over 90%
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- Automated existing production deployments with GitLab CI/CD that
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increased deploy frequency from quarterly to daily/at will
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- Captured metrics (DORA) in an ELK/Influx stack on multiple projects
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- Created a reliable and repeatable process for delivering software
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efficiently by standardizing infrastructure with
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infrastructure-as-code principles
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- Cultivated test driven developments for infrastructure to ensure
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developers\' success in building robust, high-quality software
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### Software Engineering Consultant / IT Operations Manager, Ergosphere LLC - Houston, TX (2018 - 2021)
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- Implemented company-wide security protocols and technologies
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- Optimized clients\' daily business transactions by developing and
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maintaining websites and by deploying highly reliable technology
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- Decreased clients\' operating costs by facilitating cloud migration
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to the cloud
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- Developed a microservice that automated data migration into a
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centralized platform to consolidate, structure, and normalize data
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from 20+ partner carriers
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- Digitized over 20+ years of paper records into a searchable,
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cloud-based office suite
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### Research Assistant, University of West Florida - Pensacola, FL (2015 - 2018)
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- Developed forensic procedures by testing industry toolsets on smart
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devices
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- Developed a cyber-range for security training, competition, and research in collaboration with IHMC
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- Aided in the development of a Software Assembly Pipeline
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- Designed and administrated a 32 Node cluster-computer
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- Fabricated 3D food printing mechanisms
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- Modeled hydrodynamic drag forces of satellite tags on marine life
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- Manufactured and designed application specific tools using CNC
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machines & 3D printers
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## Publications
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[~P1]: **Design Opportunities for Sea Turtle Satellite Tracking Devices**
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*ASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, 2018*
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[~P2]: **A Pilot Study on Introducing Continuous Integration and Delivery into Undergraduate Software Engineering Courses**
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*2017 IEEE 30th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T), 2017*
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## Education
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**Western Governors University**
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Pursuit of B.S. in Software Engineering
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~ 10/2023 - Present
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**University of West Florida**
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~ Pensacola, FL
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Pursuit of B.Eng. in Software Engineering
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~ 2012 - 2018
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**Pensacola State College**
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~ Pensacola, FL
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Associates in General Studies
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~ May 2015
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