LinkedIn by @Pragmatics, Inc.

When and why did you join Pragmatics? What was your journey to Pragmatics like?

I was initially referred to Pragmatics by a friend and learned about the Technology Solutions Group (TSG), which has served as the Pragmatics innovation center. I was impressed by Pragmatics' dedication to continuous innovation in next-generation pipelines, technologies, and processes. Soon after, I made my decision to join the company.

Within the TSG team, I have plenty of room to explore new technologies and try out different practices. This Research and Development (R&D) focus is a perfect match for my temperament and has allowed me to grow.

 

What is your current role at Pragmatics? Tell us more about one project that you're working on.

During my years at Pragmatics, the TSG team has grown bigger to include cross-functional skillsets and has made lots of innovative breakthroughs, especially in the Cloud and DevSecOps areas.

As a Practice Leader for Site Reliability Engineering, I spend a lot of time working on the Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline and developing DevSecOps practices and strategies.

Currently, I am working with the Business Development team on automating systems and integration level tests for a technical challenge required by a proposal. The automated testing will allow for quick feedback and help other developers make changes to the system with confidence.

 

Tell us about a time at work you thought you wouldn't succeed, but did.

I am thankful to be a part of a team and culture where talents with the right skills can support each other to perform our best as a group under high pressure.

Roughly two and a half years ago, I learned how to set up an OpenShift cluster and administer it. My team was initially given only three months to get the Infrastructure as Code (IaC) written and learn how to use the platform. Fortunately, we got the OpenShift cluster up much sooner than we expected.

I am thankful to be a part of a team and culture where talents with the right skills can support each other to perform our best as a group under high pressure.

 

As an AWS Cloud Community of Practice (CoP) member, tell us about your experience there.

I enjoy thinking about that and sharing my ideas and knowledge with CoP members in free-flowing ways that foster innovations and new approaches to problems.

I am one of the founding members of our AWS Cloud Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP was created to achieve Pragmatics' Cloud Center of Excellence goal - a corporate strategic organization aimed at improving Pragmatics cloud capabilities - by bounding practitioners and learners together.

The CoP has a focus on the "How" of things. I enjoy thinking about that and sharing my ideas and knowledge with CoP members in free-flowing ways that foster innovations and new approaches to problems.  Each month, we hold webinars open to employees from both technical and non-technical sides across Pragmatics. As one of the organizers, I help coordinate the webinars, give presentations to show my solutions and findings, as well as answer questions that people might have.

 

What advice would you have for young professionals just starting their careers?

I would let young professionals know that they are in it for the long haul. Coming right out of college, they may think of their current job as all there is. As I have continued my career, the extra time I have spent to truly understand technologies and principles has always paid off.

 

Outside of work, how do you describe yourself?

My wife and I like to walk our dog every day. I've always enjoyed taking a walk to relieve stress, and during COVID-19 times it is a great way to fight off cabin fever. On the weekends, we often take a hike at one of many national parks in Virginia.

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