Nicholas S.
About Nicholas S.
Nicholas S. is a Senior DevOps/Platform Engineer at Backstop Solutions Group in Chicago, Illinois, with extensive experience in DevOps practices and platform engineering. He holds a Master's degree in Software Engineering and has worked in various technical roles, including as an adjunct instructor at DePaul University.
Work at Backstop Solutions Group
Nicholas S. currently holds the position of Senior DevOps/Platform Engineer at Backstop Solutions Group, a role he has occupied since 2020. In this capacity, he utilizes advanced knowledge of Jenkins, Puppet, and Python3 to enhance DevOps processes. His expertise includes managing cloud infrastructure and optimizing platform performance. Prior to his current role, he worked as a DevOps Engineer at the same organization from 2019 to 2020, where he contributed to various projects aimed at improving operational efficiency.
Education and Expertise
Nicholas S. studied at DePaul University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from 2012 to 2016 and a Master of Science in Software Engineering from 2016 to 2019. His academic background laid the foundation for his technical skills, particularly in AWS services, including Cloud Formations, EC2, S3, EBS, VPC, Boto3, DLM, and AWS-CLI. He has developed a strong background in Ruby and Wildfly/JBoss, which supports his role in platform engineering.
Background in Education
Nicholas S. has a significant background in education, having worked at DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media in various roles. He served as an Adjunct Instructor for eight months in 2020 and as a Graduate Assistant/Tutor from 2016 to 2019. Additionally, he held positions as a Course Assistant/Grader and Technical Support Specialist during his studies, contributing to the academic environment while gaining practical experience.
Experience at Discovery Education
Nicholas S. worked at Discovery Education from 2015 to 2019, where he held multiple positions, including Jr. Systems Engineer and Systems/DevOps Engineer. His tenure included an internship as an Infrastructure Intern in 2015. During this time, he gained hands-on experience in systems engineering and DevOps practices, which further developed his technical skills and understanding of cloud infrastructure.
Technical Skills and Tools
Nicholas S. possesses a diverse skill set that includes proficiency in Gitlab Administration, Nomad, Consul, and Docker, which are essential for efficient platform engineering. He is also experienced in using monitoring and project management tools such as Splunk, JIRA, Confluence, and Grafana. These skills enable him to effectively manage and optimize DevOps processes in his current role.