Alexander Fortin

Software Engineer


Professional Experience

DevOps Engineer

Plato Inc. - San Josè (USA) / Remote
2021 - 2025

DevOps Engineer lead for AWS infrastructure. Led migrations: EC2 to ECS/Fargate, then to EKS. Implemented Infrastructure as Code with Terraform (AWS resources, DataDog, CloudFlare). Built CI/CD pipelines with CodePipeline and GitHub Actions. Implemented DataDog monitoring. Established DevOps best practices and mentored junior engineers.

Tech stack
  • AWS
  • Golang
  • Terraform
  • Docker / Kubernetes (ECS/Fargate, EKS)
  • PostgreSQL / Redis
  • CDNs (CloudFlare, CloudFront)
  • CI/CD (AWS CodePipeline, GitHub Actions)
  • DataDog

Freelancer

Special Circumstances Ltd - Remote
2017 - 2020

IT consulting: cloud migration, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD pipelines, and system automation. Advised on web architectures, microservices design, network planning, and security solutions.

Senior System Engineer

Bonial International GmbH - Berlin (Germany)
2013 - 2016

Operations team lead at multinational publisher. Refactored Puppet codebase managing thousands of servers. Led cloud migration from Rackspace to AWS. Transitioned from self-managed infrastructure to cloud services using Terraform. Implemented internal Terraform orchestrator for CI/CD integration and IaC enforcement.

Tech stack
  • AWS / Rackspace cloud
  • Debian GNU/Linux
  • Ganeti virtualization
  • Docker
  • Terraform
  • Puppet
  • Icinga
  • Apache web server
  • Tomcat/JVM
  • PostgreSQL
  • Python automation with Fabric and Boto libraries
  • Jenkins
  • Gerrit
  • Datadog
  • OpenLDAP
  • data confidentiality with LUKS

Senior System Engineer

Spreaker - Rimini (Italy) / Berlin (Germany)
2011 - 2013

Operations lead for AWS infrastructure. Transitioned config management from Bash to Puppet. Implemented monitoring with Zenoss Core and ELK stack. Enabled infrastructure to scale to 1+ million users.

Tech stack
  • AWS
  • Puppet
  • Vagrant
  • PHP-FPM
  • Nginx
  • RabbitMQ
  • Sensu
  • Zenoss Core
  • Python automation with Fabric and Boto libraries
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis
  • Graphite/Carbon
  • StatsD
  • Logstash
  • Elasticsearch
  • Kibana
  • MongoDB
  • SphinxSearch

Co-founder

Devsum - Brescia (Italy)
2010 - 2013

IT consulting: architected and expanded infrastructure for internal and customer systems. Led services and software deployments. Defined technical strategies and technology adoption decisions.

Tech stack
  • GNU/Linux
  • FreeBSD
  • Puppet
  • vTiger CRM
  • Apache web server
  • Monit
  • Munin
  • OpenSSH
  • OpenVPN
  • Samba
  • firewalling with Iptables
  • BackupPC

System Administrator

Studio Synthesis Srl - Brescia (Italy)
2008 - 2010

Architected and deployed public/private cloud infrastructure for business intelligence. Monitored and managed local and on-site systems. Developed PHP modules for vTiger CRM.

Tech stack
  • GNU/Linux
  • Windows Server
  • TrueCrypt
  • Iptables
  • PHP-FPM
  • vTigerCRM
  • Apache web server
  • Bind
  • Pentaho BI
  • Asterisk PBX

Junior System Administrator

Informed Technology Pty. Ltd - Perth (Western Australia)
2007 - 2008

Managed network infrastructure: backups/restores, new services and systems deployment, updates, corporate customer support, help desk for dial-up customers, rack/patch panel maintenance

Tech stack
  • Solaris and Linux
  • OpenSSH
  • rsync
  • stunnel
  • Bacula
  • OpenLDAP
  • Iptables
  • Sendmail
  • Cyrus-IMAP
  • Apache web server
  • BIND

System Administrator (university stage)

Assyrus Srl - Brescia (Italy)
2004

Developed and deployed anti-spam system using Linux, Postfix, and Spamassassin

Tech stack
  • Cisco
  • Firewalls
  • VPN
  • Network Security
  • Backup Solutions

Linux System Administrator

Turboden Srl - Brescia (Italy)
2004 - 2007

Designed and deployed Internet/Intranet email services. Improved security with a Linux-based firewall. Administered Linux servers across the network.

Tech stack
  • Postfix
  • Dovecot
  • Spamassassin
  • Iptables
  • OpenSSH
  • OpenVPN

TV technician

Editoriale Teletutto Bresciasette Srl - Brescia (Italy)
1998 - 2007

Operated broadcast equipment: audio/video mixers, players, recorders, non-linear editing (Adobe Premiere, Sonic Foundry Vegas), on-air playlists software, switches, cameras, lighting, wireless microphones

Tech Skills

  • Software Development
  • Linux System Administration
  • Database Administration
  • Cloud Computing
  • DevSecOps
  • Scalability & Container Orchestration
  • Infrastructure as Code
  • Configuration Management
  • Monitoring & Observability
  • CI/CD Pipelines
  • Network Administration

Soft Skills

  • Technical Leadership
  • Mentoring & Coaching
  • Processes Optimization
  • Technical Documentation
  • Solution Oriented

Languages

  • English (fluent)
  • Italian (native)
  • Spanish (fluent)
  • German (basic)

Open Source Projects