Irek Pelech

seniorlinuxadmin.co.uk

Github / LinkedIn


Summary

Experienced Senior Technical Architect and Senior DevOps professional with a strong background in Linux system administration, AWS Cloud, VMware, Networking, Security, Automation, and Containerization. Known for introducing container technology and Automation/Infrastructure as Code to enhance environment build and management. Adept at providing technical solutions, high-level/low-level designs, and mentoring teams. Proficient in scripting with Bash,Python, Ansible, CloudInit and Terraform.

Employment

Senior Technical Architect

Worldline, UK

• Provide technical solutions and design infrastructure

• Build relationships with sales/partner leads and technical stakeholders

• Offer technical guidance and advice to internal and external teams

• Develop High-level and Low-level design

• Lead migration from in-house cloud to AWS

• Implement Infrastructure as Code for automation (Terraform, Terragrunt, Ansible, Cloud-Init)

• Deploy and manage Linux systems

• Deploy and manage AWS resources

• Design and build containers for Docker Swarm & AWS ECS/Fargate

• Create and present Proof of Concept systems and solutions

• Write scripts in Bash and Python

• Assist with the setup of DevOps & Infrastructure strategy and roadmap

• Offer security guidance for Cloud, Network, and Linux systems

• Run and analyse outputs from Security pen tests

• Provide guidance and mentorship to junior engineers

• Deliver knowledge transfer sessions to Engineers

• Manage the engineering team during the Head of DevOps' absence

• Conduct knowledge transfer sessions for Engineers

Technical Architect

Worldline, UK

• Provided technical solutions and designed infrastructure

• Offered technical guidance and advice to internal and external teams

• Built relationships with business partners and technical stakeholders

• Developed High-level and Low-level design

• Created and presented Proof of Concept systems and solutions

• Implemented Infrastructure as Code for automation (Terraform, Terragrunt, Ansible,Cloud-Init)

• Designed and built containers for Docker Swarm

• Wrote scripts in Bash and Python

• Deployed and managed Linux systems

• Deployed and managed AWS resources

• Worked closely with DevOps and Developers teams

• Conducted knowledge transfer sessions for Engineers

Senior DevOps

Worldline e-payments company by Atos, UK

• Developed High-level design and implementation

• Provided system configuration and deployment

• Built and managed Linux VMware virtual machines and Docker containers

• Wrote automation code using Bash and Kickstart

• Designed and implemented a monitoring solution based on Zabbix, Grafana, and Prometheus

• Provided knowledge transfer to Junior Engineers

• Provided out-of-hours support

Platform Engineer

Symantec - Reading, UK

• Developed High-level design

• Offered solutions to technical issues.

• Created an in-house Linux system distribution

• Wrote system documentation

• Built custom packages and patches

• Conducted knowledge transfer sessions for Engineers and NOC

Senior System Administrator

NICE Systems, UK

• Built and supported dev, test, and production environments base on Linux systems and worked on Red Hat Virtualisation hypervisor

• Provided application tests and deployment

• Designed system and application monitoring based on Zabbix

• Conducted knowledge transfer sessions to Junior Engineers

• Provided out-of-hours support

Service Engineering Specialist

Blackberry (RIM) - Slough, UK

• Built and supported 6000+ Linux production servers

• Wrote system automation code in Puppet

• Managed VMware Data Centers

• Conducted application tests and deployment

• Designed and engineered service and product solutions

• Wrote system documentation and KPIs

• Resolved level 3 issues transferred from NOC

• Conducted knowledge transfer sessions to NOC

• Provided out-of-hours support

• Participated in new employees hiring process

Linux & Network System Administrator

Hostway UK LTD, London, UK

• Build and support hosting hardware infrastructure - VMware platform and networking

• Build and support over 300 Linux systems which provided services for our hosting customers

• Manage over 30 systems responsible for monitoring, authentication and account management

• Design and engineer service and product solutions

• Write system documentation

• Provide out of hours support

• Participated in new employees hiring process

• Built and supported hosting hardware infrastructure - VMware platform and networking

• Built and supported over 300 Linux systems which provided services for our hosting customers

• Managed over 30 systems responsible for monitoring, authentication and account management

• Designed and engineered service and product solutions

• Wrote system documentation

• Provided out of hours support

• Participated in new employees hiring process

Data & IP – Engineer

KDDI Europe LTD, UK

• Built and supported servers hardware infrastructure located in our Data Centers

• Built and supported over 20 virtual and hardware Linux systems

• Managed application and system monitoring platform based on Nagios

• Designed, build and manage VMware ESXi 4.x and vSphere 4.x virtualization platform

• Managed KDDI EU backbone network infrastructure

• Cooperated with engineers in Tokyo

System Administrator

New York Internet, USA


• Built and suppored hardware infrastructure located in our Manhattan Data Center

• Managed 50+ company Linux/FreeBSD/Windows hosting servers

• Managed Data Center network infrastructure

• Provided on-site support for Data Center customers

• Provided international customer service via telephone and ticket system

• Managed of floor and space at Manhattan the Data Center

• Supervised younger technicians who reported directly to me during weekend shifts

WAN Administrator

Telefonia “Dialog”, Poland

• Built and managed ISP infrastructure (over 300.000 customers)

• Managed internet access systems (ISDN / analog telephony access servers, leased Frame Relay / HDLC access routers)

• Configured and managed hosting servers (mainly Sun Sparc with Solaris Unix and an installed Iplanet / Netscape web server, Netscape LDAP and Messages Netscape)

• Provided 3rd level support for the first level customer service team

LAN Administrator

Computer Systems “Cuprum 2000”, Poland

• Managed internal servers with Windows NT system

• Managed internal email, dns, firewall and telecommunication software

• Managed company's LAN infrastructure

• Configured and managed hosting servers (mainly Sun Sparc with Solaris Unix and an installed Iplanet / Netscape web server, Netscape LDAP and Messages Netscape)


In April 2000, “Cuprum 2000” was acquired by Telefonia “Dialog”

Senior Hardware Technician

Computer Systems “Cuprum 2000”, Poland

• Provide technical warranty and post-warranty hardware and system support

• Build customized servers

• Install, configure and tune Windows and Unix systems

• Working with hardware suppliers

• Provided technical warranty and post-warranty hardware and system support

• Built customised servers

• Installed, configured and tuned Windows and Unix systems

• Worked with hardware suppliers

Education

Bachelor of Computer Engineering

Zielona Gora University of Science
Zielona Gora, PL

Attended trainings

AWS Well-Architected
Red Hat Delivery Specialist - OpenShift
Cloud Native Certified Kubernetes Administrator
Machine Learning by Stanford University
System Operation on AWS
DevOps Engineering on AWS AMWSDE
AWS Technical Essentials
AWS Security Fundamentals
AWS Technical Professional
Certified White Hat Hacker Level 1 (CWHH Level 1)
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards
Introduction to Project Management (PMI, APM and PRINCE 2)
CompTIA® Cloud Essentials™
Cloudera Administrator Training for Apache Hadoop
Kepner-Tregoe problem solving
RHCSA Fast Track Course (RH199) and System Administration III (RH254)
Puppet Master Training
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage
Cisco ASA First Touch
QoS Mechanism in IP Networks
Network management - CISCO WORKS 2000
Cisco Access Servers ISDN & Dial On Demand routing
Building Scalable Cisco Networks (640-503)
Interconnecting Cisco Networks Devices (640-811)

Skills

Systems

• Linux Systems - CentOs/RH, Debian, Ubuntu

• FreeBSD

• Windows


Networking

• Overall networking knowledge - IP, UDP, Subnetting, Switching, Routing, VPN, Tunnelling

• Load Balancing, Reverse Proxies, Firewalls

• AWS SDN - VPC, Transit Gateways, Security Groups, NACL's, Routing ...


DevOps Tools & Automation

• Bash, Python

• Infrastructure as Code - Ansible, Terraform, Terragrunt, Packer, Cloud-init

• Monitoring - Zabbix, Nagios, AWS CloudWatch, Prometheus, Grafana

• CI/CD - Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, Bitbucket CI/CD

• Vagrant & Git (GitLab & Bitbucket)


Collaboration tools

• JIRA, Confluence, Lucidchart


Virtualization

• Amazon AWS, VirtualBox, Vmware


Containerisation

• Docker, Docker Swarm, AWS ECS, AWS Fargate

• Kubernetes (learning)


Security

• Linux & Network Security

• MFA, PKI, Linux authentication over Windows AD & LDAP

• Kali Linux Advanced Penetration Testing Linux


Hardware

• Real hardware servers including blade servers with remore access systems like iDRAC & iLO

• Remote access & management like KVM & Serial Terminal Servers

• Device racking and cabling (inluding cat5/6 cable building)

• Networking equipment like routers, switches and hubs

• Cabinet design


and much much more ...

Languages

• Polish - mother tongue

• English - business professional

Hobbies

Linux & Open Source, Rock & Heavy Metal Music, Syfy & Documentary movies, Arcade games, 8/16 bits Computers (mostly Atari , I use to be coder in assembly language when I was teenager), White Hacking & Travelling.