Hello, my name is
Steve Morgan
And I'm a Solutions Architect

About me

I'm Steve and I'm currently a Solutions Architect!

In 2005, my tech odyssey began with a help desk position on a Navy contract, marking the start of a journey driven by my innate proficiency with computers. This early stage was more about survival in the tech world than realizing its vast potential.

My career between 2005 and 2016 was predominantly in DoD contracts and Microsoft enterprise environments in Hampton Roads, VA. A turning point came when my wife embarked on her PhD journey, prompting our move to the West Coast. This led me to Jet.com, a dynamic e-commerce startup later acquired by Walmart. My role there, and subsequently at Walmart's global email team, involved building and supporting expansive infrastructures across the US and in Dublin, Ireland. However, I yearned for the rapid learning and pace that Jet offered.

This desire for continuous growth and challenge inspired my shift in 2020 towards software engineering. As I delve deeper into this field, my current work in DevOps, site reliability engineering, and platform engineering has become a cornerstone of my professional development. These roles, blending rigorous technical skills with innovative problem-solving, are preparing me for my ultimate goal: to integrate my comprehensive background in infrastructure, operations, and software development into a software engineering role that continuously evolves and challenges the norm.

Every step of this journey, from help desk to high-level engineering, has been a building block towards a future where I can fully leverage my diverse experiences in a role at the forefront of technological advancement.

My skills

My current personal & professional experiences.

In my role as a Solutions Architect at the insurtech startup Cover Whale, I immediately recognized the necessity to implement modern software and DevOps best practices. A primary objective was to standardize our cloud infrastructure through infrastructure as code. Initially, Terraform was the standard choice, but as we ventured towards platform engineering, I encountered resistance from the engineering organization regarding the use of a domain-specific language.

This challenge led me to explore alternatives that aligned with our operational goals and team dynamics. Our exploration culminated in the adoption of Pulumi, a decision that profoundly resonated with our team’s ethos. Pulumi not only felt organic in its application but also marked a significant milestone in our understanding and implementation of DevOps principles.

Our engineering team has significantly benefited from this shift, experiencing enhanced collaboration and breakdown of silos. The foundation we built with Pulumi has been instrumental in our success, fostering a more integrated and efficient working environment. This journey with Pulumi has been a testament to the power of choosing the right tools that align with both our technical needs and team culture.

As part of my current role, I am responsible for maintaining an internal library of Pulumi components, a critical task that involves expertise in Golang, TypeScript, and Python. This library forms the backbone of our deployment and management processes for cloud infrastructure within AWS. Its design and implementation are pivotal in ensuring that our internal teams can work efficiently and productively.

Furthermore, the library plays a vital role in adhering to regulatory compliance requirements, an aspect crucial to our operational integrity. By providing robust and compliant infrastructure solutions, the library I maintain not only streamlines our internal processes but also reinforces our commitment to meeting industry standards.

I am passionate about exploring new technologies and continuously expanding my skill set. Currently, I am deepening my proficiency in Golang while simultaneously delving into Rust, a language I find fascinating and remarkably complementary to Golang. Rust's unique features and capabilities have captured my interest, especially with the recent launch of the AWS SDK for Rust.

This development has sparked my curiosity about integrating Rust with Pulumi. I am eager to explore the potential synergies between these technologies and assess the feasibility of bringing Rust into the Pulumi ecosystem. I believe that combining Rust's performance and safety features with Pulumi's infrastructure-as-code capabilities could unlock new possibilities and efficiencies in cloud infrastructure management.

Contact me

Feel free to reach out!

I'm always interested in learning and progressively getting better every day. I'm lucky to have a supportive family and professional team that affords me this opportunity. I think the best way to learn is through an exchange of knowledge.

Name
Steve Morgan
Location
Raleigh, NC
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