Forrest Thomas

Cloud-Native Architect | AI Enthusiast | Non-Classical Computing Curious

Engineering scalable systems with curiosity — Building tomorrow's infrastructure

📍 SF Bay Area
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Beyond Binary Thinking

As a veteran software engineer, I bring expertise in leveraging cloud platforms (AWS) and cloud-native technologies (Kubernetes) to architect, develop, and manage scalable applications. I primarily utilize Golang to extend Kubernetes functionality through custom controllers, develop scalable APIs, standardize CI/CD systems, and build robust CLI tooling.

My approach to software development prioritizes security, scalability, and simplicity—operating in a superposition of innovation and reliability. I am also an advocate for intelligent and judicious use of AI-assisted tooling in engineering workflows, believing in the fusion of human curiosity and artificial intelligence.

With curiosity driving my exploration of emerging technologies, I continuously seek to push the boundaries of what's possible in cloud-native infrastructure, creating systems that scale beyond traditional limitations.

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Superposition of Skills

🚀 Golang 95%
Kubernetes Extensions and CLIs
☸️ Kubernetes 95%
Container Orchestration
☁️ AWS 90%
Cloud Platforms
🏗️ IaC 85%
Terraform, Helm, and someday Harbor
🔄 CI/CD 90%
GitLab, GitHub, CircleCI, Jenkins, and even some Custom CI/CD Systems
🐳 Docker 85%
Containerization
🤖 AI/ML Tooling 75%
Intelligent Automation

Experience

Staff Site Reliability Engineer

Garner Health

Nov 2024 - Present

New York (remote)

  • Designed and delivered the company's business continuity and disaster recovery plan for all services after performing a comprehensive business impact analysis across all products
  • Drove the adoption of multiple third-party SaaS tools to level-up the engineering organization's maturity in the areas of observability, security, and AI-assistant technology
  • Architected and implemented a novel cloud resource provisioning engine based on a functional ontology that ensured semantic validity of infrastructure operations and was assigned a provisional patent

Senior Software Engineer

Paxos

Jul 2023 - Nov 2024

New York (remote)

  • Spearheaded a critical initiative to revamp CI/CD processes across the engineering org, focusing on optimizing developer workflows, enhancing productivity, and ensuring safe deployments
  • Played a pivotal role in defining and implementing a multi-year strategic vision for an exemplary developer experience, seamlessly integrating cloud-native technologies like Kubernetes and Argo into our development pipeline

Senior Software Engineer

Splunk

Sep 2019 - Jun 2023

San Francisco

  • Designed and deployed a scalable CD framework for Kubernetes, streamlining service deployments and facilitating a cloud-native approach to application delivery
  • Championed the use of Terraform for infrastructure management, simplifying cloud configurations and accelerating deployment processes

Senior Software Engineer & Manager

Capital One

Jul 2015 - Aug 2019

San Francisco

  • Led the development of a GitOps-oriented CI/CD platform, incorporating Kubernetes into our cloud infrastructure, which significantly accelerated innovation while ensuring compliance
  • Architected a cloud-native deployment strategy that improved the delivery efficiency of web content to millions of customers, leveraging Docker and AWS for a seamless operation

Web Developer

Monsoon Company

Oct 2014 - Jul 2015

Oakland

  • Engineered a sophisticated network graph visualization tool for a major financial services company, showcasing the intricate web of relationships among traders and mapping their comprehensive communication networks
  • Crafted an all-encompassing full-stack web application tailored for tax offices, streamlining the management of customer relations, profiles, and essential tax documentation

Quantum Leaps in Infrastructure

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PATENT

Harbor - Semantic Cloud Provisioning Engine

Architected and implemented a novel cloud resource provisioning engine based on a functional ontology that ensures semantic validity of infrastructure operations.

Golang Kubernetes Cloud Infrastructure Functional Programming
Provisional Patent #63/808034
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Kubernetes Flagger Extensions

Extended the capabilities of Flagger, a Kubernetes custom controller used for canary deployments, contributing to the open source community.

Golang Kubernetes Open Source DevOps
Open Source Contribution
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GitOps CI/CD Platform

Led development of a comprehensive GitOps-oriented CI/CD platform that accelerated innovation while ensuring compliance for millions of customers.

Kubernetes Docker AWS GitOps
Production at Capital One

Certifications

☁️ AWS Solutions Architect - Certified

Academic Foundations

🎓

Master of Theology

Theology in History

University of Edinburgh

2013

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Bachelor of Arts

Theology

William Jessup University

2006

"My multidisciplinary background in theology and technology creates a unique perspective—where the humanities meet technical innovation."

Entangled Networks

Let's Connect

Ready to explore possibilities in cloud-native infrastructure or dive deep on the implications of AI in software engineering or even a casually curious chat about the potential of non-classical computing, today? Don't hesitate to reach out.

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📍 SF Bay Area

"Engineering at the Speed of Light"