Clouds
Michael Heitland
AWS Solutions Architect - Professional

Hello,

I am an AWS certified Cloud Solutions and DevOps Architect (certification on Professional Level) and senior dev with 15+ years of experience in Microsoft .NET software development (web and backend). Recently I returned from an eight years stint in New Zealand and am now looking for interesting projects.

I worked there as a team lead and senior developer for Xero, New Zealand's leading cloud-based software company. Forbes has placed Xero in the No #1 spot on its 'World's 100 Most Innovative Growth Companies' list. I was involved in the design and implementation of web applications and back end solutions to integrate bank transactions into Xero's systems. Rather than running servers in proprietary data centers, Xero is running the whole infrastructure of several thousand servers in the Amazon Cloud. We were organized in cross-functional agile Scrum teams, following the principles of the DevOps movement (developers are also responsible for building infrastructure [Infrastructure as Code]), automating tests, deployment and monitoring.

Previously I worked as a solutions architect and senior developer for the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand. I was responsible for introducing service-orientated architecture (SOA) and worked on the design and implementation of web and desktop applications (ASP.NET, WPF, C#, SQL Server).

I would describe myself as a hands-on cloud architect with a strong background as a software developer. Furthermore, I created a few mobile apps for iOS and Windows 10 (see here). I also have some experience with databases, ETL, AI, Docker/Kubernetes and Serverless Computing. For my academic background: I studied computer science and did a Ph.D. in AI about fault-tolerant pattern matching using neural networks. In the past I have also worked as a Microsoft certified trainer (.NET, ASP.NET web applications, SQL Server, C#), was a scrum master and got the vendor-independent certification as a Professional Software Architect from the International Software Architecture Qualification Board (iSAQB). Other certifications include AWS Certified Developer, AWS Certified SysOps and various Microsoft developer certifications.

My Focus:

  • Cloud Computing (Consulting, Architecture, Implementation, Training)
  • .NET Solutions (Consulting, Architecture, Implementation, Training)
  • DevOps methods (Infrastructure as Code, CI / CD pipelines, automat. Testing + Monitoring)
  • Agile Software Engineering using Scrum

Work Experience:

2019/07 - today Senior DevOps Architect by Amazon Web Services
2018/05 - 2019/06 Freelancer: Cloud Solutions Architect (AWS + iSAQB certif.), Senior Dev & Trainer
2013/06 - 2018/04 Team Lead & Senior Dev at Xero in New Zealand (Cloud Solutions)
2011/08 - 2013/03 Freelancer: Solutions Architect, Senior Dev & Microsoft Trainer
2008/09 - 2011/07 Solutions Architect & Lead Dev at Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
2005/01 - 2008/06 Freelancer: Solutions Architect, Senior Dev & Microsoft Trainer
1994/12 - 2004/12 Solutions Architect and Lead Dev, finally R&D Manager (17 reports) at Caatoosee
1989/10 - 1990/06 Intern at Volkswagen (Diploma Thesis "IMS for Used Cars")

Education & Certifications:

2022/07 Hashicorp Certified: Terraform Associate
2022/01 AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (SAP)
2021/05 AWS Certified Security – Specialty (SCS)
2020/01 AWS Certified DevOps Architect - Professional (DOP)
2019/04 Microsoft Certified Azure Fundamentals
2018/12 AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional (SAP)
2018/11 Certified Professional Software Architect (iSAQB)
2017/09 AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA)
2017/06 AWS Certified Developer - Associate (DVA)
2017/04 AWS Certified Solutions Arhitect - Associate (SAA)
2013/03 MCPD Web Developer .NET 4.0
2013/01 Professional Scrum Master (PSM I)
2012/06 Third prize in .NET programming contest (dotnetpro magazine)
2011/04 MCPD Windows Developer .NET 4.0
2008/01 MCPD Enterprise Applications .NET
2007/09 Second prize in .NET programming contest (dotnetpro magazine)
2006/08 Zertifizierung MCTS (MS Certified Technical Specialist)
2004/11 MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer)
2004/01 - 2004/06 MCSD (MS Certified Solution Developer)
1991/01 - 1994/06 Doctorate (AI/Neural Networks, state scholarship)
1990/10 - 1990/12 Language and bicycle holiday in New Zealand
1982/10 - 1990/06 Study of Computer science at TU Braunschweig, Diploma Thesis at Volkswagen

Skills:

Platforms .NET, AWS, Azure, Alexa, Serverless (Lambda), Docker/Kubernetes
Programming Languages C#, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, Java, HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript, XML/XSD, C, C++, T-SQL, Objective-C, Python, Powershell
Operating Systems Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS
Databases MS SQL Server (ADO.NET, Entitity Framework, Dapper), MySql, NoSql
CI / CD Pipeline CloudFormation, Terraform, Team City, AWS Code Deploy, Octopus Deploy, GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins
Testing xUnit, NUnit, MSTest, Selenium, SpecFlow
Monitoring Sumo Logic, Splunk, Cloud Trail, Cloud Watch
System Analysis OOA / OOD, Design Pattern
Special Knowledge Cloud Computing, DevOps, ETL, AI, Information Retrieval
Soft Skills Project and team management, Scrum
Foreign Languages German: native
English: fluent (eight years in New Zealand)
Portuguese: good (two years in Brazil)
French: good (six years of French at school)

Tony Hoare described the famous computer pioneer Niklaus Wirth as "Master of Simplicity". Wirth as the creator of Pascal, Modula and Oberon has been able to penetrate complex issues and to model them that they were simple enough to be manageable. This difficult art of simplicity serves me at work as a leitmotif.

If you contact me, I would be glad to send you further details about completed projects, work experience and a CV.


.Net Pro Contest Certificate