Max C.

IT Generalist • Individual Contributor

Reliability, Automation, Security, and Hybrid Cloud Systems.
16+ years designing, building, and operating secure, automated, and distributed systems across SaaS, data center, and multi-cloud environments.
Hands-on CTO • Startup mentality • Full-stack infrastructure ownership

Yes, the list below is long. Yes, interviewers tell me to "pick a lane."
I'm a generalist — that's the point. Curious about life, I fix what's broken, learn what's needed, ship what matters.

16+
Years Experience
70+
AWS Accounts
150+
GitHub Repos (mostly private)
50+
Automation Tools

☁️ Cloud & Infrastructure

🏗️ AWS Multi-Organization Architecture

4 AWS Organizations, 60+ accounts. SSO with named profiles, VPCs, Security Groups, Cost Explorer optimization, AWS Health monitoring, CloudTrail auditing.

AWS SSO VPC/SG Cost Explorer Control Tower AWS Health Named Profiles

🔧 Infrastructure as Code

Terraform for EC2, EBS, S3, Lambda, DLM, CloudWatch. CDK for Kubernetes clusters. CloudFormation for legacy stacks. Multi-account state management.

Terraform CDK CloudFormation Lambda DLM/EBS

🌐 Cloudflare & DNS

Pages deployment, Workers, DNS management, Web Analytics. Email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) configuration and hardening.

Cloudflare Pages DNS DMARC

🔒 VPN & Network

WireGuard, OpenVPN, MikroTik RouterOS. BGP routing, VLAN segmentation, network hardening, cross-connects.

WireGuard MikroTik BGP Routing

🖥️ Physical Datacenter

Dell PowerEdge servers, iDRAC management, SAS storage with multipath. Hyperconverged infrastructure, rack & stack, cabling.

Dell iDRAC SAS Multipath HCI Rack & Stack

🤖 Automation & Integration

👥 Identity & Access Management

Comprehensive employee lifecycle automation across 13+ systems: Google Workspace, M365 (9 tenants), Slack, Atlassian, AWS, Active Directory, and more.

Google Workspace M365 Active Directory Slack

📧 Email & Communication

Gmail API automation, Slack bot development, email parsing, automated notifications via Telegram. Inbox organization and compliance tools.

Gmail API Slack SDK Telegram Bot IMAP

🎭 Browser Automation

Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) for UI automation where APIs don't exist. React input handling, session management, screenshot capture.

Chrome CDP Puppeteer Node.js pychrome

📊 API Integrations

Deep integration with enterprise APIs: Google Workspace, M365/Entra, Slack, Atlassian, BambooHR, KnowBe4, Zoom, JetBrains, Cursor, GitHub.

Google Workspace M365/Entra Slack Atlassian BambooHR KnowBe4

💻 Development

🐍 Python Ecosystem

50+ automation scripts and tools. Flask web apps, API clients, data processing, OAuth flows, async operations, CLI tools with rich output.

Python 3.13 Flask asyncio requests

🐹 Go Projects

TUI apps with Bubble Tea, system monitors, activity trackers. Goroutine management, CGO for macOS APIs, cross-platform CLI tools.

Bubble Tea CGO TUI Concurrency

📦 Node.js & Electron

CDP automation, Slack admin tools, menu bar apps. Chrome DevTools Protocol, HID device control, desktop apps with Electron.

Node.js Electron CDP pnpm

🍎 macOS Native Development

Swift menu bar applications, LaunchAgents, system integration. Keyboard remappers, usage monitors, typing speed trackers, Hammerspoon automation.

Swift SwiftUI AppKit Hammerspoon

🤖 Android Development

Native Android apps in Kotlin. Call screening service, system permissions, background services, ADB automation for testing.

Kotlin Android SDK Gradle ADB

🌐 Web Development

React + TypeScript frontends, Flask backends, static sites. Dark mode UIs, responsive design, real-time dashboards, REST API design.

React TypeScript Vite Tailwind

🛡️ Information Security

🔐 Security Architecture

Zero-trust design, defense in depth, least privilege IAM policies, network segmentation, encryption at rest and in transit (KMS, AES-256).

Zero Trust IAM KMS VPC Security

📝 Audit & Compliance

CloudTrail log analysis (1.4TB+), SOC 2 / ISO 27001 controls, user access auditing, security incident investigation, compliance reporting.

CloudTrail SOC 2 ISO 27001 Athena

🎯 Threat Detection & Response

Vulnerability management, automated patching workflows, security awareness training (KnowBe4), incident response playbooks, recovery verification.

KnowBe4 Patching IR Playbooks CVE Triage

🔔 Security Monitoring

Real-time alerting, SIEM integration, syslog aggregation, anomaly detection, server health monitoring (iDRAC), Telegram/Slack notifications.

EventBridge SIEM Syslog Alerting

🚀 Notable Projects

Employee Lifecycle Automation

Comprehensive onboarding/offboarding system integrating 13+ enterprise systems with full audit trail and verification.

EC2 Self-Service Portal

Web app for team members to manage their own EC2 instances — start, stop, SSH key management, cost tracking with 30-day history.

Multi-Org AWS Analysis

Complete mapping and documentation of 4 AWS Organizations, 60+ accounts, SSO configurations, and cross-account access patterns.

Slack Presence Monitor

macOS menu bar app + EC2 daemon monitoring user presence with Telegram alerts and duration tracking.

Claude Usage Tracker

Swift menu bar app showing real-time Claude.ai usage limits with weekly projection and CSV history export.

Cursor Team Stats

Automated hourly collection of team usage statistics via API with historical data storage and trend analysis.

SOC 2 Evidence Automation

Automated collection of compliance evidence across AWS, Google Workspace, and M365 — access reviews, audit logs, policy enforcement snapshots.

Intune MDM Rollout

Enterprise-wide device management deployment — Windows & macOS policies, compliance baselines, app deployment, conditional access integration.

JumpCloud Identity Platform

Unified identity management across cloud and on-prem — SSO, directory services, device policies, RADIUS authentication.

monn — System Monitor

macOS GPU/CPU/memory monitor in Go with TUI. Real-time metrics, per-process tracking, sleep detection via NSWorkspace, goroutine leak hunting.

Heap Keeper

Electron menu bar clipboard manager with encrypted storage, AI-powered naming (Ollama), 16K+ file indexed search, image capture with WebP thumbnails.

kb-remap — Keyboard Remapper

Lightweight Swift CGEventTap keyboard remapper. Replaces Karabiner without Virtual HID — no USB freeze issues. Typing speed tracker included.

kb-switch — Language Switcher

macOS Ctrl+Shift language switcher with giant flag toast overlay. Direct TIS API, 0.4s animation, menu bar icon with current language.

Razer macOS

Open source RGB control for Razer devices on macOS (keyboards, mice, mats, eGPUs). USB HID reverse engineering, works on Apple Silicon.

Glorious RGB Control

USB HID protocol reverse engineering for Glorious Model O mouse. Captured USB traffic, decoded 528-byte config packets, cross-platform Python driver.

Chrome CDP Automation

Browser automation via Chrome DevTools Protocol when APIs don't exist. React input handling (nativeInputValueSetter), session hijacking, UI scraping for admin portals.

Smooth Window Mover

macOS window mover/resizer using ⌘⌥⌃ + mouse. Native APIs for buttery smooth movement — no jerky Accessibility API updates. Signed menu bar app.

Browser Customization

Tampermonkey userscripts and Chrome extensions for workflow automation. Custom UI tweaks, keyboard shortcuts, admin portal enhancements.

btop++ Contribution

Fixed display dropout issues in the popular terminal system monitor. Open source contribution to C++ codebase.

MedicalBridge Prototype

No-code MVP for medical tourism startup. Airtable backend, provider directory, procedure search — built in one night.

Zoho Mail for Small Business

Custom domain email setup for local businesses — DNS records, SPF/DKIM/DMARC, mailboxes. Professional email without enterprise pricing.

Disk Scanner Android App

Barcode scanner for HDD inventory. ML Kit + CameraX, SQLite database with 200+ drives, instant serial lookup. 100% offline.

🎓 Certifications & Education

☁️ AWS Solutions Architect – Associate
Sun Certified Java Programmer
🎓 MSc Engineering – SPbPU
📊 CMU Software Estimation

🧰 Daily Toolkit

☁️ AWS
🔵 Azure
🌈 GCP
🤖 Claude Code
Cursor
⌨️ CLI-first
🍎 macOS
🐧 Linux
📦 Git/GitHub
🐳 Docker
🧠 Codex
💎 Gemini CLI

🎿 Beyond the Keyboard

⚡ Electric Unicycles & Onewheel

PEV riding — EUCs and Onewheel at a chill 25 km/h. Safe cruising, battery systems, and enjoying the ride over chasing speed.

Kingsong Inmotion Onewheel Safe Cruising

🛹 Surfskate & LDP

Surfskate carving and Long Distance skating — pumping, pushing, and mongo. Miami 24h Ultraskate finisher, 100 Mile Club.

Swelltech YOW Curfboard Carver JMK Freeskates Dragan Snakeboard
G|Bomb Don't Trip Riptide Pantheon Bossa Board Rocket Board

🎯 Slacklining

Balance training on webbing — core strength, focus, and proprioception. From backyard sessions to park setups.

Gibbon Slacklines Balance Core Training

🥩 Sous Vide Cooking

Precision temperature control for perfect results. British-style low-sugar lemon-ginger marmalade, steaks, and more. Food science meets engineering.

Precision Cooking Anova Marmalade Lemon-Ginger

💪 Strength Training

Consistent gym routine — compound lifts, progressive overload, and proper recovery. Whey isolate, tracking macros, optimizing for gains.

Workout Whey Isolate Progressive Overload

🐿️ Backyard Wildlife

Feeding squirrels, rescuing lost skunks, coexisting with local fauna. The neighborhood critter whisperer.

Squirrels Skunk Rescue Wildlife

🛁 Hot Tub Maintenance

Freshwater spa chemistry — chlorine, oxidizing shock, enzymes, alkalinity/hardness balancing. Filter cleaning, jets flushing, heater replacement.

Chlorine Ox Shock Enzymes Filter Care Heater Repair

🏠 Smart Home & Air Quality

Multi-ecosystem setup: Alexa Echo, Google Hub, Nest, Ecobee. Indoor air quality monitoring with comparative measurements. Emporia energy tracking.

Alexa+ Google Hub Nest Ecobee Air Quality Emporia

🏃 Cardio & Fitness Tracking

Consistent step goals with Samsung Health challenges — regularly completing monthly targets. Data-driven fitness tracking.

Samsung Health Step Challenges Fitness Tracking

🦉 Duolingo

Daily language learning — 2139 day streak, 1.2M+ XP, 61 Top 3 finishes. Diamond League regular.

2139 Day Streak 1.2M XP 61 Top 3
🇪🇸 Spanish 🇮🇹 Italian ✓ 🇧🇷 Portuguese

🚴 Bike Maintenance

DIY bicycle repairs — cable and brake pad replacement, chain and drivetrain cleaning, lubrication, gear adjustment. Keep 'em rolling.

Cables Brake Pads Chain Lube Drivetrain

🥛 Instant Pot Fermentation

Homemade kefir and творог (Russian cottage cheese) in Instant Pot yogurt mode. Also Russian salads (Olivier, etc.) via pressure cooking.

Instant Pot Kefir Творог Pressure Cooking

☕ Espresso & Cappuccino

Dialing in espresso — grind size, dose, extraction. Cappuccino with microfoam experiments, milk texturing, latte art attempts.

Espresso Grind Size Microfoam Cappuccino

📷 Photography

Nikon journey: D90 → D7000 → Z6III. Macro, super macro, low light. Composition, exposure triangle, filters, prime lenses.

Nikon Z6III Nikkor Sigma Tamron Macro Low Light

🪚 Carpentry

DIY woodworking — building shelves, furniture repairs, deck maintenance. Power tools, hand tools, measuring twice.

Woodworking Power Tools DIY Repairs Measure Twice

💰 Household Finance

Expense optimization, fraud monitoring, subscription audits. Catching unauthorized charges, disputing fees, maximizing cashback.

Expense Tracking Fraud Detection Subscription Audit Cashback

😴 Sleep Optimization

Sleep apnea journey: CPAP → dental appliance. SpO2/HRV tracking via Samsung, Apple Watch, Garmin Index. Environment tuning.

Sleep Apnea SpO2 HRV Garmin Index Dental Appliance

💡 Philosophy

"Automate everything that can be automated. Document everything that can't. Make systems so robust they're boring."

I believe the best infrastructure is invisible — it just works. Every manual process is a bug waiting to happen. Every undocumented system is a bus factor of one.

I take ownership of things others overlook. That neglected legacy system? The tribal knowledge nobody documented? The flaky integration everyone routes around? I adopt them, fix them, and make them reliable. Someone has to care — might as well be me.