Hi Everyone!

My name is Jeff and my interests are in software engineering, DevOps, cloud architecture, big-data, and natural language processing. I have earned many cloud and data certifications. I am a software engineer at heart but also enjoy everything related to cloud and machine learning.

I am available for AWS, Google Cloud, and NLP consulting and will be glad to refer you to someone if I'm not currently available!

My AWS and Google Cloud Experience

I am proud to have a lot of AWS certifications and also a lot of Google Cloud Certifications. You can see my AWS certifications transcript and my Google Cloud certifications transcript. I have been an AWS Community Builder in 2023, 2022, and 2021, for Machine Learning. My first AWS certifications were obtained in 2014. Back then the certifications had issue numbers!

I am an AWS SME (since February 2020) and an AWS Lead SME, which means I have helped contribute to development of the AWS certifications exams. I have contributed to the AWS SysOps Adminstrator, AWS Solutions Architect Professional, AWS Data Analytics Specialty, and AWS Developer certification exams.

Most recently, my time has been about equally split between AWS and Google Cloud and I enjoy working with both.

My Background

I have worked in many domains from government, to security, healthcare, and search. I got started with cloud when AWS first launched around 2008. My interest in NLP was sparked in 2012 when I was working with unstructured data and learning about the difficulties in processing it. That interest led me to Apache OpenNLP. I started contributing to the Apache OpenNLP project where I could and today I am the current chair of the Apache OpenNLP PMC. I owe the Apache OpenNLP team a lot of gratitude for their help and guidance over the years. Most recently, I added ONNX Runtime support to Apache OpenNLP to facilitate the use of large-language models from Java.

As a programmer, I started out with QBasic, QuickBasic, and Visual Basic for DOS. I picked up C++ through Visual Studio 6 before moving to .NET. I moved to Java around 2010 and have since predominantly used Java as my high-level language. I also use Python and Go, and have experience with Scala. I do a lot of Bash, CloudFormation, and Terraform scripting and use Linux almost exclusively. Ubuntu has been my first pick since it was versioned using single digits and mailed out CD-ROMs.

My Work

Today, I do consulting in the areas of cloud, big-data, and NLP through my company Mountain Fog. I enjoy tackling data problems around data ingestion and search because those problems often fall directly in the intersections of my primary interests.

Some of my favorite tools are Apache Kafka and Apache NiFi. Combining these applications and frameworks with the scalability of the cloud can create very powerful platforms for data ingestion and manipulation. I believe search is important (and often overlooked) because without the ability to efficiently locate data the data is practically worthless. Vector search is now adding a new dimension to search - pun totally intended.

I maintain the Phileas project, along with the Philter software, under the Philterd organization. Philterd, LLC was created to further develop the software to find, identify, and redact sensitive information.

The Future

I believe the future lies in distributed computing across disparate cloud platforms. The internet of things and AI/ML will continue to expand and both will bring lots of technical and ethical challenges. I hope I can find ways to contribute for the betterment of society.

Connect

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• GitHub

Blog Posts

I moved my blog to Medium. Check it out!

• PHI in a DevOps Environment
  
• Using AWS Kinesis Firehose Transformations to Filter Sensitive Information
  
• Filtering Sensitive Information using Apache NiFi with Philter
  
• Challenges in Finding Sensitive Information in Text

My work:

Mountain Fog, Inc. offers consulting services in the areas of cloud, big-data, and NLP. Learn more at www.mtnfog.com.

Philterd offers AI-powered software to identify, redact, and manage sensitive information in text. Learn more at www.philterd.ai.