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Stephen Simpson

Stephen Simpson

Senior Customer Support Engineer · CIQ · Chicagoland, IL

I've been working in Linux infrastructure for 15+ years, lately at CIQ where I do support engineering, contribute to Rocky Linux, and build internal tooling in Go and Python. I hold a CKA and genuinely enjoy the command line.

stephen@sjs.ioChicagoland, Illinois

Experience

CIQ
April 2024 - Present

Senior Customer Support Engineer

October 2024 - Present

Customer Support Engineer

April 2024 - October 2024
  • Built Outfitter, a self-service platform that lets any engineer spin up full CIQ product environments (Rocky Linux Pro, Warewulf, Fuzzball) on AWS and GCP in minutes. Written in Go, Python, Terraform, and Ansible with a web UI, CLI, and MCP server for Claude Code integration.
  • Maintained a 100% company-wide CSAT rating across all customer engagements.
  • Contributed to open-source Warewulf and Ascender projects (new features, bug fixes, and documentation) plus Rocky Linux testing and documentation work.
  • Collaborated on the launch and validation of Rocky Linux with AWS EKS hybrid environments; authored the technical blog post covering the process.
  • Wrote a Go CLI that pulls CVE and patch status from multiple sources into one place, so you don't have to bounce between dashboards to figure out if something's been patched.

Infrastructure Engineer

June 2014 - April 2024
Willow Creek Community Church

Managed core infrastructure across Linux, Windows, storage, networking, and cloud for a decade at a large nonprofit.

  • Designed and installed a 1.3 PB Ceph storage cluster for the organization's digital media
  • Automated configuration management and patching across the Linux fleet with Ansible
  • Planned and migrated all users from on-prem Exchange to Google Workspace
  • Upgraded the on-prem video on-demand platform to support multi-bitrate HLS with CDN delivery at a fraction of what comparable organizations were spending
  • Migrated the Avaya voicemail system from tape-based storage to Exchange 2013
  • Built an emergency alert system using WordPress and Twilio with a Python data sync
  • Deployed and tuned enterprise WiFi (Aruba) for thousands of concurrent users across multiple campuses

Shift Coordinator

September 2011 - June 2014
WiredTree

Linux-focused web hosting support in a CentOS/cPanel environment; promoted to Shift Coordinator managing staff, handling escalations, and building automation tools including a Python web interface for the internal backup system.

Help Desk Technician

December 2008 - September 2011
Springfield Service Corporation

End-user and network support; built a network inventory system with automatic discovery, and wrote batch/VB scripts for task automation.

Projects

Outfitter

Internal tool for spinning up CIQ product environments (Rocky Linux Pro, Warewulf, Fuzzball) on AWS and GCP. Has a web UI, CLI, and an MCP server so you can run provisioning workflows through Claude Code.

GoPythonTerraformAnsibleAWSGCPMCP

CIQ · Senior Customer Support Engineer

CVE / Patch Checker

Go CLI that checks CVE and patch status across a few different internal and external sources at once. Built it because manually checking each one was tedious.

GoCLISecurity

CIQ · Senior Customer Support Engineer

1.3 PB Ceph Cluster

Designed and deployed a 1.3 PB Ceph cluster at Willow Creek to handle growing storage needs for digital media. Covered the full lifecycle: planning, hardware, tuning, and documentation.

CephLinuxStorageNetworking

Willow Creek Community Church · Infrastructure Engineer

EKS Hybrid with Rocky Linux

Collaborated on the launch and validation of Rocky Linux with AWS EKS hybrid node environments. Wrote the blog post.

Rocky LinuxAWS EKSKubernetesHybrid Cloud

CIQ · Senior Customer Support Engineer

Homelab

Proxmox server running a 2-node Kubernetes cluster with Longhorn for storage, all deployed through ArgoCD and GitOps. Terraform handles DNS and cloud resources, OPNsense runs the network edge. Breaks often, which is the point.

ProxmoxKubernetesArgoCDGitOpsLonghornTerraformOPNsenseTailscale1Password

Personal

Skills

Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

Certified Kubernetes Administrator

The Linux Foundation

Passed the CKA in 2025. I work with Kubernetes regularly (cluster ops, hybrid nodes, EKS) so it felt like a natural thing to formalize.

Core Technologies

LinuxRocky Linux / RHELKubernetesAnsibleGitHub ActionsDockerPythonGoBashTerraform

Enterprise Linux

  • Rocky Linux / RHEL / AlmaLinux - production enterprise environments
  • System administration - package management, security, compliance
  • HPC cluster management - Warewulf provisioning & orchestration
  • Kernel tuning, system hardening, performance profiling
  • DNS, DHCP, firewall, the usual sysadmin networking stack

CI/CD & DevOps

  • Kubernetes (CKA) - cluster operations, hybrid cloud, EKS
  • GitHub Actions - automated workflows, CI/CD pipelines
  • Ansible - configuration management, playbook development
  • Terraform - infrastructure as code, cloud provisioning
  • Container orchestration - Docker, registry, security

Infrastructure & Cloud

  • AWS & GCP - cloud infrastructure, hybrid deployments
  • VMware virtualization and hypervisor management
  • Monitoring & observability - system performance analysis
  • Security best practices & compliance
  • Disaster recovery & high availability architecture

Additional Experience

  • Windows Server administration & Active Directory
  • Ubuntu & Debian-based distributions
  • Python and Go for CLI tools and automation
  • Web hosting and server management
  • Google Workspace & Microsoft 365 administration

Education

DeVry University

July 2007 - February 2010
B.S. in Network and Communications Management

GPA: 3.65

Danville Area Community College

August 2006 - May 2007
Windows Operating Systems

GPA: 4.00

Interests & Hobbies

Sports Fan

Lifelong Chicago fan. Grew up with the Cubs, Blackhawks, and Bears.

  • 🏆 2016 Cubs World Series - The dream came true!
  • 🏆 Blackhawks 2010, 2013, 2015 Stanley Cups
  • 🎟️ Cubs at Wrigley during the 2017 NLCS
  • 🏈 Bears beating the Packers - 2018 playoff clincher
  • 🏈 And again in spectacular fashion in the 2026 Wild Card round

Food & Cooking

Love cooking, eating, and exploring Chicago's amazing food scene!

Chicago Favorites

Local spots that make Chicago home.

Coffee Obsession

Can't start the day without great coffee!

Photography

Sony mirrorless. No particular specialty, I just like taking pictures.