Hey, I’m James Duffy (he/him). I’m a Manager of Cloud Engineering, where I focus on building reliable, scalable platforms for high-traffic applications.

Living in San Francisco, I spend my days simplifying infrastructure, optimizing tools like Kubernetes and Terraform, and mentoring engineering teams to deliver observable and resilient products. My background is in cloud infrastructure, Infrastructure as Code, and containerization.

My current focus includes:

• Managing cloud infrastructure (AWS, Kubernetes, Istio, ArgoCD)
• Building Infrastructure as Code solutions with Terraform
• Improving reliability and observability across systems
• Mentoring teams and democratizing infrastructure for non-DevOps engineers

# What I’m Into

• Cloud Infrastructure: AWS, Kubernetes, Istio, ArgoCD
• Infrastructure as Code: Terraform, Consul, Vault
• Reliability & Observability: Improving uptime and performance monitoring
• Team Mentorship: Helping non-DevOps engineers get comfortable with infrastructure

I didn’t start out in Infrastructure Engineering. After graduating, I landed my first job as a backend engineer but found myself drawn to DevOps. I shifted my focus, and over the years, I’ve specialized in making complex infrastructure easier for teams to manage. A highlight of my career was scaling a telehealth company during the pandemic to operate in multiple AWS regions seamlessly.

When I am not working, I am likely out on a bike ride or behind a camera lens. I’m passionate about photography and even bring my lightboxes to work sometimes to offer free headshots for colleagues.

# Things I Use

• Languages/Frameworks: Python, Django, Flask
• Tech Stack: AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, Istio, Docker
• Hardware: MacBook Pro, Google Pixel 8 Pro
• Software: 1Password, Firefox, SublimeText, Tower, Todoist

# Camera Gear

• Ricoh GR IIIx
• Fujifilm XT-4
• Fujifilm XF 23mm F1.4 R
• Fujifilm XF 35mm f/2 R WR
• Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS
• Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS

# Projects

# Bluesky Feed Builder

A Python Django app for building custom feeds on the Bluesky Social Network using the At Protocol. It consumes post data in real-time and can filter based on post content, author, or metadata. It supports feed types like “most recent” and “top posts” with custom weightings.

# Archived Projects

• Analytics-App.net: A PHP site that ingested AppDotNet’s firehose to find trending posts and track historical data. It shut down when AppDotNet ended its developer program.
• Turlock City Booze: A happy hour finder for Turlock, California. I retired it after graduating college and moving away.

Feel free to check out my GitHub for more of what I’ve been working on.