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anthony-cervantes - Overview

Anthony Cervantes

[ anthony-cervantes.github.io ] . [ anthony@cervantes.io ]

Summary

Senior Software Engineer & Systems Architect with 18+ years building large-scale automation, distributed systems, and AI/ops tooling. Led Rackspace’s automation platform from legacy orchestration to a resilient, low-latency event engine processing 2M+ events/week. Drove multi‑year cost takeout ($500k+ annual) and latency reductions (10×) through pragmatic redesigns (Cassandra/ScyllaDB, Redis, Linux consolidation). Hands-on across Python, Go, Java/C#, and Rust (new stack for high‑throughput services). Calm under pressure; opinionated about reliability, observability, and operability.

Core Expertise

  • Architectures: Event-driven systems, stream processing, distributed job orchestration, multi-tenant workflow engines, REST/gRPC services
  • Languages: Rust, Python, Go, Java, C#, TypeScript/Node, Groovy, Scala, C/C++
  • Data & Messaging: ScyllaDB, Apache Cassandra, Redis (+Sentinel), PostgreSQL/MySQL, MS SQL Server, ActiveMQ, Kafka (lightweight usage), S3 (object storage)
  • Infra & Ops: Linux (RHEL/CentOS, Ubuntu), Docker, SaltStack, CI/CD, GitHub Actions, observability (Grafana, Loki/Promtail, Prometheus), ServiceNow
  • Cloud: AWS (EC2, S3, EventBridge/SQS patterns), GCP (Firebase), Rackspace
  • Practices: SRE, performance tuning, schema design, compliance & audits (PCI), incident response, cost optimization, stakeholder communication

Experience

Rackspace Technology — San Antonio, TX

Senior Software Engineer / Systems Architect

2021–Present

  • Lead engineer for Rackspace Business Automation (RBA)—mission-critical workflow platform handling 2M+ events/week, ~40 actions per event; improved end‑to‑end latency, stability, and debuggability.
  • Database modernization & performance: Tuned hot paths, redesigned tables/indexes, and implemented ScyllaDB improvements; reduced p95 query latency ~10× (≈100ms → ≈10ms) and increased DB uptime 95% → 98%+.
  • Reliability engineering: Introduced Redis Sentinel replication, hardened SaltStack-based fleet automation, and added proactive anomaly detection hooks for high-signal alerts.
  • Observability: Standardized metrics/logs to Grafana/Loki; added run-history tracing and device‑level drill‑downs; cut mean time to diagnose (MTTD) for noisy workflows.
  • Security & compliance: Led portions of PCI and ad‑hoc audit responses; automated evidence gathering and patch orchestration for Linux/Windows estates.
  • Developer experience: Authored internal tools to bootstrap servers and repeatable environments; mentored devs on Rust adoption for low-latency services.

Enterprise Architect (Automation Pillar)

2019–2021

  • Owned strategy and execution for automation architecture; partnered with Enterprise Architecture group to implement business value modeling and process improvements.
  • Cost takeout: Migrated NoSQL stack from DataStax Enterprise to ScyllaDB → $385k/yr saved; consolidated OS from Windows Server to CentOS → $102k/yr saved.
  • Delivered measurable platform outcomes: latency ~10× better, DB uptime +3pp, improved resiliency and operability across teams.

Software Developer IV

2014–2019

  • Led RBA enhancements to scale from hundreds of thousands to millions of weekly events; maintained strict SLAs for ticketing and device orchestration.
  • Drove cross‑company Moogsoft correlation rollout, cutting non‑value‑add alerts 85% → 95% and freeing operators for higher‑impact work.

Software Developer III

2011–2014

  • Replaced BMC Atrium Orchestrator (legacy) → custom solution; $500k/yr savings.
  • Migrated from MS SQL Server → Apache Cassandra; $100k/yr savings; enabled at‑scale write throughput.
  • Built secure remote execution for device fleet (kernel/security patches, scripted maintenance) to reduce manual toil.

Software Developer II

2009–2011

  • Early automation initiative: ticketing from monitoring events at ~100k events/week; integrated SOAP/DB systems; managed RealOps release processes.

Monitoring Administrator I

2007–2009

  • Monitored global customer infrastructure; mentored admins; co‑designed process improvements that fed into the later automation program.

Selected Projects

  • Architect (Rackspace internal): Portal for automated server builds, hardening, and production cutovers with deep integration to the automation stack.
  • ScyllaDB-based Search API: REST abstraction for trigram/exact‑match queries with dynamic filters; designed for .NET consumers; Rust service layer with env‑var config and Docker packaging.
  • SentinelEdge: Prototype Rust inference engine (agent-core) + Python model-lab for anomaly detection on infra events; streams ScyllaDB CDC; real‑time alerting.
  • SRE Sentinel (hackathon): Offline, privacy‑first SRE copilot combining local LLMs, CLI tooling, and a minimal web UI for diagnostics.
  • Arc Reactor Notifier (personal): Raspberry Pi Pico W + NeoPixel ring; idle pulse & colored alerts mapped to custom event types.

Skills

Languages: Rust, Python, Go, Java, C#, TypeScript/Node, Groovy, Scala, C/C++, Bash

Data: ScyllaDB, Cassandra, Redis (+Sentinel), PostgreSQL/MySQL, MS SQL

Messaging/ETL: ActiveMQ, (light) Kafka, S3 batch, Promtail/Loki

Infra/DevOps: Linux (RHEL/CentOS, Ubuntu), Docker, SaltStack, GitHub Actions, Grafana/Prometheus, ServiceNow

Cloud: AWS, GCP (Firebase), Rackspace

Domains: SRE, automation/workflow engines, performance tuning, compliance & audits (PCI)

Certifications & Awards

  • ITIL® 4 Foundation
  • TOGAF® 9 Foundation (in progress)
  • DataStax MVP (2019)