Building reliable
AWS & Kubernetes platforms.
I help engineering teams build reliable delivery systems on AWS and Kubernetes with strong focus on CI/CD automation, infrastructure as code, observability, and cost-aware operations. My strongest value comes from turning manual, fragile deployment workflows into repeatable platforms that are easier to ship on, easier to monitor, and easier to scale.
About
A quick recruiter-friendly summary of what I do and where I add value.
I am Vikash Kumar, a DevOps Engineer focused on building predictable, observable, and cost-efficient platforms on AWS. Over the last few years I have worked closely with engineering teams to improve release workflows, modernize infrastructure, containerize workloads, strengthen observability, and bring more operational discipline to growing systems. I work best in environments where delivery speed matters, but reliability, rollback safety, and operational clarity matter just as much.
- Design CI/CD pipelines that improve release speed while keeping deployments traceable, testable, and safe.
- Use Terraform and infrastructure as code so environments stay repeatable, reviewable, and easier to scale.
- Build observability around metrics, dashboards, and alerting to reduce blind spots and speed up debugging.
- Partner with developers to simplify release workflows instead of turning DevOps into a ticket queue.
- Approach infrastructure with equal attention to reliability, operational simplicity, and cost efficiency.
Achievements
Outcomes that reflect how I approach platform and DevOps work.
Modernized Deployment Architecture
Helped move legacy deployment patterns toward a more scalable Kubernetes-based model using Helm, Terraform, and ArgoCD, improving consistency across environments and creating a stronger foundation for repeatable releases.
Improved Delivery Speed
Reduced deployment time by around 70% through pipeline optimization, better automation, and cleaner release flow design, helping engineering teams ship changes faster with fewer manual steps and better confidence in the process.
Cloud Cost Optimization
Reduced AWS staging infrastructure cost by roughly 46% through usage review, smarter instance scheduling, and resource right-sizing, showing that reliability and cost awareness can be improved together instead of treated as separate priorities.
Centralized Observability Rollout
Rolled out Prometheus and Grafana based monitoring to provide centralized visibility into service health, performance, and operational signals, helping teams detect issues earlier and reduce time spent debugging production behavior.
Technical Stack
Core tools grouped the way recruiters and engineers actually scan them.
I work across cloud infrastructure, containerization, CI/CD engineering, observability, automation, and platform reliability. My strongest hands-on focus is on AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, Linux-based operations, and the delivery workflows that help teams move from manual releases to repeatable, production-ready systems.
Cloud
Containers and Platform
CI/CD and Automation
Reliability and Operations
Case Studies
Technical work presented as problem, stack, execution, and outcome.
Legacy EC2 to Kubernetes Migration
Legacy deployment patterns on EC2 made environments harder to standardize, slower to evolve, and more dependent on manual operational steps.
AWS, Kubernetes, EKS, Helm, ArgoCD, Terraform
- Helped move workloads toward Kubernetes-based deployment patterns.
- Used Helm for packaging, Terraform for repeatable infrastructure, and ArgoCD for GitOps-style delivery.
- Improved consistency between staging and production through more predictable deployment workflows.
The platform became easier to manage, easier to replicate across environments, and better aligned with scalable release practices.
CI/CD Acceleration and Release Reliability
Slow pipeline execution and inconsistent release steps reduced engineering velocity and made deployments more operationally expensive.
Jenkins, GitHub Actions, automated tests, container delivery workflows
- Optimized CI/CD stages and improved automation around build, test, and deployment flow.
- Integrated better testing into pipelines to reduce manual validation pressure.
- Focused on repeatable release behavior instead of ad hoc operational fixes.
Deployment time dropped by around 70%, giving teams faster feedback cycles and more confidence in shipping changes.
Observability and Cost Efficiency Improvements
Teams needed stronger visibility into service behavior while cloud environments also needed tighter control over unnecessary spend.
Prometheus, Grafana, AWS CloudWatch, resource audits, scheduling and right-sizing
- Implemented centralized monitoring with dashboards and better operational signals.
- Reviewed resource usage and removed waste through smarter scheduling and infra tuning.
- Improved the quality of operational awareness so issues could be found and understood faster.
Monitoring became more actionable and staging infrastructure cost was reduced by roughly 46% without compromising usefulness.
How I work
Simple, fixed-scope, no surprises.
1. Audit
We start with a free 20-minute call. Then I audit your setup — your AWS bill, your pipelines, or your cluster — and tell you honestly what's worth fixing.
2. Plan
You get a fixed-scope plan in writing: what I'll deliver, what it costs, and when it ships. No hourly meters, no scope creep.
3. Implement
I do the work async with regular updates — zero disruption to your team's day. You always know what's done and what's next.
4. Handover
Docs, dashboards, and a walkthrough — your team owns everything after I'm gone. No lock-in, no mystery boxes.
FAQ
Questions founders usually ask me.
You have a full-time job — how do timelines work?
I take on a small number of projects at a time and work on them evenings and weekends (IST). Every project is fixed-scope with the deadline agreed upfront — a cost audit, for example, ships in 7 days.
What do you need from me to start?
For a cost audit: read-only access to AWS Cost Explorer. For CI/CD or Kubernetes work: repo and cluster access. We scope everything on a free 20-minute call first, so there are no surprises later.
How does payment work?
50% to start, 50% on delivery. UPI or bank transfer for India-based clients; Wise or PayPal for international ones.
What if I'm not happy with the work?
The scope is fixed in writing before we start. If a deliverable doesn't match the agreed scope, I fix it — that's part of the deal.
Experience Snapshot
A recruiter-friendly view of roles, ownership, and impact.
DevOps Engineer
Leading core DevOps responsibilities across CI/CD, cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes adoption, and observability for multiple products, with strong emphasis on release reliability, delivery speed, and infrastructure efficiency.
- Migrated legacy workloads from EC2 to Kubernetes using Helm, ArgoCD, and Terraform.
- Optimized Jenkins pipelines and integrated automated tests, reducing deployment time by around 70%.
- Reduced AWS staging costs by roughly 46% through instance scheduling, usage audits, and right-sizing.
- Implemented Prometheus and Grafana for centralized monitoring and faster incident response.
- Worked across infrastructure and application delivery concerns to improve operational consistency between environments.
Associate DevOps Engineer
Built and maintained automation pipelines and cloud environments for containerized applications, helping teams standardize deployments and reduce manual operational effort.
- Created CI/CD workflows with GitHub Actions for build, test, and deployment stages.
- Developed Shell and Python automation scripts for backups, housekeeping, and log management.
- Deployed and managed containerized applications on AWS and Kubernetes.
- Supported development teams with infrastructure troubleshooting and smoother release workflows.
DevOps Engineer
Built and maintained CI/CD pipelines and cloud infrastructure for containerized applications running on AWS and Kubernetes.
- Created CI/CD workflows with GitHub Actions for build, test & deploy.
- Developed Shell & Python automation scripts for backups and log management.
- Deployed and managed containerized apps on AWS & Kubernetes.
Selected Work
Additional examples of delivery, observability, and platform improvement work.
mGrant Platform - DevOps Enhancements
Led DevOps initiatives to improve scalability, reliability, deployment consistency, and operational efficiency for a major grants management product used in a production environment.
- Moved from EC2-based deployments to Kubernetes with Helm and ArgoCD.
- Redesigned staging infrastructure, cutting costs while keeping performance intact.
- Built Python scripts to generate daily test reports and speed up debugging cycles.
- Strengthened delivery workflows by making infrastructure and deployment steps more repeatable.
Observability & Uptime Initiative
Introduced centralized monitoring and alerting patterns to reduce operational blind spots, improve mean time to resolution, and give teams a clearer picture of service behavior across environments.
- Rolled out Prometheus and Grafana template dashboards for key services.
- Defined SLIs around latency, error rate, and resource saturation.
- Helped teams debug issues faster by correlating logs, metrics, and deployments.
- Improved the quality of operational visibility so alerts could better support action instead of noise.
National-Scale Cloud Cost Modeling
Cloud bills were growing faster than usage. I broke costs down service-by-service, found the real drivers — data transfer, idle capacity, oversized instances — and delivered a prioritized savings plan with calculator-verified numbers. This is the same audit process I now offer as a fixed-scope freelance service.
- Bottom-up modeling across compute (EKS/EC2), databases, storage, and data transfer.
- Cross-checked estimates against live production billing data for accuracy.
- Identified the real cost drivers most teams miss: transfer, storage growth, and idle capacity.
smartloggingAI — AI-Powered Monitoring
Tired of 2 AM "CPU is high" alerts that say nothing, I built a monitoring system that thinks like an SRE: detects issues in real time, finds the root cause with AI, suggests fix steps, and auto-creates Jira tickets.
- Pipeline: Flask → Logstash → Elasticsearch → Kibana, with an AI monitor on top.
- 5-layer optimization cuts AI inference cost by ~90% — the right model at the right time.
- Alerts carry root cause + suggested fix + one-click ACK instead of noise.
DevOps Labs — Open Source
Public repos where I practice what I preach — real infrastructure code, not tutorial copies:
- terraform-2tier-architecture — modular 2-tier AWS infrastructure (networking, app and data layers).
- TerraformAWSInfra — S3 + CloudFront static hosting with remote Terraform backend.
Certifications
Some formal proof I take this seriously.
AWS Solutions Architect - Associate
Validated my ability to design and operate scalable, secure, resilient, and cost-optimized solutions on AWS, reinforcing the architectural side of my hands-on DevOps and platform work.
Docker Essentials - DevOps on AWS - GCP Milestone
Completed multiple learning programs across containers, CI/CD, and cloud fundamentals, strengthening the practical knowledge I apply in day-to-day infrastructure and delivery work.
Contact
Let's build something reliable together.
Got a role, project, or idea?
I'm open to DevOps / Platform / Cloud roles where I can own infrastructure, CI/CD, and observability. I also take on select freelance DevOps consulting projects — AWS cost audits, CI/CD pipelines, and Kubernetes setups.