DIPEN/ CLOUD & DEVOPS

DIPEN KALAL / CLOUD & DEVOPS · WINDSOR, ON

Built to run.
Understood
from within.

I build AWS infrastructure and operate a self-hosted AI platform. My work connects deployment, security, debugging, and recovery—backed by source code and engineering records.

Seeking Cloud, DevOps & Infrastructure opportunities
Ontario · Remote within Canada

Cloud administration & IT systems experience
Master of Applied Computing · University of Windsor

DAP / SYSTEM EXPLORER01—04

Explore the platform I operate.

WHAT I OWNED

The operator’s point of view.

I integrated the dashboard with DAP’s APIs so requests, evidence, and owner review belong to one platform.

Inspect the workspace design ↗

Logical architecture · select a component

PROFESSIONAL FOUNDATION

IT experience behind the projects.

Cloud administration, client delivery, and hands-on systems work—then a deeper focus on infrastructure and platform engineering.

2022 · JAN–AUG

Cloud Engineer & IT Systems Specialist

KAIROS Establishment Services

Supported cloud infrastructure and internal IT across two business entities, alongside maintaining their corporate websites.

What I was responsible for +

Cloud migration: Moved existing workloads to AWS and coordinated with stakeholders on the transition, timelines, and hosting costs.

Website maintenance: Developed and maintained the backend of two corporate websites, supporting their ongoing operation.

Internal IT support: Supported day-to-day technology needs alongside cloud responsibilities, balancing business requests with system maintenance.

Clear handovers: Created system diagrams and technical documentation that became internal references for incoming engineers.

2020–2021

Cloud Administrator

GRABTHESITE

Managed client cloud environments while coordinating delivery, strengthening access controls, and supporting the development team.

What I was responsible for +

Client delivery: Coordinated work across 35+ client accounts, translated business needs into technical requirements, and tracked progress in JIRA.

Secure access: Managed user permissions, multi-factor authentication, and network access to strengthen protection across client environments.

Recovery automation: Wrote scripts for backup snapshots and data replication, reducing the manual work needed to prepare systems for recovery.

Team support: Coached developers through code reviews and task planning, helping them address skill gaps and keep delivery work organized.

EDUCATIONMaster of Applied Computing

University of Windsor · 2022–2023

OPERATIONS & LEADERSHIPAssistant Bakery Manager

Real Canadian Superstore · Windsor

SELECTED WORK

Six phases. Increasing responsibility.

Explore the build, the decisions,
and what changed my approach.

THE EVOLVING SYSTEM

From components to a governed platform.

Infrastructure, delivery, and recovery come together in DAP.

PHASE 01 / 06 · 2025

AWS FOUNDATIONS

Learning the network beneath the application.

I built a console-based three-tier AWS environment, separating the web, application, and database layers.

VPC · EC2 · RDS · Security groups

AWS foundations · network boundaries
BrowserPublic request
HTTP
VPC / PUBLIC SUBNET
Web EC2 / bastionPublic entry point
PRIVATE SUBNETS
Application EC2Application logic
Database connection
RDS MySQLNo public database access

Simplified tier boundaries. This console project uses one web instance and one application instance; subnet coverage does not imply duplicated compute.

ENGINEERING TAKEAWAY

Network boundaries

Working through routing and security groups taught me to trace an application request across each tier.

PROJECT RECORDConsole-based AWS implementation
Build details & evidence +

Public and private subnets, a bastion, and isolated database access established the groundwork for my Terraform project.

PHASE 02 / 06 · 2025

INFRASTRUCTURE AS CODE

The same architecture. Now reproducible.

I provisioned a three-tier environment with Terraform across two Availability Zones, with load balancing and private database access.

Terraform · ALB · Auto Scaling · SSM

Terraform · deployment across two zones
Terraform configurationNetworking · permissions · compute · database
Provisions
Public load balancerDistributes web requests
AVAILABILITY ZONE A
Web instancesAuto Scaling
AVAILABILITY ZONE B
Web instancesAuto Scaling
Web tier → internal load balancer
Private application tierAuto Scaling across the two zones
Restricted database access
Private RDS MySQLApplication data

Logical deployment view. Source configuration separates public web traffic, private application traffic, and database access.

ENGINEERING TAKEAWAY

Explicit dependencies

Writing infrastructure as code made me account for how networking, permissions, compute, and data depend on each other.

PROJECT RECORD6 subnets · 2 Availability Zones
Build details & evidence +

The project documents tiered security groups, Auto Scaling, S3, and Parameter Store. Moving from console setup to code made the infrastructure easier to review.

PHASE 03 / 06 · 2025

SERVERLESS APPLICATIONS

A small app across several AWS services.

I built a registry for submitting and browsing GitHub repositories, with a static frontend and a Python-backed serverless API.

CloudFront · S3 · Lambda · DynamoDB

Serverless registry · two request paths
LOAD THE WEBSITE
Browser
Requests static files
CloudFront
Origin
S3HTML · CSS · JavaScript
SUBMIT / BROWSE REPOSITORIES
Browser application
API request
API Gateway → LambdaValidation and request handling
Read / write
DynamoDBRepository records

Static delivery and API requests are separate paths. Lambda validates submissions and retrieves records from storage.

ENGINEERING TAKEAWAY

Service integration

I learned to follow a request from the browser through the API to storage, with permissions at each boundary.

PROJECT RECORDFrontend + API + persistence
Build details & evidence +

The frontend is delivered through CloudFront. API Gateway routes requests to Python Lambda functions that use DynamoDB for persistence.

PHASE 04 / 06 · 2025

DELIVERY & GITOPS

Follow a commit all the way to deployment.

I connected Jenkins, Docker, ECR, and EKS to build, smoke-test, publish, and deploy a Node.js application.

Jenkins · Docker · EKS · Argo CD

Delivery pipeline · release and failure paths
Git commit → JenkinsCheckout and pipeline execution
Build and smoke-test
Docker image → ECRTagged image published to the registry
Deploy
EKS rollout validationWait for the deployment result
SUCCESS
Updated applicationNew image running
FAILURE
Diagnostics + rollback attemptRestore the prior image when available

The Jenkinsfile includes rollout checks, failure diagnostics, and conditional rollback logic. This describes the pipeline, not a guarantee of recovery.

ENGINEERING TAKEAWAY

Validate the rollout

A successful image build was only the start. The pipeline needed deployment checks and a rollback path when a rollout failed.

PROJECT RECORDRollout validation + rollback
Build details & evidence +

The EKS pipeline includes rollout validation and rollback. A separate Java project extended my delivery work into SonarQube, Argo CD, Prometheus, and Grafana.

PHASE 05 / 06 · 2025

DISASTER RECOVERY

Design beyond a single region.

I worked on a multi-region recovery design connecting data replication, DNS failover, and monitoring.

Terraform · Route 53 · S3 · RDS

Disaster recovery · replication and routing
Route 53 failoverRoutes traffic based on health
PRIMARY · US-WEST-1
Primary environmentS3 data · RDS database
SECONDARY · US-WEST-2
Recovery environmentReplicated objects · database replica
Primary → secondary replicationS3 replication and RDS replica
CloudWatch / SNSMonitoring and notifications

Conceptual design from my project notes. The public repository does not yet contain implementation files; recovery times are not benchmarked.

ENGINEERING TAKEAWAY

Configuration must agree

An alarm-region mismatch reinforced the need to align resource locations, Terraform providers, and monitoring configuration.

PROJECT RECORDRegional recovery design
Build details & evidence +

The design uses S3 replication, an RDS replica, Route 53, and CloudWatch/SNS. Architecture and troubleshooting are documented in my project notes; the public README is minimal. Recovery times have not been benchmarked.

Documentation status

Current repository notes ↗
PHASE 06 / 06 · 2026FLAGSHIP PROJECT

DAP PLATFORM

From building features to owning a system.

I designed and operated DAP on my Ubuntu homelab, owning its architecture, security boundaries, deployment decisions, testing, and release process. Local AI supports research and career workflows while final execution and application decisions stay with me.

FastAPI · Next.js · llama.cpp · Qdrant · Ubuntu

DAP · inference and controlled workflows
Owner dashboard / gatewayRequests and owner review
DAP API and policy checks
INFERENCE
Model routerGeneral tasks → Granite / Coding → Qwen
Knowledge retrievalQdrant context
WORKFLOWS
Research and career toolingEvidence and proposed actions
Owner reviewFinal application and execution decisions
Authority boundaryModel output does not grant privileged system access

Logical overview based on my implementation records. Public documents below show earlier admission controls and reliability gates; they are not v2.2 release proof.

ENGINEERING TAKEAWAY

A timeout was a capacity-control problem.

I traced a Qwen request failure to a long completion, then introduced a server-controlled output limit. The lesson became a platform rule: generation capacity must be bounded.

RELEASE & VALIDATIONv2.1 release · v2.2 bounded-inference validation
What I owned +

I integrated a FastAPI backend, Next.js dashboard, Qdrant retrieval, Docker services, systemd workloads, Tailscale access, and research and career tooling. I adapted llama.cpp into intent-based routing between Granite for general tasks and Qwen Coder for coding, preserving safety metadata and separating inference from execution authority.

The Career Cockpit covers job discovery, evidence, ATS analysis, application materials, lifecycle tracking, owner review, and notifications. I deliberately excluded automatic job applications. Release work included recovery bundles, SHA-256 manifests, tagged releases, regression gates, reboot testing, runtime-drift investigations, and backup verification.

How I used AI—and retained control +

ChatGPT helped draft implementation approaches, code changes, test cases, threat models, shell verification procedures, and debugging hypotheses. I reviewed the plans, executed changes on my server, inspected the evidence, and retained final architecture, security, and release decisions.

AI did not have unrestricted shell, Docker, root, database, firewall, or deployment authority. My contribution combined design, integration, hands-on validation, and operational ownership with AI-assisted development.

INSIDE THE INVESTIGATION

The model was healthy.
The request was unbounded.

Follow the evidence behind a 120-second timeout.

120s

Symptom

An explicit Qwen request hit the client’s 120-second timeout during v2.2 validation. I treated it as a failed release gate.

These are separate runs with different output lengths. The successful test demonstrates bounded-request behavior, not an equivalent-workload speedup. Timings and token counts are from my project investigation records.

Release context +

I released v2.1 with a recovery and verification process. The earlier September 4 V2 milestone records 61 passing regression checks, a passing TypeScript check, and off-disk backup replication. The Qwen investigation belongs to v2.2 development and does not imply that v2.2 is released. The public main-branch README reflects an earlier roadmap.

A CLOSER LOOK

The background. The source.

Dipen Kalal on LinkedIn ↗

Cloud & IT experience, education, and the professional story behind this work.

View my professional background

@dipenkalal on GitHub ↗

Explore the selected AWS infrastructure, delivery pipelines, and DAP source linked throughout this journey.

Inspect the code and documentation

CONTACT / WINDSOR, ONTARIO

Let’s talk about your next engineering challenge.

For roles, project conversations, or questions about my work, reach me directly.

dipen55945@gmail.com+1 (226) 975-8495
Send an email ↗