About
Two careers, one operating manual.
Howdy! I'm Cole. I split my working life between two practices that look unrelated but have a lot of similarities. On the Tech/IT side I work in DevOps, Cloud Architecture, and Site Reliability — designing/monitoring/improving the systems that keep various cloud(AWS/GCP/Azure) services running. On the Rescue/EMS side I work(volunteer or part-time) in Technical Rescue, Public Safety Diving, and Event Medicine.
Both practices reward calm under pressure. Both punish you for skipping fundamentals. Both depend on a small group of people who trust each other to do the boring work right so the hard work is achievable.
The Tech Practice
After graduating from Clemson University in 2019, I left my research in Computational Biology/Genomics/HPC behind in favor of a subset of that work: Cloud Architecture and Distributed Computing. I realized how many of the difficulties our lab encountered were not an issue of the size of our datasets(which, granted, were in the petabytes), but instead in the way we were processing them. I saw a need I could fulfil, and dove into learning more about containerized/serverless computing and Infrastructure-as-Code(IaC). I enjoy teaching and helping others, and working in DevOps/Cloud Architecture allows me to serve a similar role as I did in the Genomics lab!
I love being able to work across disciplines, fields, and industries. I also love the encompassing nature, opposed to being siloed to a specific team or project. Starting as a software developer for an HPC company, I have since worked in a variety of industries: HPC, Ed-Tech, Finance, Real Estate, and AI/ML. Each role has taught me important lessons that I directly apply to my current work. Recently, I have particularly enjoyed learning Disaster Recovery and Event-Driven architectural/operational paradigms.
The Rescue Practice
After working in Tech for a few years out of college, I felt there was something missing. While my work was fulfilling, it is removed. While I love working remotely, I never get to touch what I create. In Cloud Computing there are many layers of abstration, and I wanted something where I could directly contribute to helping others in a "hands-on" way. I found this in Wilderness Medicine. Starting with a class in Clemson on Wilderness First Aid, I wanted to be able to provide the best care possible to my friends and others when I was in the woods. After encountering and providing aid to a traumatic car accident, I knew Emergency Medicine/Rescue was more than just an interest, but rather an additional career path.
Since that catalyst and the following years of training and certifications, I currently serve as a Rescue Technician, a Public Safety Diver, and an Event Medic on a part-time/volunteer basis with various organizations. While I consider these roles to be a "side career" to my Tech/IT work, I greatly value both. There are many overlapping paradigms between Tech and Rescue that influence my decisions in each. There is nothing more fulfilling than turning what may be someone's worst day of their life into a reletively "happy-ending".
Interests
If you haven't caught on yet, I am both a huge nerd and an avid outdoorsman. What you may not know is I am big on family. When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with my girlfriend and dog, as well as making frequent trips to spend time with my extended family and friends. When I am alone at home, I enjoy working on various AI projects, "wrenching" on various vehicles, listening to high-fidelity audio, playing guitar, DJing, and sometimes gaming. Admittedly, where I am most comfortable is in nature. I enjoy yoga, riding motorcycles, mountain biking, climbing, hiking, paddling, and plenty of other outdoor activities. I love working remotely because it allows me to easily access all areas of interest in my life. I also deeply value the rewards of community and culture that I have been fortunate enough to receive from traveling internationally and to various festivals across the US.
If I could summarize the Meaning of Life in one sentence, it would be "Experiencing what the world has to offer while helping others along the way".
Why this site exists
For networking, mostly. So that when someone asks "wait, who is this Cole guy?" they can land here and get a clean picture in a few minutes. The blog is for the longer conversations — thoughts, lessons learned, the thinking behind the work.
Want to talk or view my qualifications/resume? Here's how to reach me.