[ OPERATOR_PROFILE / 001 ]

BRANDON SCHWARTZ

IT OPERATIONS ENGINEER | CLOUD ENGINEER (IN PROGRESS)
EXPERIENCE:
8+ Years
FOCUS:
Infrastructure, Identity & Security → Cloud
TARGET CERT:
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate, Sep 2026
STATUS:
Actively building
brandons0306@gmail.com +27 84 618 7475 Gauteng, South Africa linkedin.com/in/brandonschwartz03 Open to relocation — EU
[ BIOGRAPHY / 002 ]

EIGHT YEARS STEADYING SYSTEMS. NOW BUILDING IN THE CLOUD.

I'm an IT Operations Engineer with eight-plus years across infrastructure, identity and access management, and security operations. I'm currently functioning as de facto IT Manager for a global manufacturing organisation's South African region, delivering operational stability and security governance across local, EMEA, and global environments.

Over the past year I've been building toward a cloud engineering career: sitting the AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam in September 2026, and provisioning real infrastructure with Terraform rather than clicking through a console.

Good infrastructure is invisible until it isn't. I'd rather build the version that stays invisible.

[ OPERATING_PRINCIPLES / 003 ]
Audit before you architect01
Automate the repeatable04
Least privilege by default02
Own the outage05
Document as you build, not after03
Measure, then trust06
[ OPERATIONAL_METRICS / 004 ]
8+
YEARS OF IT OPERATIONS EXPERIENCE
9
CERTIFICATIONS EARNED
3
REGIONS SUPPORTED — SA / EMEA / GLOBAL
100%
DATA INTEGRITY ACROSS DR TESTING
[ TECH_STACK / 005 ]

SYSTEMS & IDENTITY

Windows Server / Client▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 8y
Active Directory▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 8y
Okta (IDP / SSO)▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 3y
Microsoft 365▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 6y
Google Workspace▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 5y
Linux Administration▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱ 4y

SECURITY & NETWORKING

FortiGate Firewalls▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 6y
Routing / DNS / L1–3▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 8y
CrowdStrike Falcon (EDR)▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 3y
Google SecOps (Chronicle)▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱ 2y
SIEM Administration▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱ 3y

CLOUD & AUTOMATION

AWS (SAA-C03 in progress)▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ <1y
Terraform▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ <1y
Azure▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱ 3y
Python▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱ 3y
boto3▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ <1y
TOOLS
GITFORTIGATEOKTA ADMIN CROWDSTRIKEGOOGLE SECOPSIT GLUE PRTGVS CODEAWS CLITERRAFORM CLI
ENGINEERING
IDENTITY GOVERNANCEFIREWALL POLICY SIEM LOG INGESTIONDR TESTING BUDGET & PROCUREMENTDOCUMENTATION INFRASTRUCTURE AS CODE
[ EXPERIENCE_LOG / 006 ] SYSTEMS, SECURITY, AND REGIONAL OPERATIONS
2022 — PRESENT
NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR · NITERRA SOUTH AFRICA
  • De facto IT Manager for South Africa since Nov 2024 — no formal title change
  • Lead full lifecycle of Okta IDP operations: implementation, SSO configuration, ongoing governance
  • Administer FortiGate firewalls across regional infrastructure — policy, ACLs, firmware, monitoring
  • Deploy and manage CrowdStrike Falcon and Google SecOps (Chronicle), ingesting logs from AD, Windows Server, and FortiGate
  • Conduct security audits, risk assessments, and DR testing — 100% data integrity and policy compliance
  • Own annual IT budget and procurement; Regional BEX Champion aligning process work with global PMO
  • 2nd/3rd line support across South Africa, EMEA, and global HQ
2021 — 2022
SUPPORT TECHNICIAN · CURVENT INTERNATIONAL
+
  • Oversaw day-to-day ICT operations in a Microsoft-centric environment
  • Managed system upgrades, virtualisation infrastructure, and enterprise documentation
2020 — 2021
SENIOR IT ADMINISTRATOR · VOX TELECOM
+
  • Managed Microsoft 365 environments across multiple customers — migrations, setup, ongoing support
  • Deployed and maintained FortiGate firewalls across customer sites, physical install through firmware management
  • Administered documentation via IT Glue; 2nd line M365 support via N-able and SolarWinds
2017 — 2020
IT TECHNICIAN · CURVENT INTERNATIONAL
+
  • Managed and maintained computer systems and network infrastructure
  • Provided hardware/software support, conducted system upgrades, maintained documentation
2016 — 2017
JUNIOR WEB DEVELOPER · CYBERWEB IT
+
  • Developed and maintained client websites using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL
  • Integrated backend systems and databases; provided 1st line internal support
[ PROJECT_ARCHIVE / 007 ] SELECTED SYSTEMS & BUILDS
MINING MACHINE ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM 2025 — CURRENT

Three-component access control system for heavy mining machinery. Operators are verified by a Mifare 4K smart card before a machine will start; every access event is tamper-evidently logged and wirelessly retrievable without cables or infrastructure. Includes a headless embedded reader, a handheld field collection tool over ESP-NOW, and a Windows card-programming application with a full audit trail.

C++ / ESP32RFID / MIFARE 4K C# / WPF / .NET 8SQLiteESP-NOW
[ CERTIFICATIONS / 008 ]

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

In progress — sitting Sep 2026

Okta Certified Professional

Okta · Sep 2025

Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer

Google · May 2024

CompTIA CySA+

CompTIA · Apr 2023

Blue Team Level 1

Security Blue Team · May 2023

CompTIA Security+

CompTIA · Aug 2022

CompTIA Network+

CompTIA · Jul 2022

Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals

Microsoft · May 2022

Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate

Google / Coursera · Oct 2021

[ EXAM_PREP_TIMELINE / 009 ] PLANNED — SAA-C03 SITS SEP 4, 2026

Cloud Resume Challenge chunks run in parallel with exam prep, not after it.

NOW
Front end + Terraform state
WK 2
Back-end API + DynamoDB
WK 3
Front/back integration + tests
WK 4
CI/CD automation
WK 5
Final review + blog post
SEP 4
SAA-C03 exam