Illustrated portrait of Derrick Lamers
Open to opportunities Macomb, MI · Remote or Metro Detroit18+ years

Derrick Lamers

Senior Cloud & Infrastructure Engineer

Infrastructure engineer with 18+ years across on-prem, hybrid, and cloud. Led a full datacenter-to-AWS transformation, from an undocumented 100+ VM environment to a complete datacenter exit. Managed endpoints and identity for a 550-person remote company, handled production releases to EKS alongside DevOps, and build with AI-assisted development. Known for bringing order to complex environments.

Get in touch

01/Experience

Nov 2023 – Nov 2026Most recent

Senior Systems Administrator

BlueAlly
  • Inherited an undocumented VMware environment (15 ESXi hosts, a SAN, 100+ VMs, no runbooks). Audited every workload, established ownership, decommissioned orphaned VMs, and documented it end to end.
  • Led a service-first migration of 80 VMs to AWS using S3, AWS Backup, and CloudWatch; chose SQL Server on EC2 after an RDS cost evaluation. Reduced the footprint to 12 EC2 instances and exited the datacenter, retiring all 15 hosts and the SAN.
  • Ran production releases for the microsite platform on Kubernetes in AWS: after code review, created GitHub release tags to trigger image builds, deployed with a second GitHub Actions workflow, and logged each release in JIRA. Modified a workflow to monitor image storage and clean up old images.
  • Automated patching, backups, and alerting across the AWS environment.
  • Built an app with Claude that tracks inbound email across 200+ sales mailboxes, showing Marketing which microsites drive the most contact.
  • Deployed Intune and Defender for Endpoint across 800+ Windows and macOS endpoints, rolled out 1Password to 550 employees, moved remote access from Citrix to CATO SASE, and merged 3 acquisitions into one Microsoft 365 tenant.
Aug 2016 – Nov 2023

IT Infrastructure Lead

NBS Commercial Interiors
  • Moved the on-prem file server to the cloud: 3 TB to SharePoint Online and 6 TB of archives to Azure Files.
  • Replaced networking across six locations with Cisco Meraki and built a three-host VMware cluster on a Compellent SAN.
  • Migrated 120 users to Microsoft Teams Voice; added Mimecast, Duo MFA, and Veeam backups; ran quarterly PCI vulnerability scans.
Aug 2011 – Aug 2016

IT Manager, previously Network Administrator

Michigan Legacy Credit Union
  • Ran IT for 90 staff across six branches: budgeting, security policy, and monthly disaster recovery testing.
  • Managed 14 servers on VMware, migrated Exchange 2010 to 2013, and built RADIUS-secured wireless at every branch.
Feb 2008 – Aug 2011

IT Specialist

Genisys Credit Union
  • Supported 180+ users across 22 locations; scripted daily core-banking processing and built internal web apps in PHP.

Impact at a glance

100+
VMs audited
Undocumented datacenter, fully mapped
80 → 12
VMs to EC2 instances
Service-first AWS migration
15
Hosts + SAN retired
Complete datacenter exit
550
Remote employees
Endpoints, identity, 1Password

02/Skills

In production

Used on the job, at scale.

Cloud
AWS EC2S3CloudWatchAWS BackupEKS releasesAzureEntra ID
Endpoint & Identity
IntuneDefender for EndpointMicrosoft 3651PasswordDuo MFA
Infrastructure & Network
Linux serversVMware vSphereHyper-VCompellent / Nimble SANVeeamCisco MerakiCATO SASE
Automation & Delivery
GitHub ActionsPowerShellPythonBashJIRAClaude (AI-assisted dev)

Building in the lab

Hands-on in my homelab and side projects.

Running now
DockerTraefikKomodoTailscaleKubernetes (Talos, ArgoCD, Cilium)
Built
GoSwiftUI
In progress
CI/CD pipelinesPrometheus · Loki · GrafanaTerraform

03/Certifications

  • AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – AssociateIn progress
  • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)Apr 2024
  • Certified Meraki Network OperatorJun 2018
  • Dell Compellent Storage Center Advanced AdministratorFeb 2017

04/Education

  • BBA, Information TechnologyWalsh College · Troy, MI
  • Associate of Business AdministrationMacomb Community College · Clinton Township, MI

Hiring for cloud or infrastructure?

I'd like to hear about it. Senior SysOps, cloud operations, and infrastructure roles, remote or Metro Detroit.

Get in touch