Soren Black

Soren Black, Cloud & DevOps Engineer

Cloud & DevOps Engineer

33.92° S · 18.42° E

CurrentlyCloud EngineerDevOps EngineerReact & Next.js Developer
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AWS CertifiedSolutions Architect Associate

01Profile

Some engineers build the road. Others build the car. I build both: the AWS infrastructure and pipelines underneath, and the React and Next.js applications that run on top.

Cloud and DevOps engineer working across AWS infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines and front-end delivery. AWS Solutions Architect Associate certified, with a grounding in networking and security.

  • 02AWS certificationsSolutions Architect Associate and Cloud Practitioner
  • 3→1Domains consolidatedLayered SSL, DNS and CloudFront routing, resolved onto one canonical domain
  • 20Person team on EKSA self-hosted virtual office, ClickUp integrations included
  • 2024In production sinceCloud infrastructure, CI/CD and front-end delivery

02Expertise

Five disciplines. One deploy.

AWS, end to end

Cloud Infrastructure

The layer everything else stands on: content delivery, containers, identity, and the DNS and SSL plumbing in between.

  • CloudFront
  • S3
  • ECS
  • EKS
  • IAM
  • Athena
  • QuickSight
  • Microsoft Azure

React & Next.js

Front-end Engineering

Production React and Next.js applications: App Router, static exports, typed end to end and animated with intent.

  • React
  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS
  • GSAP
  • Three.js
  • GA4

This site: Next.js 16 · React 19 · WebGL

Commit to production

Delivery Pipelines

Infrastructure as code and pipelines that take a commit to production without anyone touching a console.

  • AWS CDK
  • CodePipeline
  • GitHub Actions
  • Docker
  • CI/CD
  • Static exports → S3

Networking & security

Foundations

Trained in networking, Linux and security before the cloud, so the fundamentals are never an afterthought.

  • Linux
  • Networking
  • Security fundamentals
  • DNS / SSL

Form follows function

Design

The visual side of shipping: marks, one-pagers and layouts that make the engineering legible.

  • Logos & brand marks
  • Posters & one-pagers
  • Layout & typography

03Builds

The Collection

One shipped. Two under cover.

Build 001Available

Static hosting kit

Next.js → AWS CDK

S3, CloudFront, ACM and Route 53 (or your own DNS), wired up in one CDK construct. This site runs on it.

  • AWS CDK
  • S3
  • CloudFront
  • ACM
  • Route 53
  • Next.js
View on Gumroad
Build 002In development

Agentic video studio

Name under wraps

A crew of AI agents that turns a single topic into a finished vertical video: script, voice, word-timed captions and render. Then it reads the retention numbers and rewrites its own playbook. Runs locally by default.

  • Next.js
  • React
  • TypeScript
  • FFmpeg
  • ONNX models
  • SQLite

Codename withheld · Work in progress

Build 003In development

Group-ride app

Name under wraps

Convoy-style live tracking for riding clubs. Everyone on a ride shares one map from roll-out to arrival, with spoken alerts and an SOS alarm. Routes are drawn on the map or imported from Google Maps, and private rides stay private. An Android app, built in React.

  • React
  • Ionic
  • Capacitor
  • Android
  • Supabase
  • Leaflet

Codename withheld · Work in progress

04Experience

In production

Cloud & DevOps engineeringSince 2024

Production work across AWS infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines and front-end delivery, including the React and Next.js applications that run on it. Names withheld; the work stands on its own.

  1. 01

    An AI agent control room

    Built an internal tool where AI agents audit a site's analytics and draft SEO and content changes, with a person approving everything that ships.

    • AI agents
    • GA4
    • Next.js
  2. 02

    QR check-in for a live event

    Built QR passes and door check-in for a developer event on a serverless AWS stack, set up entirely in Terraform.

    • Terraform
    • Lambda
    • API Gateway
  3. 03

    Three domains, one canonical

    Untangled layered SSL, DNS and CloudFront routing across three domains and consolidated them onto a single canonical primary.

    • DNS
    • SSL
    • CloudFront
  4. 04

    Next.js onto CodePipeline

    Moved a Next.js static site onto an existing CodePipeline → S3 → CloudFront delivery pipeline.

    • Next.js
    • CodePipeline
    • S3
  5. 05

    A virtual office on EKS

    Stood up a self-hosted virtual office platform on Amazon EKS for a 20-person hybrid team, integrated with ClickUp.

    • EKS
    • Kubernetes
    • ClickUp
  6. 06

    QA scoring in QuickSight

    Built QuickSight calculated fields for QA-score reporting on top of Athena.

    • QuickSight
    • Athena
  7. 07

    GA4 for a Next.js SPA

    Instrumented a Next.js single-page app with GA4 and ran conversion diagnostics on a production website.

    • GA4
    • Next.js
  8. 08

    Client apps in React & Next.js

    Built client applications in React and Next.js.

    • React
    • Next.js

05Credentials

Proven on paper.

Two AWS certifications, built on three programmes of formal training in networking, development and security.

AWS Certified

Solutions Architect

Associate

AWS Certified

Cloud Practitioner

Foundational

Training & milestones

  1. 2020

    Networking & Systems

    Formal training

    Networking, server and security fundamentals; hardware and technical support.

  2. 2021

    Software Development

    Formal training

    Web and application development, databases and IT project management.

  3. 2022

    Cyber Security

    Specialisation

    CompTIA Linux+, Security+, PenTest+ and CySA+ curricula; ethical hacking & forensics; ITIL Foundations.

  4. 2024

    Cloud & DevOps

    In production

    AWS infrastructure, CI/CD and front-end delivery, every day.

Philosophy

Don't sell products,sell convenience.