About Me

Michael Yates

Infrastructure Architect  ·  Automation Engineer  ·  AI Builder

20+ years across Unix systems, enterprise networking, load balancing, application security, and automation. Now building toward AI orchestration and agent-driven infrastructure — not as a pivot, but as a compounding of everything that came before.

What the resume doesn't say:

Started on Cisco as a Network Engineer. Moved through Microsoft web administration. Found F5 back when it still ran on v9. The skills beyond my resume aren't side projects. They're the direction I'm building toward.

Tools & Technologies

F5 Networks

  • F5 BIG-IP LTM, GTM/DNS, ASM/WAF
  • SSL Off-Load, RAM Cache, Distributed Processing
  • BIG-IP v9.x.x – v17.x.x
  • TMOS iRules (TCL), TMSH, iCall
  • F5 ASM/WAF, DCS/XC, SHAPE
  • VIPRION, iSeries, rSeries, VE

Security & PKI

  • SSH, SSL/PKI Certificate Management
  • Vulnerability Assessment & Mitigation
  • Information Security, Risk Management
  • TLS/SSL Cipher Suite Analysis
  • TLS/SSL Security Assessment
    • Not on the resume
  • Let's Encrypt + ACME Certificate Automation (Traefik)
  • SSL/TLS Termination & End-to-End Encryption

Programming & Automation

  • BASH Scripting, Python
  • C#, Microsoft Entity Framework
  • F5 iControl REST API
  • Process Automation
  • BIG-IP Configuration Posture and Analysis

Networking & DNS

  • LANs, WANs, TCP/IP
  • Cisco Routers & Switches
  • UNIX BIND, Domain Management
  • Multi-tier Network Architectures
  • Network Segmentation / VLAN Management
    • Not on the resume
  • Cloudflare DNS Management
  • Dynamic DNS
  • UniFi DNS / AdGuard Hybrid

Systems & Infrastructure

  • Solaris, IBM AIX, Linux, Windows, Mac
  • Disaster Recovery & System Monitoring
    • Not on the resume
  • Proxmox VE Cluster (Virtualization & HA)
  • pfSense Firewall & VPN Gateway (Retired)
  • UniFi Network Management
  • TrueNAS ZFS Storage & Snapshots
  • Automated Backup Strategies & Testing
  • SMB/NFS Share Management
  • Offsite Replication & Disaster Recovery

Web & Diagnostics

  • HTTP Debugging, TCP Dump Analysis
  • Wireshark
  • Web Administration & Support
  • Self-Hosting, Open Source

Home Lab & Self-Hosted Infrastructure Not on the resume

  • Docker & Docker Compose Orchestration
  • Traefik Reverse Proxy & Dynamic Routing
  • Jekyll Static Site Generation & GitHub Pages
  • NGINX Web Server Administration
  • Forgejo Self-Hosted Git Repo
  • Uptime Kuma Monitoring & Alerting

Container Orchestration Not on the resume

  • K3s Lightweight Kubernetes (Pending Lab Redesign)
  • Container Networking
  • Persistent Storage & Stateful Workloads

AI & Agent Orchestration Not on the resume

  • Hermes Agent Orchestration (Multi-LLM)
  • Claude Code, Local LLMs (Ollama & LM Studio)
  • AI Agent Development & Prompt Engineering
  • Kanban-Driven Agent Orchestration
  • Automated Cron Jobs & Watchdog Pipelines
  • Structured Output & JSON Schema Workflows
  • AI Memory & Token Efficiency Obsession

Career Highlights

F5 Networks

F5 Networks DevCentral Most Valuable Professional (MVP) — recognized 2011–2015 for community contributions and deep technical expertise.

Sheetz

VIP Award Winner Recognized for Excellence — Honored at the 2023 Sheetz Partner Days for outstanding contributions and deep technical expertise in support of the business.

🎯

Subject Matter Expert in middleware technologies — hosting, management, risk mitigation, and distributed processing of web-based applications.

⚡

Continuously leveraged F5 LTM, GTM, and ASM capabilities to increase flexibility and scalability across enterprise applications.

🏭

Planned and flawlessly executed hardware replacements, upgrades, and additions of 300+ F5 BIG-IP devices across multiple Capital One datacenters.

📋

Created and implemented new naming conventions, SOPs, best practices, and administrative access controls for financial services datacenter migrations.

Professional Experience

WorldTech IT

F5 ADC Security Engineer

2020 – Present
  • Daily operational support — in-depth troubleshooting, problem isolation, resolution, and root cause analysis for all assigned clients and cases.
  • Tier 1 escalation point for WTIT clients, mitigating issues before F5 Support Cases are generated; works all F5 cases on behalf of the client when needed.
  • Deep device configuration analysis beyond F5 iHealth recommendations, each analysis is tailored and target for each client to expose issues that triggerd the analysis and more of then than not, problems the client isn't aware of.
  • WAF policy creation, correction, and tuning — optimizing Positive and Negative Security Models per application.
  • Developed automation analysis tools using BASH, Python, and iControl to identify system improvement opportunities.
  • Contributing to proprietary Cloud.Red offerings and enhancements.
What the resume doesn't say:

The resume says F5 engineer. What it doesn't capture is everything I built outside that scope during the same six years. While working across dozens of clients — context-switching between WAF tuning, root-cause analysis, device upgrades, platform migrations, and configuration audits at breakneck speed — I was also building a full-stack home infrastructure from the ground up.

Proxmox Virtualization and Backup Systems with Email Reports. Learning pfSense firewall with VLAN segmentation and VPN gateways (then retiring it for UniFi). TrueNAS ZFS storage with automated snapshots. Self-hosted DNS via UniFi and AdGuard. Traefik reverse proxy with Let's Encrypt ACME automation. Docker orchestration, Forgejo git, Uptime Kuma monitoring, NGINX — all running, all maintained, all battle-tested.

And then came AI. Running Hermes Agent for multi-LLM orchestration. Running and then Retiring Agent-Zero. Tinkering with NemoClaw. Testing Cursor before switching to Claude Code for development. Local LLMs through Ollama and LM Studio. Kanban-driven agent pipelines, automated cron watchdogs, structured output workflows. These aren't experiments — they are production systems I rely on daily.

Six years at WTIT taught me how to carry unfamiliar environments in my head, ramp fast, and deliver under pressure. The lab taught me how to build what comes next and to invest in myself.

GM Financial

Global F5 Engineer

2019 – 2020
  • Daily operational support, troubleshooting, problem isolation, and root cause analysis.
  • Hardware & software upgrades for all F5 BIG-IP iSeries i10800 devices across multiple datacenters to mitigate vulnerabilities and enable new features.
  • Identified opportunities for automation, iRule, iControl, and process improvement.
  • Created on system rolling backups for state recovery using iCall (upgrade survivable cron sytem for BIG-IP) and automation scripts.

Verizon Wireless (Contractor at Capital One)

F5 Consultant

2013 – 2019
  • Designed custom solutions for existing and new applications utilizing LTM & GTM across all lines of business.
  • Hardware & software upgrades as part of an End-Of-Life project — ensuring 200+ F5 BIG-IP devices remained on supported versions per F5's Hardware and Software Support Guidelines.
  • Identified opportunities for automation, iRule, iControl, and process improvement.
What the resume doesn't say:

While I was on the EOL (End-of-Life) project for the entire time I worked at Capital One, that is not the extent of what I did.
- I developed numerous C# WPF Applications that directly interfaced with F5 BIG-IP's iControl to pull device information necessary to orchastrate QA Teams and Server Support Teams to support F5 Upgrade windows. The 200+ device replacement project sounds clean on paper. In practice it's nonstop planning, coordination across teams who didn't talk to each other, and the kind of execution precision that only comes from running the failure scenarios before they happen.

- Participated and coordinated F5 centric change controls and peer review.
I saw Capital One's F5 infrastructure through every phase: greenfield builds, upgrades, compliance audits, and helped build their on-prem/co-lo Ingress/Egress to their new Cloud Infrastructure.

Many of best practices and SOP's I learned while working here that I still use to this day.

Earlier Roles

Milestone Systems / Wells Fargo F5 Consultant 2013
Ally Financial Services Senior Web Systems Engineer / F5 Engineer 2008 – 2013
GMAC Mortgage / GMAC Rescap Web Systems / F5 Engineer 2006 – 2008

Certifications

F5 Networks

  • F5 Certified Administrator (CA) Obtained 2019
  • F5 CTS BIG-IP LTM Obtained 2024
  • F5 CTS BIG-IP DNS (GTM) Obtained 2020
  • F5 CTS BIG-IP ASM (WAF/AWAF) Obtained 2022
  • F5 Accredited XC (F5-AA) Obtained 2024
  • F5 Accredited XC AppSec (F5-ATS) Obtained 2024
  • F5 Accredited XC SMCN (F5-ATS) Obtained 2024

OPSWAT

  • ICIP Certification Obtained 2024
  • OFSA Certification Obtained 2024
  • OWPA Certification Obtained 2024
  • OMCP Certification Obtained 2024
  • OMIP Certification Obtained 2024
  • OWEE Certification Obtained 2024

Other

  • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) Obtained 2019
  • ITIL v3 Certification Obtained 2017
  • Splunk Certified Power User Obtained 2016
  • F5 Advanced Administration Topics Obtained 2006
  • Linux+ Certified Professional Obtained 2002
Beyond the Resume

What the Resume Doesn't Say

🛠️ Home Lab Architect

I run a proper home lab — not a toy. If it can be automated, I automate it. If it can be containerized, I containerize it. The lab is my proving ground: I learn by building, I break things on my own gear first, and what survives goes into production. That's how I got from F5 iRules to Traefik reverse proxies, from CLI scripting to agent-driven automation.

🤖 AI & Agent Orchestration

I build with AI agents — not as a curiosity, but as force multiplication. Twenty years of infrastructure means I know what needs automating and what needs a human in the loop. AI agents close that gap: they handle the repetitive execution, I handle the architecture and judgment. The compound leverage is real — and it's where this career is going.

🐍 Python in Progress

My scripting roots are BASH and TCL (iRules), but I'm deep into Python now — building automation tools, API integrations, and analysis pipelines. The transition from one-liners to proper modules is real, and I'm living it.

🔒 Security Mindset

Certs are one thing. Mindset is another. I think in threat models — what's exposed, what's trusted, what's the blast radius. Whether it's WAF policy tuning or home network segmentation, the question is always: where's the boundary, and who's watching it?

📡 Military Roots

My career started in the US Army Space Command coordinating satellite networks. That's where I learned that mission-critical means mission-critical — no reboots, no excuses, no "I'll get to it." That discipline still drives how I approach every production environment.

🌐 Open Source Advocate

I believe in running your own infrastructure. Self-hosted services, open-source tools, and transparency over vendor lock-in. Let's Encrypt for TLS everywhere, proper DNS management, and a healthy distrust of anything I can't inspect.

Philosophy

Diagnosis before remediation. Automation before repetition. Documentation before frustration.

Problem Solved. Problem Staying Solved.

I don't guess — I troubleshoot. I don't repeat — I script. And I don't hoard knowledge — I document, share, and teach. The best infrastructure is the kind that doesn't need you at 2 AM. If I've done my job right, the 2 AM call never comes.

Why This Site Exists

This isn't a resume. A resume tells you what someone did. This page exists to show you what someone is capable of becoming.

I've spent over two decades keeping other people's infrastructure running — load balancers, routers, switches, application delivery, the critical path that nobody notices until it breaks. I'm good at it. I still love it. But the IT landscape doesn't stand still, and neither do I.

The skillsets on this page that aren't on my resume — the AI orchestration, the agent pipelines, the self-hosted infrastructure, the automation I build because I'd rather spend Saturday scripting than doing the same task twice — those aren't hobbies. They're proof of motion. They're the direction I'm moving.

I'm excited about AI. Not in the hype-cycle way, but in the "I'm building with it every day and I see what it can actually do" way. I see AI as a genuine opportunity to do work that's different, meaningful, and productive. Work that compounds. If this page puts that in front of the right people, it was worth every hour.


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