JASON "TOJ" FOWLER
Senior Software Engineer • Platform Engineering & SRE • Educator
11+ years @ WP Engine • Austin, TX
Data pipelines & SLI metrics | Performance engineering & Kubernetes at scale | Teaching complex concepts simply
$ cat profile.txt
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at WP Engine in Austin, where I've spent 11+ years. My focus is platform engineering and site reliability: performance engineering, reliability measurement, and cloud infrastructure.
I've led cross-team performance benchmarking, owned validation for new platform infrastructure, and built GCP-based uptime monitoring with ETL pipelines and event-driven alerting. I'm our team's subject matter expert on uptime SLI/SLO metrics, designing the measurement models in dbt and BigQuery and building dashboards in Grafana and Data Studio. I also manage enterprise Kubernetes across multi-cloud environments with Terraform, maintain CI/CD pipelines in GCP Cloud Build, and serve as the team's Agile Advocate.
My teaching background still serves me well. I'm able to explain complex systems in simple terms, whether that's presenting benchmarking results to leadership or bringing an engineer up to speed. I've also mentored 2 engineers in Terraform, Kubernetes, and Python by creating hands-on modules and Jupyter notebooks.
$ git log --experience
commit 8f4a2b9c1d6e3f7a5b8c9d2e4f1a6b3c7d8e9f0a (HEAD -> main) Author: Jason Fowler <toj@toj.dev> Date: Mon Oct 3 09:00:00 2022 -0500 Senior Software Engineer at WP Engine
- Built and maintained GCP Cloud Build CI/CD pipelines managed via Terraform, with automated dev→prod promotion, PR validation, and inline plan output across 6+ repositories
- Managed enterprise Kubernetes infrastructure across multi-cloud environments including GKE upgrades, vulnerability remediation, and cost optimization via Terraform
- Built dbt pipelines in BigQuery for SLI metrics covering uptime, bandwidth, and the org's first cluster-level downtime and MTTR tracking
- Built an uptime monitoring platform on GCP including an hourly NRQL→BigQuery ETL pipeline via Cloud Functions and Cloud Scheduler, and an event-driven alerting pipeline routing webhook events through Pub/Sub to Slack
- Led cross-team performance benchmarking and validation for new platform infrastructure; identified configuration defects and methodology flaws and presented findings to engineering and product leadership
- As the team's Agile Advocate, ran ceremonies, set team standards, and tracked delivery metrics in Jira dashboards
- Mentored 2 engineers in Terraform, Kubernetes, and Python via hands-on training modules and Jupyter notebooks
commit 3e7b1f4c9a2d8e6f0b5c1a7d4e9f2b8c3a6d1e5f Author: Jason Fowler <toj@toj.dev> Date: Wed May 20 08:30:00 2020 -0500 Software Engineer, Reliability at WP Engine
- Diagnosed GKE pod degradation with Google, identifying a COS node issue; migrated to Ubuntu nodes to resolve it
- Extended the org's uptime SLI/SLO monitoring from single-region to multi-region polling, finalizing the consensus-based availability calculations and BigQuery/DataStudio reporting for rolling 28-day compliance tracking
- Authored 23 technical documentation pages for uptime monitoring, incident response, and operational runbooks
commit 7d2e9f1a4b6c8e3f5a0b7c2d9e4f1a6b8c3d5e7f Author: Jason Fowler <toj@toj.dev> Date: Fri Nov 17 10:00:00 2017 -0600 Associate Software Engineer, Reliability at WP Engine
- Led Jenkins migration from AWS to GCP using Terraform/Ansible with SumoLogic/Datadog monitoring; maintained infrastructure through upgrades, plugin updates, and node migrations with documented RCAs
- Maintained Django service aggregating Jira/GitHub metrics for engineering OKR tracking and visualization
- Co-led Kubernetes adoption assisting engineering teams with workload migrations
- Developed smoke tests, monitoring frameworks, and operational runbooks
commit 5a8d1b4c7e9f2a5b8c1d4e7f0a3d6b9c2e8f1a4b Author: Jason Fowler <toj@toj.dev> Date: Mon Sep 1 09:00:00 2014 -0500 IT Support Lead at WP Engine
- Built IT infrastructure and auditing systems, administered corporate networks (Meraki, 4 offices) and collaboration platforms (Google, Zoom, Dialpad)
commit 2b5c8e1f4a7d9e3f6b0c2a8d5e1f4b7c9a3d6e2f Author: Jason Fowler <toj@toj.dev> Date: Mon Jan 15 09:00:00 2012 -0600 IT Support Engineer at Bazaarvoice
- Provided global IT support across 9 offices, deploying Mac/Windows images and administering enterprise systems (Active Directory, Exchange, Office 365, WebEx, Cisco UCM)
commit 9a3d6e2f5b8c1e4f7a0d3b6c9e2f5a8d1b4c7e9f Author: Jason Fowler <toj@toj.dev> Date: Thu Jun 14 10:30:00 2010 -0400 Genius at Apple Store Sagemore
- Apple Certified Mac Technician providing hardware/software support and customer service
commit 4f7a0d3b6c9e2f5a8d1b4c7e9f2a5b8c1d4e7f0a Author: Jason Fowler <toj@toj.dev> Date: Mon Aug 18 08:00:00 2008 -0400 High School Mathematics Teacher at Lindenwold High School
- Taught Honors Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II to a diverse student population
commit 1e4f7a0d3b6c9e2f5a8d1b4c7e9f2a5b8c1d4e7f Author: Jason Fowler <toj@toj.dev> Date: Wed Aug 16 08:00:00 2006 -0500 6th Grade Mathematics Teacher at Pearce Middle School, Austin ISD
- Taught 6th grade mathematics at a Title I school, piloting projector-based digital materials in the classroom
commit 6c9e2f5a8d1b4c7e9f2a5b8c1d4e7f0a3d6b9c2e Author: Jason Fowler <toj@toj.dev> Date: Mon Jun 20 09:00:00 2005 -0500 Services Support Representative I at Unisys (TSA, DHS HQ)
- Provided technical support for Department of Homeland Security systems
$ kubectl get toj-skills -A
| NAMESPACE | NAME | READY | UP-TO-DATE | AVAILABLE | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| agile | agile-advocacy | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 4y6m |
| cloud-infrastructure | ansible | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 8y9m |
| cloud-infrastructure | cloud-build | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 7y3m |
| cloud-infrastructure | google-cloud-platform | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 7y4m |
| cloud-infrastructure | terraform | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 8y9m |
| container-orchestration | docker | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 7y4m |
| container-orchestration | helm | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 8y6m |
| container-orchestration | kubernetes | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 6y10m |
| data-analytics | bigquery | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 3y10m |
| data-analytics | dbt | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 1y5m |
| data-analytics | influxdb | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 8y9m |
| data-analytics | sli-slo-metrics | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 6y3m |
| development | backstage | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 3y3m |
| development | golang | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 3y10m |
| development | python | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 8y9m |
| mentoring | jupyter-notebooks | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 3y10m |
| mentoring | kubernetes-training | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 3y10m |
| mentoring | python-training | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 3y10m |
| mentoring | terraform-training | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 3y10m |
| observability | data-studio | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 6y3m |
| observability | datadog | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 8y9m |
| observability | grafana | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 3y7m |
| observability | incident-response | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 6y8m |
| observability | new-relic | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 90d |
| observability | pagerduty | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 3y10m |
| observability | telegraf | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 8y9m |
| performance-testing | jmeter | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 271d |
$ cat education_and_certifications.yaml
education: - institution: The University of Texas at Austin degree: Bachelor of Science, Computer Science graduation_date: December 2003 certifications: - name: Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) organization: Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) dates: November 2021 - November 2024 - name: Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) organization: Scrum Alliance dates: February 2022 - February 2024 - name: Apple Certified Mac Technician organization: Apple, Inc. dates: October 2010 - November 2012 - name: Certified Mathematics Teacher (K-12) organization: State of New Jersey dates: July 2008 - Present - name: Certified Technology Education (6-12) organization: State of Texas dates: May 2008 - August 2012 - name: Certified Mathematics Teacher (4-8) organization: State of Texas dates: August 2006 - August 2012
$ ./connect.sh
Connection established.
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