Andrew Kesterson

"Love God. Live Righteously. Die Well."
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# About

2026-07-10 1.3k words

## Current Projects

You can see what I’m doing at any given time (with a reasonable update resolution) by following my .plan file. The plan file is usually updated daily during the week, less when I’m on vacation.

## Family

I grew up in the Ozark mountains of southwestern Missouri. Born to hard working middle class parents from an agricultural background, I am the youngest of six sons. (That’s me in the bottom right with the sword T-Shirt. It’s an old photo, but it checks out.)

I met my wife Cameron online in the mid 1990s, when the internet was a very different place. (Alas - the internet culture we knew back then is dead and buried - but I digress.) After having met Cameron, I moved to Georgia to live with her in 2002. Cameron made me the happiest man ever by agreeing to marry me in February 2004. Together we have bounced around the continental United States several times, and currently live in Georgia, near Cameron’s family. Cameron and I have three children: Annastasia (2005), Gabriel (2008), and Catherine (2010).

I have dedicated my life to the service of my family, and put them first at all times. Only my dedication to my God can come before them.

## Hacker and Technology Leader

I’ve been using computers as long as I can remember, and programming them for almost as long as I can remember. My first program was a text adventure version of Final Fantasy written in BASIC on a TRS-80 before dialup internet was common. I have fond memories of writing C on an Amiga 500, dialing in to BBSs on an i386 MS-DOS system, programming games on Pentium and Pentium 2 systems, constantly reinstalling Windows 98 (if you know, you know), setting up home networks when other teens were working on cars, playing Quake at LAN parties when other teens were chasing girls… I’m self taught in technical matters, but have had lots of help from older siblings (Robert, Paul and Samuel) and friends online (too numerous to count) over the years. I was briefly with Hack Factor X (HFX) back in the late 90s. I’ve been working in technology officially since 2006.

I’ve gone through a lot of changes over the years. But the Mentor’s Manifesto will forever hold a place in my heart.

# Staff DevSecOps Engineer

Bridgephase, LLC 11/2025-Current

- Contributing to the PlatformOne EdgeOps product, enabling compliant compute at the tactical edge for mission teams supporting the warfighter.

# Senior DevSecOps Engineer

Bridgephase, LLC 4/2024–11/2025

Worked on the PlatformOne Big Bang project, one of (if not the) largest open source projects in the Department of Defense, performing a variety of roles and functions as a Sr Engineer.

- Managed the Storage & Collaboration mission team for the DoD Platform One “Big Bang” project, ensuring Big Bang components received timely security updates and regular maintenance
- Maintained and added features to various pieces of automation code surrounding kubernetes cluster management, integration and delivery pipelines, and developer tooling
- Contributed several features to the PlatformOne EdgeOps solution focusing around expanding customer control of bare metal provisioning and hardware management
- Delivered a project to integrate PlatformOne EdgeOps to a customer in a SAP environment modernizing a legacy HPC supercomputing infrastructure
- Lead the Bridgephase DevSecOps community of practice

# Infrastructure & Cloud Engineering Manager

Wiser Solutions, Inc. 4/2022–2/2024

Directed engineering of Cloud and hybrid infrastructures to align with business goals and empower teams across enterprise to achieve growth and scale objectives. Built relationships with colleagues and leaders, leveraging relationships to guide decision-making, strategic planning, and vision for future initiatives. Championed automation to streamline processes and engage teams in higher-level projects. Managed performance from a fully remote environment.

# IT Manager

Nintendo of America 2/2014–4/2022

Managed complexity of multiple functions spanning reliability engineering, IT operations, hosting, build & delivery functions, and enterprise IT for Nintendo of America and Nintendo Technology Development. Monitored performance of multimillion-dollar portfolio encompassing dozens of platforms, including eCommerce solutions, internal tools, B2B integrations, and other key systems. Defined engineering standards, including creating measures and metrics for assessing designs, products, and solutions in terms of alignment with said standards. Collaborated with global Nintendo on strategic planning and process development. Served as part of Product Support Team for critical platforms and products.

# Automation Team Manager

Vonage Business Solutions 4/2013–2/2014

Oversaw team of Automation Architects and provided ongoing leadership, mentoring, and performance management to ensure performance goals were met. Managed critical technical projects related to automation. Developed tools in Bash and Puppet for deployment across diverse environments, as well as wrote automated build and test frameworks in Ruby, Puppet, and Jenkins. Gathered requirements from other teams (System Administration, Product Development, and more) and acted as liaison between teams to create bridges across projects and processes. Provided ongoing troubleshooting.

# DevOps Team Leader

Total Systems, Inc 2/2011–4/2013

Led DevOps team responsible for creation of automation tools and other technologies, improving operating capacity and processes such as audits through tools. Championed DevOps practices to guide integration across enterprise.

# Miscellanious

Also served as Software Engineer for Global Net Access (leading software development for major colocation datacenter) and Software Engineer/Network Administrator at Logical Solutions (managing 300 remote sites).

For more information about my professional background, current workplace, open positions, or to approach me with an opportunity, please see My LinkedIn Profile.

## Civil Service

# Volunteer Firefighter

Tazewell, Georgia Volunteer Fire Department 04/2025 - Current
Fort Perry, Georgia Volunteer Fire Department 03/2022 - 04/2025
Geneva, Georgia Volunteer Fire Department 03/2022 - 04/2025

- Completed Firefighter 1 certification July 2022, training with Flint Hill Fire Dept, Georgia.
- Elected Treasurer of Geneva Fire Dept Sep 2022, retired from the position in December 2024
- Elected Chief of Fort Perry VFD in July 2024, served until ethical differences with the Board of Directors forced me to resign. Managed all aspects of training and operations for volunteer fire department running approx 100 calls per year.
- Appointed training officer at Tazewell VFD in April 2025. Operating fire training academy for all of Marion county, graduating (on average) 3-7 firefighters per year.

# Infantry Soldier

Georgia State Defense Force 04/2022-06/2023

- Swore oath of enlistment February 2022 (for the second time - first time in 2000)
- Completed IET July 2022, graduated with honors
- Served in the elite OPFOR Battalion, simulating enemy forces to train Georgia national guard troops. Serving as an infantry soldier and as the acting S4, managing signal (radio) equipment, processes, and training for the batallion.

# Knight

Order of Christian Knights 2019 - 06/2023

- Became attached to the Order around 2019.
- Knighted as Sir Andrew in September, 2021. Committed to living a lifestyle that affirms the traditions of chivalry.
- Helped craft founding documents for the organization - primarily bylaws and constitution.
- Elected Master Deputy in Winter 2021 to assist the Grandmaster of the Order with executive functions. Served until December 2022.
- Appointed Master Secretary of the Order and Commander of the Southeast Regional Commandery December 2022.
- Active in numerous churches to encourage men and women to serve their family, churches and community.
- Vacated Order positions in June 2023 to focus on Fire department and local Church responsiblities

# Search and Rescue Technician

Skagit Ground Search and Rescue 2017 - 10/2021

- Joined Fall 2017 after traveling to Houston, Texas to provide humanitarian aid after Hurricane Harvey.
- Served as field rescue technician, locating and extricating lost or injured subjects.
- Trained in First Aid, CPR, AED, bleeding control, and patient packout.
- Assisted with evidence searches for Skagit county Washington Sheriff’s Office.
- Assisted with the 2018, 2019, and 2020 SAR training academies.
- Served as Secretary in 2021 and briefly as Vice President.
- Assisted Search and Rescue Council with the implementation of Google Suites for Nonprofits via Techsoup

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