Hi! 👋
I'm Matthew McLeod (or vai on the internet). I've been in tech for nearly 30 years, and most recently spent a few years as Chapter Lead at a global IoT firm. Being a generalist, and usually a technical or strategy lead, I'm used to wearing many hats, and working cross-functional roles.
Since my last full time position, I've taken some time to build new skills, particularly in automation, and systems programming.
Replaced the legacy platforms, and drove the technical direction for the new platform services. Defined and implemented the unified platform's best practices, and implemented a complete IAM system
I led redevelopment of a modern kubernetes-based microservices platform to replace several legacy M&A platforms
Managed the technical direction of multiple project and product teams
I set up best practices for our processes, including agile methodologies and CI/CD processes
Specialised in Identity and Access Management, and developed our core authentication and authorization system, with MFA, FIDO, a secure token server, multi-tenant, and OAuth/OpenID support
Ran workshops and training sessions for teams, including a series on Git, and a series on our microservices and ops practices
Gained valuable insights into developing and operating complex IoT systems at scale
QWRK is my own consultancy which I've been running since 2008. I provide ad-hoc consulting services, and turnkey bespoke software solutions. I've also been involved in a number of startups, and have a few of my own projects in the works.
PEPFAR - I developed the software controls for device policy, for systems distributed to HIV/AIDS testing clinics across Africa
NHLS - Laboratory Quality Management System
Popcorn Training - I developed a custom LMS for Popcorn Training's security awareness training platform
ez-chat - A B2B SMS marketing and client communication platform
I spearheaded design and development of a system for the canonical storage of intermediary information (GIS), and a corresponding master-data management programme to integrate dozens of disparate business systems and utilities providing and making use of that data.
Business Analysis and technical requirements documentation for the University of the Western Cape’s rewrite of their Marks Administration System
As Technical Lead, my duties included initial analysis (technical and business), system architecture, requirements and specifications documentation, product support, system design & development. Our primary client was Vodacom, one of the largest mobile network operators in South Africa. I was involved in the development of a number of systems for WASPs (Wireless Application Service Providers), vendors, and Vodacom themselves.
I practice continuous learning, I'm working on the following areas:
Rust - I'm working through some courses to familiarise myself
Go - I'm working on implementing some services in Go
Discourse - I've taken a deep dive into the community software, and created some smaller plugins for our platform
Bitcoin and Lightning Network payment systems
Pulumi - for an alternate to Terraform for infrastructure as code
NixOS - for Linux, and Nix for package management - I'm currently running NixOS on my personal laptop
Astro - I've been using Astro to build sites, and have created a few small sites with it
Podman - replacing Docker for container management
Garuda - evaluating Garuda as a desktop OS
Hyprland - a modern tile-based desktop environment in Wayland