# Ahmed Tariq

> Ahmed Tariq is a Backend, Platform, AI, and Cloud DevOps Engineer specialising
> in cloud-native AI applications, custom chatbots,
> RAG pipelines, agentic AI, and scalable cloud infrastructure across
> AWS, Azure, and GCP.
> This public, client-facing portfolio presents cloud reference
> blueprints and anonymized architecture case studies for backend, platform,
> AI, and cloud DevOps engineering. Vendor reference diagrams are clearly
> attributed and are not presented as original client work.

## About

Ahmed is a dedicated and results-driven Cloud DevOps Engineer with deep
specialisation in artificial intelligence and machine learning
infrastructure. He designs, builds, and maintains robust, scalable, and
secure cloud environments that serve as the backbone for cutting-edge AI
applications. With a strong foundation in both software development and
systems administration, he bridges the gap between development and
operations.

## Services

- Cloud Application Development: Cloud-native apps on AWS, Azure, and GCP with serverless, microservices, and containers
- Cloud Engineering: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS solutions balancing performance, security, and cost
- Cloud Cost Optimization: Workload audits, right-sizing, and pricing levers for measurable ROI
- Cloud Security & Compliance: Security controls, monitoring, and governance for data protection
- Cloud Automation & DevOps: CI/CD pipelines, workflow automation, and DevOps best practices
- Infrastructure as Code: Reusable templates with Terraform, ARM, Bicep, CloudFormation, and AWS CDK
- Cloud Monitoring & Analytics: Observability tooling with Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, Datadog, and CloudWatch
- Custom Chatbot Development: AI chatbots (text & voice) with generative models and production reliability
- Generative AI Solutions: Gen AI strategies, RAG pipelines, LLM integrations, and AI automation

## Primary Pages

- [Portfolio home](https://ahmed-tariq.me/): Profile, services, technical skills, case studies, published articles, recorded talks, certifications, and contact details
- [Architecture case-study portfolio](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/): A curated collection of cloud blueprints and implementation studies
- [Published articles](https://ahmed-tariq.me/publications/): Technical articles with original publisher references and publication dates
- [Talks and podcasts](https://ahmed-tariq.me/talks/): Recorded Conf42 presentations and podcast guest appearances
- [Full LLM-readable portfolio](https://ahmed-tariq.me/llms-full.txt): Expanded text version of all case studies

## Architecture Case Studies

- [Enterprise Azure Landing Zone — Hub & Spoke](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/enterprise-azure-landing-zone-hub-spoke/): Microsoft reference blueprint covering management groups, subscriptions, identity, governance, connectivity, security, observability, and platform automation
- [AWS Multi-Account Security & Network Landing Zone](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/aws-multi-account-security-network-landing-zone/): AWS reference blueprint covering organizational units, security and log archive accounts, centralized networking, shared services, and workload isolation
- [Google Cloud Enterprise Foundation & Shared VPC](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/google-cloud-enterprise-foundation-shared-vpc/): Google Cloud reference blueprint covering resource hierarchy, IAM, organization policy, Shared VPC, private connectivity, security, and GitOps delivery
- [Private Azure RAG & Document Intelligence Platform](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/private-azure-rag-document-intelligence-platform/): Private backend, retrieval, document processing, managed data, secrets, containers, and observability
- [Azure Multi-Agent Intelligence & RAG Platform](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/azure-multi-agent-intelligence-rag-platform/): Specialist agents, governed data, semantic retrieval, shared model services, and deployable application components
- [AWS Cross-Account Migration & Modernization](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/aws-cross-account-migration-modernization/): Migration dependencies, destination foundations, data movement, validation, cutover, and rollback planning
- [Vertex AI MLOps & Model Evaluation Framework](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/vertex-ai-mlops-model-evaluation-framework/): Repeatable model training, evaluation, artifacts, telemetry, and promotion decisions on Google Cloud
- [Secure Multi-Environment Azure CI/CD Platform](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/secure-multi-environment-azure-cicd-platform/): Environment separation, identities, agents, artifacts, checks, approvals, and governed releases
- [Secure Azure AI Application Platform](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/secure-azure-ai-application-platform/): Protected ingress, private connectivity, managed services, AI capabilities, monitoring, and Terraform delivery
- [Event-Driven WhatsApp AI Support Platform](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/event-driven-whatsapp-ai-support-platform/): External messaging, asynchronous processing, AI orchestration, data, escalation, and telemetry
- [Terraform-Provisioned AWS Web Platform](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/terraform-provisioned-aws-web-platform/): Reusable infrastructure for edge delivery, static assets, compute, relational data, and DNS
- [Layered AWS VPC Web Application Platform](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/layered-aws-vpc-web-application-platform/): Public, application, and data tiers with load balancing, controlled routing, and managed database services
- [Microsoft Fabric CI/CD & GitOps Automation](https://ahmed-tariq.me/projects/microsoft-fabric-cicd-gitops-automation/): Workspace lifecycle, source control, deployment pipelines, environment promotion, and governance

The Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud foundation entries are explicitly
labelled reference blueprints with links to their official vendor sources. The
remaining entries are anonymized architecture studies; outcomes are qualitative
unless verified evidence is available for publication.

## Published Articles

- [How to Diagnose vite: not found After npm ci in a Container Build](https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/diagnose-vite-not-found-npm-ci-container-build/) (freeCodeCamp, Oct 21, 2026). I trace a Vite container build failure to unreachable tarball URLs in package-lock.json, then explain how to repair the URLs and check each independent npm install.
- [The PostgreSQL RLS Policy Existed, But The Table Owner Still Saw Every Row](https://techstrong.it/features/the-postgresql-rls-policy-existed-but-the-table-owner-still-saw-every-row/) (Techstrong IT, Oct 7, 2026). I trace a tenant-isolation failure to the PostgreSQL role that owned the tables, and explain how to test row-level security with the application’s actual runtime identity.
- [Why One of Two Kubernetes Pods Missed a Secret That Already Existed](https://cloudnativenow.com/contributed-content/why-one-of-two-kubernetes-pods-missed-a-secret-that-already-existed/) (Cloud Native Now, Oct 6, 2026). I examine why Kubernetes Secret synchronization left two pods with different process environments, and show how a deployment check verifies required variable names in every pod.
- [How a RabbitMQ TLS mismatch burned one CPU core before AMQP negotiation](https://hackernoon.com/how-a-rabbitmq-tls-mismatch-burned-one-cpu-core-before-amqp-negotiation) (HackerNoon, Sep 27, 2026). I trace a .NET RabbitMQ client’s high CPU use to a TLS protocol mismatch, using thread stacks and the first bytes exchanged with the broker.
- [Drizzle 0.30.4 Missed Six PostgreSQL Parent Tables and Stalled the CI Pipeline](https://hackernoon.com/drizzle-0304-missed-six-postgresql-parent-tables-and-stalled-the-ci-pipeline) (HackerNoon, Sep 27, 2026). I examine how drizzle-kit 0.30.4 handled PostgreSQL partitioned tables, why its interactive prompt stalled CI, and how the migration workflow changed.
- [Two Identical AKS Clusters, Two Different Elastic Metadata Bugs](https://hackernoon.com/two-identical-aks-clusters-two-different-elastic-metadata-bugs) (HackerNoon, Sep 27, 2026). I trace two Elastic Agent metadata failures on AKS through Azure identity, cluster discovery and the collector’s handling of empty values.
- [Why Old Azure DevOps Releases Survive a Pipeline Cutover](https://devops.com/why-old-azure-devops-releases-survive-a-pipeline-cutover/) (DevOps.com, Sep 25, 2026). I inspect Classic release snapshots that retained retired Helm and image names after a cutover, then cover dependency cleanup and checks of the current workloads.
- [A Missing Binary Turned a Kubernetes Liveness Probe Into a Restart Loop](https://cloudnativenow.com/contributed-content/a-missing-binary-turned-a-kubernetes-liveness-probe-into-a-restart-loop/) (Cloud Native Now, Sep 25, 2026). A missing probe executable restarted a working container. I explain the different jobs of Kubernetes liveness and readiness checks, including workloads that consume messages in the background.
- [One Outlook edit became two Microsoft Graph events with no shared ID](https://pnp.github.io/blog/post/one-outlook-edit-became-two-microsoft-graph-events/) (Microsoft 365 & Power Platform Community, Sep 17, 2026). I examine how an Outlook recurring-series edit produced separate Microsoft Graph update and create notifications, and how correlation, retries and cancellation checks affect the reservation integration.
- [How I Consolidated Duplicate Delivery Pipelines With Parameters and Build Tags](https://devops.com/how-i-consolidated-duplicate-delivery-pipelines-with-parameters-and-build-tags/) (DevOps.com, Sep 16, 2026). I describe consolidating duplicate Azure DevOps delivery definitions with run parameters, build tags and stage conditions, including the routing checks that keep modules separate.

## Talks and Podcasts

- [Season 5, Episode 33: Claude Opus 5.5, Tokenomics on AWS, and Sovereign Cloud Models](https://logicastvideo.podbean.com/e/s5-ep-33/) (LogiCast AWS News, Sep 29, 2026). A guest discussion of AWS AI services, token costs, sovereign cloud controls and the effect of agent automation on engineering work.
- [Don’t Give the Agent a Shell: Tool and Identity Boundaries for AI Agents in Cloud Operations](https://www.conf42.com/AI_Agents_2026_Ahmed_Tariq_identity_permissions_cloud) (Conf42 AI Agents, Sep 24, 2026). I discuss typed tools, separate read and execution identities, short-lived credentials and approval controls for AI agents that operate cloud infrastructure.
- [Schema Migrations in CI/CD: When AI Helps, When It Hurts, and How to Tell the Difference](https://www.conf42.com/Database_DevOps_2026_Ahmed_Tariq_postgres_mysql_scaling) (Conf42 Database DevOps, Jun 4, 2026). A practical discussion of backward-compatible database changes, migration checks in CI/CD, rollback limits and the role of AI-assisted review.
- [Intro to DevOps: Bridging Development and Operations for Faster Delivery](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64LoMWFzRs4) (Tech GupShup with Fatima, Oct 12, 2024). An introduction to DevOps collaboration, delivery workflows and the connection between development and operations.

## Certifications

- Google Cloud Certified: Associate Cloud Engineer
- AWS Certified: Solutions Architect Associate
- Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
- Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate
- Aviatrix Multicloud Network Associate

## Technical Skills

- Cloud: Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean
- IaC: Terraform, ARM Templates, Azure Bicep, CloudFormation, AWS CDK
- CI/CD: GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitLab, CodePipeline
- Containers: Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, AKS, EKS, ECS, GKE
- Serverless: Lambda, Fargate, Azure Functions, Logic Apps, EventBridge
- Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, Datadog, New Relic, Amazon CloudWatch
- AI: Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, Microsoft Foundry (Azure AI Foundry), Vertex AI, Amazon Bedrock
- Languages: Python, Bash, PowerShell, Node.js, React, Next.js, FastAPI, Flask
- Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, Azure Cosmos DB

## Links

- Portfolio: https://ahmed-tariq.me
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmedtariq01/
- GitHub: https://github.com/ahmedtariq01/
- Credly: https://www.credly.com/users/ahmedtariq
- CV: https://ahmed-tariq.me/cv/Ahmed_Tariq_CV.pdf

## Contact

- Schedule a consultation: https://calendly.com/ahmedtm/30min
- Contact form: https://ahmed-tariq.me/#contact

## Optional

- [XML sitemap](https://ahmed-tariq.me/sitemap.xml): Canonical crawlable pages
- [Robots policy](https://ahmed-tariq.me/robots.txt): Search and AI crawler access rules