Rainier
☁ Cloud & DevOps Specialist | ⚙ Infrastructure & Automation
📚 5x Multi-Cloud Certified | AWS - Azure - HashiCorp
About Me
- My Alias: "Sterben", a.k.a Rainier van Niekerk
- My Contact: rainier@cloudkid.link
- My Locale: Cape Town, South Africa, 8000
- My CodeOps: PowerShell, NodeJS, Terraform, Ansible
- My CloudOps: Azure, GitHub, Cloudflare, AWS, GCP
Hello!
I’m Rainier, a Cape Town–based DevOps Engineer building software professionally since February 2018. I began as a full-stack developer but gravitated to cloud-first systems and automation — the parts of software that scale, improve reliability, and make teams faster.
Today I focus on Platform and DevOps Engineering, with an emphasis on observability, infrastructure automation, and secure, resilient architectures. My long-term goal is to become a DevSecOps architect and help shape systems that are both safe and dependable.
My Story
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The road I have walked
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Higher Certificate Information Systems Engineering
Eduvos Higher Education 02.2017 - 02.2018 ~ 1y0mI received an NQF level 5 Higher Certificate in Information Systems Engineering from Eduvos, graduating with 81% on my certificate. This certification used the MLM (Master Learning Methodology) model. The year was foundational for me in teaching me all the software development knowledge I needed to launch my career.
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Junior Full-stack Developer
Seed Analytics Ltd 02.2018 - 08.2020 ~ 2y7mI was hired by Seed Analytics as a Junior Full-stack Developer. I was given whatever needed to be done, and it was great. After a few years, towards the end of my stay, I became increasingly more curious and interested in AWS and cloud computing.
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Software Engineer
Kurtosys Systems Ltd 09.2020 - 08.2022 ~ 2y0mI was hired by Kurtosys as a Backend Software Engineer. I primarily worked inside a team in a sprint fashion. It was here that my skills in software development grew and where my passion for DevOps, and all things cloud based, exploded.
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Cloud Engineer
Hooligan Development 09.2022 - 04.2023 ~ 0y8mI joined Hooligan Development as an in house Cloud Engineer, although I was primarily tasked to client projects. Luckily, I was able to claim the DevOps role in the team I was assigned and soon found myself wanting to make a complete transition into a more fully cloud based role.
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AWS Developer Associate Certificate
AWS Certification 02.2023I wrote and passed the Developer Certification Exam, it was tough but interesting.
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AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certificate
AWS Certification 05.2023I wrote and passed the SA Certification Exam, it was a very tough one.
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DevOps Specialist
Singular Systems Ltd 05.2024 - PresentI joined Singular Systems as a DevOps Specialist in their internal DevOps team. As part of this team I am responsible for some of the design, implementation, and maintenance of various internal and client facing cloud environments and infrastructure.
Shareholder
Singular Systems Ltd 07.2025 - PresentAfter contributing to Singular's vision for their DevOps Department for a few years, I was recognized as a team player and was offered shares from Singular System's internal share-scheme.
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Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate
Microsoft Certification 09.2023This was a comparatively difficult exam to have written and pass, I would greatly recommend it.
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Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
Microsoft Certification 11.2023This exam was tough, it really tested my capabilities in certain areas. I also undertook to complete this certification as part of my career goals.
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HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate (003)
HashiCorp Certification 08.2024Due to the extensive hands-on experience I gained from working on terraform within Singular's DevOps systems allowed me to pass this exam with flying colours and relative ease.
My Certifications
Want to hire me?
If you think my skill-sets could be of use to you or your organization, please consider hiring me, thanks!
LinkedIn Profile