Jano Barnard

I'm

a Cloud Engineer

an AWS Solutions Architect

an IaC Specialist

a Serverless Developer

an AI Enthusiast

a Blogger

01about me

Profile picture of me hiking I am a Cloud Engineer at LuxCarta, specializing in architecting and deploying scalable AWS cloud infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code principles. My journey into cloud engineering began with a strong foundation in software development, having double-majored in Computer Science and Geoinformatics during my undergraduate studies at Stellenbosch University, followed by an Honours and MSc, both in Geoinformatics.

My career has evolved from geospatial and web development roles to fully embracing cloud-native solutions since 2022. I'm passionate about automating infrastructure deployments, optimizing cloud costs, and building resilient, serverless architectures. With multiple cloud certifications across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud platforms, I bring a multi-cloud perspective to solving complex technical challenges.

Beyond technology, I'm an avid outdoorsman originally from a farm in the Northern Cape. I enjoy hiking, drone photography, and exploring South Africa's diverse landscapes. My technical skills and love for problem-solving extend to personal projects, including digitizing our family genealogy into an interactive web platform using AI models – combining my heritage with modern web technologies.

Recent cloud engineering insights.

From my blog at janobarnard.blog

June 2025

My AWS re:Invent Experience and Why You Should Attend

Insights from attending AWS re:Invent 2024 and why it's valuable for cloud professionals.

AWS Conferences
August 2024

AWS Batch: Leveraging Serverless Compute for HPC

How to use AWS Batch for high-performance computing serverless workloads.

AWS Serverless HPC
August 2024

Building Serverless APIs with AWS API Gateway and Lambda

Complete guide to building scalable serverless APIs using AWS API Gateway and Lambda.

AWS API Lambda

02certifications

Recent certifications across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and HashiCorp platforms.

AWS Developer Associate
AWS Developer Associate
May 2024 - May 2027
AWS AI Practitioner
AWS AI Practitioner
Jan 2025 - Jan 2028
AWS Cloud Practitioner
AWS Cloud Practitioner
Dec 2022 - May 2027
Terraform Associate
Terraform Associate
Mar 2025 - Mar 2027
Azure AI Fundamentals
Azure AI Fundamentals
May 2025
Azure Fundamentals
Azure Fundamentals
Apr 2025
Google Cloud Digital Leader
Google Cloud Digital Leader
May 2025 - May 2028

03experience

Professional cloud engineering journey

  • Cloud EngineerLuxCarta
    March 2024 - Present

    As a Cloud Engineer at LuxCarta, I architect and implement cloud infrastructure for BrightEarth On-Demand, a serverless SaaS web application utilizing AWS services including Lambda, Batch, and EC2, integrated with Docker and Python. I successfully completed a comprehensive AWS Foundational Technical Review of BrightEarth On-Demand, paving the way for LuxCarta to attain AWS Partner status.

    My key contributions include implementing cost tagging infrastructure and setting up cost visibility dashboards for project and department-level cost breakdowns, establishing a multi-account cloud environment adhering to security and FinOps best practices, and championing Infrastructure as Code using Terraform for version-controlled, multi-environment deployments. Through collaborative migration efforts to the multi-account environment, I've helped achieve significant development and infrastructure cost savings.

  • Web DeveloperLuxCarta
    June 2021 - February 2024

    As a Web Developer at LuxCarta, I created a web application to bring the conceptualized BrightEarth On-Demand platform into existence, using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP while working with the geospatial back-end team for on-premises processing. I collaborated with peers to migrate BrightEarth On-Demand fully to AWS and designed a single-table DynamoDB NoSQL database storing users, orders, and transactions, creating a Python package for database access.

    A major achievement was developing a CLI tool and AWS Batch infrastructure to scale containerized geospatial extraction pipelines to 100 concurrent instances – automating building footprint extraction across satellite imagery covering 8.5 million km² within a month for a major project. This hands-on experience with cloud migration, containerization, and AWS services laid the foundation for my transition into cloud engineering.

Additional experience and career history available on LinkedIn

04education

Academic foundation in Computer Science and Geoinformatics

Complete academic record and additional qualifications available on LinkedIn

05expertise

Core technologies and tools I use to build scalable cloud solutions and applications

Cloud
AWS
Expert
Lambda
Expert
Batch
Expert
API Gateway
Advanced
EventBridge
Advanced
Step Functions
Advanced
CloudFront
Advanced
CloudFormation
Advanced
SageMaker
Intermediate
ECS
Intermediate
Azure
Beginner
Google Cloud
Beginner
DevOps & Infrastructure
Terraform
Expert
Docker
Advanced
GitHub
Advanced
GitHub Actions
Beginner
Programming & Databases
Python
Expert
DynamoDB
Expert
Bash
Advanced
PostgreSQL
Advanced
HTML
Advanced
CSS
Advanced
JavaScript
Advanced
PHP
Advanced
MySQL
Advanced
Java
Intermediate
React
Beginner
Community & Events
AWS User Group Cape Town
AWS User Group Cape Town
Golden Key International Honour Society
Golden Key International
AWS re:Invent 2024
AWS re:Invent

2024 | Conference | Attendee
Google Earth Engine Workshop
Google Earth Engine

2019 | Workshop | Attendee
Deep Learning Indaba
Deep Learning Indaba

2018 | Conference | Attendee

06portfolio

Showcasing technical projects and architectural solutions

07contact

Let's connect and discuss opportunities

Email
jano@janobarnard.com
Phone
+27 83 642 1010
LinkedIn
janobarnard
Location
Cape Town, ZA

Open to discussing cloud architecture, geospatial technology, and exciting opportunities.

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Kindly contact me for my CV.