[email protected] | (937)380-8954 | github.com/brandonapol | Brandon Apol
Brandon Apol
Dayton, OH
SRE - Founder - TS/SCI
About Me
I love making stuff.
I was a LEGO kid. I started a band in my parents' garage. Now as an adult, I've spent the last few years deploying software into places the internet can't reach, co-founding a privacy hardware company, and leading engineering teams — and I still spend my free time reading about compilers.
Skills
Frontend
React, TypeScript, Next.js, TanStack, Vue, Angular, Redux, Tailwind
Back End
Python, Golang, Node, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
DevOps & SRE
Kubernetes, Helm, ArgoCD, Docker, GitLab CI, Jenkins, AWS, Ansible, Istio — including air-gapped and classified environments
Security & Auth
OAuth, OIDC, AuthZen, Auth0 — implemented across multi-application Kubernetes environments at the cluster level
Teaching & Leadership
Led engineering teams, trained military and government personnel, built $1.1M ARR curriculum, and coached sysadmins in classified environments with no outside support
Creative Thinker
Music education, wilderness survival, bikepacking, and theology — I bring more to the table than a commit history
Highlighted Work
AutoButler
Co-founded AutoButler — a plug-and-play router device that turns USB storage into a private home cloud. No subscription, no AI, no venture capital. I own product direction and marketing, building a privacy-first alternative to big cloud providers that's fully open-source and consumer-funded.
SRE Practice — Air Force Intelligence Community
Co-founded the SRE discipline at Radiance Technologies for the Air Force Entitlements program. Standardized CI pipelines and Helm chart patterns, deployed software into air-gapped and classified environments, and compressed the release cadence from twice a year to weekly.
Kubernetes Blog Platform
Deliberately overengineered a personal CMS running on Kubernetes with Auth0 for cluster-level authentication — then deliberately underengineered a second recipe blog automated with CI to run for free. Two projects, two philosophies, both intentional.
Coding Temple: Self-Paced Bootcamp
Redesigned a live coding bootcamp into an asynchronous product over two months. It became a $1.1M ARR revenue stream with a 30:1 return on investment.
Other Stuff About Me
I have a lot of interests!
I enjoy rock climbing, music theory, cross country skiing, learning about functional programming, swanky coffee, farming, mountaineering (and generally being on top of things), bicycling, ice fishing, church history, books by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and more!
I also was a music teacher and I still play music and teach for fun! On the left is an album I co-produced while I was in college, and I hope you give it a listen.