Solving the Hard Problems of Production

Proven Patterns for Scaling, Securing, and Surviving Production

I’m Atif Farrukh, a Senior DevOps Architect with over a decade in the trenches of production. I’ve seen what happens when systems crack under pressure—and I’ve built the blueprints that keep them resilient.

DevOps Unlocked exists for one reason: to help senior engineers, SREs, and technical leaders solve the hard problems of cloud infrastructure. This is not about the basics. It’s about frameworks and battle-tested patterns that keep high-stakes systems running when failure is not an option.

Who I Work With

  • Senior DevOps & SREs who need advanced, production-grade patterns that go beyond official documentation.
  • CTOs, VPs, and Engineering Leaders making strategic decisions about cost, compliance, and velocity.
  • Ambitious mid-level engineers ready to step into senior responsibilities by learning resilient patterns.

Services I Provide

Each engagement is focused on solving expensive, high-stakes problems in production.

  • Cloud Architecture Reviews
    I hunt for the ticking time bombs in your AWS and Azure architecture. You get a prioritized, actionable roadmap to fix subtle misconfigurations, eliminate hidden cost overruns, and close compliance gaps—before they become a production outage or a failed audit.
  • CI/CD & Automation Audits
    Your pipeline is the factory floor for your code. I treat it that way, stress-testing it for brittle automation, security blind spots, and delivery bottlenecks. We will re-engineer your CI/CD process into a hardened, audit-ready framework that ships code reliably, even under pressure.
  • Resilience & Disaster Recovery Design
    I operate on a simple principle: failure is inevitable. The question is whether your system is engineered to survive it. We’ll move beyond hope and implement a real-world resilience strategy—from multi-region failover to chaos engineering drills—to build a system that bends, but never breaks, when the storms of production hit.
  • Cost & Performance Optimization
    Bloated cloud bills and unpredictable latency are taxes on your innovation. I treat them as adversaries. My process is a relentless hunt for waste—from over-provisioned databases to untuned Kubernetes workloads. We will surgically cut your cloud spend and optimize performance without compromising the reliability your users demand.
  • Security & Compliance Frameworks
    Auditors don’t accept excuses, and neither do attackers. I architect security from the ground up, implementing the controls and patterns required for high-stakes compliance like SOC 2 and ISO 27001. You get an infrastructure that is not only audit-ready but genuinely hardened against real-world threats.

How I Work

Every engagement follows The Unlocked Blueprint:

  1. Real-World Problem Framing – Understand your current production pain points.
  2. Strategic Architecture Review – High-level context with diagrams and frameworks.
  3. Implementation Guidance – Opinionated, code-heavy examples you can apply immediately.
  4. Pitfalls & Optimizations – Hard-won lessons to avoid costly mistakes.
  5. Unlocked Takeaways & Action Plan – Clear next steps tailored to your environment.

Unlocked: Your Key Takeaways

  • A partner who has survived—and solved—the same production fires you’re facing.
  • Frameworks, not theory: opinionated, production-grade solutions.
  • A consulting approach designed for high-stakes teams, not beginners.

Ready to Unlock Your Infrastructure?

Your production challenges require a strategic blueprint, not another patch. If you’re ready to architect a real solution, the next step is a 30-minute strategic call. No sales pitch. Just a focused breakdown of your problem.

📩 Email me at [email protected]
🔑 Or Schedule a Strategic Consultation