$
cat ~/about.md

About
Me

whoami

SRE with 9+ years of experience in systems engineering and software development within the complex, regulated financial services industry. Proficient in Python, Go, Java, and TypeScript with hands-on experience in cloud computing, CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps practices.

Outside of work, I've been going deep on LLMs, RAG pipelines, and AI-powered tooling — building projects that integrate large language models with vector search, real-time data pipelines, and full-stack web applications. The projects below are where I spend my nights and weekends.

I'm looking to bring my production engineering background together with my passion for AI into a role where I can build intelligent applications full-time.

Experience Highlights

Systems Engineer, Analyst 3

Lake Michigan Credit Union • November 2021 - Present • Grand Rapids, MI

Engineered and administered core banking automation via Python and shell scripts. Primary focus on supporting product and services teams, ensuring platform features were available for consumption before production releases.

Infrastructure Engineer

Healing Organic Garden • April 2020 - November 2021 • Rockford, MI

Architect for IoT network infrastructure and security system integration. Developed custom software solutions for inventory management, improving SKU stock tracking and measurement of crop yield.

Previous Experience

2015 - 2020 • Multiple Roles

SRE Manager at Michigan One Community Credit Union and Software Reliability Engineer at Ionia Public Schools. Expertise in core banking infrastructure, virtualization, network management, and enterprise systems.

Quick Facts

Location
Grand Rapids, MI
Current Role
Systems Engineer
Experience
9+ Years
# System Stats
$ uptime
9 years, 2 months in production
$ df -h /skills
Python | Go | Java | TypeScript
$ cat /proc/interests
LLMs | RAG | automation | hardware
$ status
● active (running) • open to opportunities

Education

B.S. Information Technology
Western Governors University • 2018-2020
Computer Systems & Networking
Heartlands Institute of Technology • 2015-2017
cat ~/skills.yaml

Technical
Skills

9+ years across systems, cloud, and software development — with a growing focus on AI-powered applications and full-stack tooling.

Languages
Python
Go
TypeScript
JavaScript
Java
Bash/Shell
Cloud & DevOps
AWS
Google Cloud
Kubernetes
Docker
GitLab CI/CD
Terraform
Cloudflare
Selenium
AI & Data
LLM APIs
RAG
ChromaDB
Embeddings
FastAPI
PostgreSQL
MongoDB
SQL/MySQL
Infrastructure
Linux
Hyper-V
ESXi
Active Directory
Networking
REST APIs
ls -la ~/projects

Featured
Projects

What I build on nights and weekends — LLM integrations, RAG pipelines, real-time dashboards, and tools I actually use.

LoRa Sensor Dashboard

Real-time LoRa sensor mesh monitoring with LLM-powered anomaly detection. Sensors push telemetry via HTTP, the backend detects anomalies with statistical thresholds and Claude analysis, and a Next.js dashboard shows live status via WebSocket.

FastAPINext.jsTypeScriptWebSocketClaude APISQLAlchemy

codeharness

Minimal AI coding agent TUI with built-in RAG for automatic context enrichment. Multi-backend LLM support (Claude, OpenAI, Ollama) with a custom vector search pipeline that retrieves relevant codebase context for every query.

PythonTextualChromaDBRAGsentence-transformersTOML

Second Brain

Personal knowledge base with RAG-powered Q&A. Ingest markdown, text, and PDFs, chunk and embed them into a vector store, then ask natural language questions across all your documents with sourced answers.

FastAPIChromaDBClaude APIsentence-transformerspypdfDocker

RPG Generator

LLM-powered tabletop RPG content generator. Create campaigns, then generate NPCs, quests, combat encounters, and loot with AI. Structured data in PostgreSQL, flexible schemas in MongoDB, with full audit trails.

FastAPIClaude APIPostgreSQLMongoDBDockerPydantic

RAGDocParser

Document parser built for RAG pipelines. Handles PDFs, DOCX, images (OCR), and web scraping. Chunks text intelligently, embeds into ChromaDB, and exposes a FastAPI search interface.

PythonChromaDBOCRFastAPIBeautifulSoupspaCy
>TF

TF-NLP-Agent

Describe your infrastructure in plain English, get valid Terraform HCL. Uses NLP to parse intent and cloud provider, then generates configs with built-in security scanning.

GoCobraOpenAIHCLGinDocker

GardenInventory

Full-stack garden management app — track plants from seed to harvest, manage supply inventory with low-stock alerts, and view yield analytics over time.

Node.jsExpressMongoDBJestDockerNginx
cat ~/resume.pdf

Resume

Download my full resume or view the highlights below.

resume.txt
RYAN STEPHENS
Grand Rapids, Michigan
me@ryanstephens.work | ryanstephens.work
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
SRE with 9+ years of experience in systems engineering and software development within the complex, regulated financial services industry.
EXPERIENCE
Systems Engineer, Analyst 3
Lake Michigan Credit Union • November 2021 - Present
Infrastructure Engineer
Healing Organic Garden • April 2020 - November 2021
+ 2 additional roles (2015-2020)
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Languages: Python, Go, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript
Cloud & DevOps: AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, GitLab CI/CD
Infrastructure: Active Directory, Hyper-V, ESXi, Veeam, Cisco
EDUCATION
• B.S. Information Technology - WGU (2018-2020)
• Computer Systems & Networking - HIT (2015-2017)
For full details, download the PDF →

Full Resume

PDF Format • 2 pages

Comprehensive overview of my experience, technical skills, education, and project portfolio. Optimized for both human readers and ATS systems.

Quick Stats

9+
Years Experience
4
Roles
15+
Technologies
2
Degrees

What You'll Find

Detailed work history with quantified achievements
Comprehensive technical skills and proficiency levels
Notable projects and open-source contributions
Professional certifications and ongoing education
./contact.sh

Get In
Touch

Let's build something amazing together. I'm always open to discussing new projects, creative ideas, or opportunities.

Let's Talk

Whether you have a project in mind, want to discuss opportunities, or just want to say hi—I'd love to hear from you.

Send Email
me@ryanstephens.work
Quick Response Time• Usually within 24 hours