Alex Lancaster

With experience in AWS, Azure, and Microsoft Office I know what it takes to work at two of the biggest tech companies in the world. I’m also passionate about financial flexibility, and I’d be happy to offer advice on the difficult compensation conversations, that if done correctly can afford you lots of flexibility in your life. I’m currently based out of Florida, but practicing what I preach and taking advantage of said flexibility to travel for a year before beginning my next venture.

After growing up in rural Pennsylvania, I graduated from University of Michigan, where I earned my undergraduate and masters computer science degrees. I then finished my westward journey when I moved out to Seattle to work for Microsoft. My first two years there were focused on writing C++ code for Microsoft Office’s authentication stack. Code that was used by literally over a billion people required very in depth technical expertise.

After that I moved to an engineering consulting role in Azure to help customers solve their problems on Azure. In this role I led large scale design and implementation for all kinds of cool projects leveraging nearly all Azure offerings. Things such as: machine learning and object detection on the edge and factory floors, IoTEdge integration for smart buildings and smart power grids, using Azure Kubernetes (AKS) to setup automated deployments of microservices, and even a full and rewards app with front end React Native App and back end using Azure Functions for the APIs. This role exposed me to just about every Azure offering and made me an expert in CI/CD.

Then I switched over to AWS, where I worked for Ground Station and wrote software to orchestrate antennas to get data from satellites orbiting earth into AWS data centers. The uniqueness of this role, and the newness of the space sector led to some of my favorite stories in my career.

If any of that sounds like something you want to learn more about I’d be more than happy to help :-).