Author

I’m Denzel

I build software, automate infrastructure, and occasionally spend way too much time figuring out why a system broke just so I understand how it works.

Background

I’m a software engineer working primarily with .NET, but I’ve ended up learning a lot about infrastructure, DevOps, and network security along the way. Turns out when you build stuff, you also need to deploy it, secure it, and keep it running—which is how I went from writing C# to provisioning servers with Terraform to configuring DNS records at 2 AM.

My experience with has never been linear. I started with code, realized code needs somewhere to run, learned about servers and containers, then fell in love with security, attacking ctf systems then turning around to securing and monitor my own, which means understanding networking and security concerns, which brings you back to writing better code. It’s all connected and my experience with software has brought me to a wholistic understanding of Systems Engineering.

These days I spend most of my time on backend development, database architecture, and infrastructure automation. The .NET stuff pays the bills, but I’m equally likely to be wrestling with Ansible playbooks, debugging network traffic as I am writing application code. Or writing my own network anomaly detection algorithm while studying for CySA+.

What I Know (And Don’t)

Languages & Frameworks: C#/.NET Core, SQL, Bash, some Python when I have to. HTML/CSS/JavaScript enough to not embarrass myself.

Infrastructure: Terraform, Ansible, Docker, Vagrant. Linux system administration. DNS, networking, and the parts of DevOps that aren’t just rebranded sysadmin work.

Security: Network security fundamentals, intrusion detection concepts, practical security for developers, enough cryptography to secure my infrastructure with message authentication and pre-shared keys. Enough to know the lay of the land, responsibly report vulnerabilities and keep systems safe.

Databases: SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL. Domain based schema design, migrations that don’t destroy production data.

I’m not an expert in most of this, but to me it feels second nature to learn techniques to solve problems. I’m just someone who’s spent time actually doing it and enjoys writing down what works.

About me

I like understanding how things work at a fundamental level. Not because it’s always practical, but because knowing why something behaves a certain way makes it easier to predict, debug, and generalize lessons into other situations.

The intersection between theory and practice is interesting, formal languages inform compiler design, which affects how we write code. DevOps patterns mirror natural cycles. Security vulnerabilities often come down to violating basic assumptions about trust and information flow. Everything connects if you look at it right.

Also, I genuinely believe that if you can’t explain something clearly, you probably don’t understand it as well as you think. Writing forces me to have that clarity. Sometimes I discover I was wrong halfway through explaining something, which is better than staying wrong forever.

Current Focus

Right now I’m working on:

• Database Migration Architecture: Phased, backward-compatible migrations for legacy systems at work. The kind that actually work in production without downtime.
• Infrastructure as Code: Building reproducible deployment pipelines with Terraform and Ansible. Going from zero to deployed with one command is a lifehack.
• Cyber Security Analysis: Spending a little to long exploring intrusion detection systems and implementing my own AI anomaly detection for network traffic, when I should be studying for CySA+.
• This Blog: Turning personal notes into complete narrative articles. We’ll see how that goes.

There’s also a simple .NET project in the works that’ll end up deployed somewhere public eventually.

Beyond the Code

I find interest in things most find boring: philosophy, math, computer science theory.

I’m a fan of doing difficult things regularly just for the practice. Learning something new, struggling with it, getting slightly better. The process matters as much as the result.

I keep notes on everything in a zettelkasten system, which is either organized genius or elaborate procrastination disguised as productivity. Probably both.

Let’s Connect

I’m interested in hearing from people working on:

• Interesting software infrastructure or Domain Modeling problems.
• Security problems that aren’t just “update to the latest patch”
• Anything weird if it involves wearing a philosophy hat for a minute, language theory,AI computational models
• Projects that are actually shipping, not just ideas

Email: [comeondenzel@proton.me]

I read everything. I will respond when I have something useful to contribute.