About

whoami

I'm Collin Campbell, a Linux system administrator and DevOps engineer. I've been working with computers professionally since 1997, and messing with them since before that. Windows 3.1, DOS, then Linux, then macOS. It's just been part of everything I've done.

This is a one-person operation, and that's the point. You talk to the person doing the work. One-on-one attention, no account managers, no handoffs, no "let me check with the team."

Professional background

My career ran from technical management at a white-box computer OEM, through a decade of independent IT consulting, to 12+ years as a Linux system administrator at a San Francisco agency, where I managed a fleet of 100+ virtual machines across AWS and other cloud providers.

That progression matters: I started with general IT, then moved into infrastructure at scale. The full story is on the experience page.

What I actually do

I make systems interact correctly. I build and test playbooks, configure infrastructure, and automate the boring parts. I specialize in understanding complicated systems, connecting the pieces, and making them reliable.

  • Linux administration (Debian, Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL)
  • CI/CD? CI/CD Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment, automated testing and delivery pipelines that deploy code changes quickly and reliably. (Jenkins, Ansible, Bitbucket Pipelines, GitHub Actions)
  • Cloud (AWS, DigitalOcean, OVH, Cloudflare)
  • Migrations and automation for revenue-critical sites

How I approach things

Proactive, not reactive

I'd rather set up monitoring and automation now than get a panicked call at 2 AM later. It's cheaper for you and better for my sleep.

Automation first

If you do something twice, script it. Infrastructure as Code? INFRASTRUCTURE AS CODE Managing servers and infrastructure through machine-readable definition files rather than manual processes. , observability, SRE? SRE Site Reliability Engineering, applying software engineering practices to operations to keep systems reliable, scalable, and running smoothly. practices. Not buzzwords, just good habits.

Clear communication

I document what I do and why. You won't be left wondering what changed or who to call when something breaks.

Less is more

Anyone can throw together something that looks impressive. That's not the goal. Three things that work beat thirty that mostly do.

Availability: Currently available for remote Linux / DevOps roles, contract engagements and freelance infrastructure projects.

Open to: Remote Linux System Administration, DevOps and Infrastructure roles, contract engagements, and freelance projects.

"I've been at this since about 1990. I can build it, I can fix it, and I'll tell you straight whether you actually need it. I'm good that way."

Collin Campbell

The rest of it

Outside of tech, I read: high fantasy, grimdark, Junji Ito manga. I play D&D 2e (yes, 2nd edition, the real one). I love woodworking, even though I don't have my tools anymore and my practical experience is limited. It's the craft of it that I love.

I listen to a lot of music. I couldn't tell you encyclopedic facts about what I listen to, I just know what feels good.

I like using AI to accelerate work. I also hate what it's doing to the industry. Both things are true.

Thanks for stopping by. If you're a recruiter, the résumé page has the formal version. If you need infrastructure work, here's what I take on.