Curriculum Vitae - Ryan Cook
My Details
| Address: | Based in Cape Town, South Africa |
| Contact | |
| Extra: | Drivers License South African Citizen British Citizen |
Profile
Personal Description
Excellent sense of intuition and ability to see a job through to completion. Goal orientated and driven.
Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to adapt to new environments.
Passionate about learning and applying the latest computing technologies and scientific methodologies within a professional career.
Completed schooling in 2011 and later completed a BSc at the University of Witwatersrand, double majoring in Computer Science and Physics.
Links
| Github | |
| Youtube | |
Experience
Sept 2024 – Present
Position: Lead DevSecOps Security Architect, Investec – Group Information Security (Security Architecture Team)
Lead DevSecOps security architecture across multiple engineering teams, securing the end-to-end software delivery lifecycle from development through production
Architected and implemented enterprise DevSecOps security controls across CI/CD pipelines including SAST (Static Application Security Testing), SCA (Software Composition Analysis), DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing), ASPM (Application Security Posture Management), and CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management)
Improved application security posture and compliance alignment across the organization
Established secure-by-design engineering standards and provided architectural oversight for new and legacy systems
Partner with engineering leadership to embed security into platform and cloud adoption strategies
Drive security tooling enablement and adoption across development teams
Drive AI security initiatives within the organization from both application and DLP (Data Loss Prevention) perspectives
Contribute to broader enterprise security architecture across multiple solutions
June 2020 – Sept 2024
Position: Enablement Engineer, Investec Wealth & Investment – Platform Team (Cross-functional development team)
Led DevOps security tooling production across the organization, building Azure DevOps pipeline tasks for SAST scanning and dependency scanning in CI/CD pipelines
Worked with engineering leads to drive adoption of security tooling and designed reporting mechanisms to satisfy compliance and group risk requirements
Led sourcing of data and processes to compile DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) reporting metrics across multiple development teams using Power BI and Azure DevOps
Lead interviewer for technical hiring
Created and ran cloud adoption programs helping teams migrate systems to Microsoft Azure, advising on infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and re-platforming or rewriting systems as cloud-native applications
Tech lead in development of .NET Core worker service integrating with IBM MQ and multiple other web services to facilitate the movement of client cash when performing foreign investments
Led development of divisional IT systems health dashboards using Power BI, integrating data from databases, infrastructure, engineering systems, QA incidents, and architecture domains
Lead frontend developer to complete a React SPA and .NET Core 3.1 API project under tight deadlines
Sept 2018-April 2020
Position: Employed Software Developer, Investec Wealth & Investment – Share Plan Services Team
Development of .Net Core API’s and React JS frontend application to replace existing customer facing systems
- Identity Server 4.0 implementation of 3rd party SAML2 SSO integration
Management, development and maintenance of enterprise systems consisting of 10+ integrated applications catering to multiple geographies
Facilitation of internal and external information security pentests and remediation of findings
Development of CI/CD pipelines integrated with automated testing for Dev, QA and production environments
Oct 2017-Sept 2018
Position: Employed Software Developer, Warp Development (Employer) – Servicing Amrod
Software development and maintenance on a large-scale Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System.
Exposure to large database schemas and extensive use of SQL in SQL Server Enterprise.
Integration of multiple C# web projects and libraries including ASP.NET and ASP MVC.
- Integration of web-based systems with custom Windows services.
Extensive use of Version Control Systems to manage code contributions from multiple developers.
2015-2017
Position: Employed Software Developer, Strategnos
Composing and running large SQL queries to provide statistical insight into large temperature-time series datasets. · Design and creation of a web portal to facilitate Software as a Service business model. Coded in ASP.NET C# Webforms with use of JavaScript and CSS on the frontend and MS SQL Server backend. · Maintenance of legacy systems implemented in C# .NET WinForms. Development and maintenance of MySQL Databases.
Project Manager and Test Analyst in the validation of several Enterprise IT systems responsible for controlling the distribution of regulated pharmaceutical goods. This involved the creation and execution of system test scripts and presentation of findings to high-level management and executive stakeholders.
Use of Microsoft Visual Basic Application (VBA) to provide a lightweight solution allowing for the capture of data on multiple government agency job roles and to generate statistical reports identifying skills gaps within the agency.
Reimplementation of web portal in ASP.NET MVC using bootstrap themes and Entity Framework. Made use of Knockout JS for frontend and Microsoft SQL Server database. Responsible for full project budgeting, development and planning as well as creation of documentation.
2015
Position: ARM Processor Benchmarking Project, University of Witwatersrand – School of Physics
Conducted benchmarking tests on ARM processors as part of a third-year physics major project under Professor Bruce Mellado
Goal: determine the optimal ARM CPU for use in an ARM-based supercomputer for ATLAS CERN
Used Linux terminal commands to install FFTW (Fastest Fourier Transform in the West) software and run discrete Fourier transform simulations
Measured CPU performance in terms of FLOPS (Floating Point Operations Per Second)
Presented results to an audience of 50+ colleagues and professors
Education
Schooling
2011 Matric Certificate (NSC), The King’s School Linbro Park Notable Grades: Physical Sciences: A (80%), Maths: B (79%), IT: B (74%), Biology: B (75%)
Tertiary Education
2012-2017 B.Sc. – Double Major in Computer Science and Physics, Graduated March 2017 University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Personal Studies and Courses
Udemy
- The Complete ASP.NET MVC5 Course (online course)
- Entity Framework in Depth (online course)
Coursera
Machine Learning - Stanford University (online course)
Azure
Programming Languages and Frameworks
C# - 11+ years professional experience (Current language of preference) |
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| JavaScript - 9+ years |
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| Python - 5+ year |
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| VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) |
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| Java - 1 year |
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| C++ - 1 year |
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Databases
- Microsoft SQL Server
- MySQL
- MongoDB
- Redis
Software Tools & Platforms
- Microsoft Azure (Cloud Services, DevOps, Infrastructure, cloud-native applications)
- Microsoft Power BI (Data visualization, DORA metrics, dashboards, and compliance reporting)
- Azure DevOps (CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, custom pipeline tasks)
DevSecOps Security Tools:
- SAST (Static Application Security Testing)
- SCA (Software Composition Analysis / Dependency Scanning)
- DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing)
- ASPM (Application Security Posture Management)
- CSPM (Cloud Security Posture Management)
- Security Testing: Penetration testing facilitation and remediation
- Git and Microsoft TFS (Version Control Systems)
- Windows Server and virtualization technologies
- Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, and various IDEs
- Linux and Windows operating systems
- Linux terminal and command-line tools
- FFTW (Fastest Fourier Transform in the West) and scientific computing libraries
General Skills
- Strong analytical and mathematical ability
- Full-stack development skillset
- DevOps and DevSecOps practices
- Security architecture and secure-by-design principles
- Enterprise security architecture across multiple solutions
- AI security initiatives (application security and DLP)
- Compliance alignment and risk management
- Information security penetration testing and remediation
- Cloud architecture and migration strategies (cloud adoption programs)
- Technical leadership and mentoring
- Technical hiring and interviewing
- Comfortable working with senior stakeholders, engineering leadership, and executive teams
- Project management, budgeting, and planning
- Strong understanding of physical systems and scientific methodologies
- Scientific computing and performance benchmarking
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
- Software as a Service (SaaS) business models
Interests
- Computer Science and Software Engineering
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
- Parallel Computing and High-Performance Computing
- Internet of Things (IoT) - Raspberry Pi and Arduino projects
- Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies
- Stock markets and technology companies
- Automated trading via APIs
- Paragliding and outdoor adventures
References available upon request