About Brian Carpio
Building the infrastructure patterns that become industry standard—usually 3-5 years early.
I've spent 15+ years at the intersection of things that didn't have names yet. Platform engineering before it was called that. DevOps before the conferences. Golden pipelines before Spotify wrote about them. The pattern repeats: build something that works, watch the industry catch up, move on to the next problem.
The Thread
Every engagement in my career shares a common thread: making the right path the easy path. Give developers what they need, enforce operational best practices through the platform itself, and get out of the way. The technology changes—MongoDB to Docker to Kubernetes to AWS—but the philosophy doesn't.
The Timeline
- 2009: Shipping MongoDB in production when the logs said "beta use only." Debugging directly with Eliot Horowitz on Google Groups—didn't know he was the CTO.
- 2012: Building Nibiru at Pearson. Gene Kim consulted during the transformation. I was doing DevOps before I knew the word.
- 2014: Container platform at Aetna achieved 100x better security defect density. The CISO made Docker a corporate mandate.
- 2016: Rescued Liberty Mutual's struggling Docker migration. Three hours to prove myself. 300+ services by the end.
- 2019: SEED platform at Comcast. War on infrastructure waste. Zero Terraform required from engineering teams.
- 2022: AWS ProServe at Gilead Sciences. Account vending from 30+ days to 45 minutes. Helped put the CIO on stage at re:Invent—keynote speaker 2023.
- 2025: OutcomeOps—Context Engineering for AI. Running at a Fortune 500 hospitality company. Built a serverless SaaS platform solo: MVP in 25 days, 90 Lambdas by day 120.
What I Actually Do
I help organizations build platforms that developers actually want to use. Not because they're mandated, but because they're genuinely easier than the alternative. The metrics follow: faster deployments, fewer incidents, happier engineers.
Platform Engineering
Internal developer platforms, golden pipelines, self-service infrastructure. The stuff that lets your engineers ship instead of waiting on tickets.
Cloud Architecture
AWS, GCP, Azure. Landing zones, account structures, security controls. Especially in regulated industries where "move fast and break things" isn't an option.
Developer Experience
The gap between "we have a platform" and "developers love our platform." Guardrails over gatekeepers. Automation over documentation.
AI-Assisted Development
Context Engineering and enterprise AI integration. Making AI tools generate code that matches your standards, not generic Stack Overflow answers.
The Approach
I don't do 200-slide decks and six-month assessments. I've been in the room where the decisions get made and I've been in the terminal where the work gets done. That perspective matters when you're trying to figure out why your platform strategy isn't landing.
Most of my engagements start with a conversation. Sometimes that conversation turns into advisory work. Sometimes it's a quick sanity check on an architecture decision. Either way, I'd rather give you an honest "you don't need me for this" than sell you something you don't need.
What People Say
"I thought I was an advanced practitioner of those arts until I encountered Brian. He helped me break free of the comfort zone I was in that was far short of the promise of those methodologies. He is relentlessly committed to servant leadership, continuous improvement, and always asking the question 'why?'"
Travis Parchman
Fractional CTO / VP of Software Engineering — managed Brian at Comcast
"When I think of a list of folks in software/cloud architecture that 'get it' Brian is at the top. He deeply understands needs—not just the ones you think you know, the ones you have and really should care about. I can tell you countless times he's articulated the root of the objective in the room and even the most senior of fellows light up as if it was the puzzle piece they've been looking for."
JP Aragon
Technology Brain, Team Heart — worked with Brian at Comcast
"Fast forward a year later and the organization is pushing ten times as much code to development and production environments than when he joined. Ten times is not an exaggeration because as part of our work Brian ensured we measured our progress with real metrics."
Joseph Hughes
Software Engineering Leader — reported to Brian at Aetna
"Brian is a master of devops and automation. He can pull companies into the cloud even if IT is kicking and screaming 'no'. He has a tremendous work ethic and simply kicks ass anytime he runs into a problem."
Steve Hill
CTO at Macmillan Learning — worked with Brian at Pearson
"Self-service over tickets. Automation over documentation. Guardrails over gatekeepers."
The philosophy that's worked from Broadhop to OutcomeOps.