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I build and run systems.

Infrastructure, automation, and the business logic that ties them together.

15 years of production systems across fintech, enterprise, and startups. I work best at the early stage, when the architecture decisions are still open and getting them right actually matters. I run Virtual Exponent, my consulting practice.

About Blake

I've spent 15 years building things that have to keep running: security operations at LendingClub, systems engineering at Finastra, DevOps across a handful of early-stage companies. The through-line is not a technology stack. It is a disposition: figure out what actually needs to exist, build it well enough to survive contact with reality, and stay accountable for what happens after it ships.

I am most useful to small teams where the technical decisions are still being made and someone needs to own them. I do not just build what I am handed a spec for. I help figure out what the spec should be.

I run Virtual Exponent, where I work with small businesses and early-stage teams on infrastructure, automation, and operational software.
See Projects

Selected Work

2024
Lively Languages
Client Work: Digital Launch. Completed

Lively Languages

Digital launch for a language coaching business. A language coach with 12+ years of teaching experience had zero digital presence. I built the complete platform from scratch: bilingual website (English/Spanish), email marketing infrastructure, Meta/Instagram ad campaigns, and brand positioning. The honest result: paid ads underperformed organic and word-of-mouth in this market. That finding redirected the growth strategy toward referral systems, which saved ongoing ad spend and matched how students in this niche actually make decisions. The technical execution was straightforward. The useful part was figuring out what to stop doing.
2023–Present
Two Bag Life
Personal Writing. Active

Two Bag Life

A travel and remote work blog. I’ve been working remotely and traveling since 2021. Two Bag Life is where I write about it: packing, gear, coworking spots, and what it actually looks like to run a consulting business from different time zones. Personal writing. Not a business venture.
2021–Present
Virtual Exponent
Consulting Practice. Active

Virtual Exponent

My consulting practice. Virtual Exponent is where I do client work: infrastructure builds, automation systems, and operational software for small businesses and early-stage teams. See the site for project case studies and how I work.
Global reach and impact
Community-driven development
Modern tech stacks

Working with AI

AI is most useful to small teams when someone actually understands what is happening under the hood. I have been building AI-integrated systems since the tools became practical, and my focus has been on making AI reliable and repeatable, not just impressive in a demo.

I built a file-based personal AI infrastructure called PAI: organized context, project-specific knowledge, and reusable patterns that make AI consistent across different work. I have applied the same thinking to client engagements, including an email automation system that reduced a client's manual follow-up time by 93%.

The MCP Castles case study shows the most honest version of this: I built a sophisticated AI orchestration system, recognized it was solving the wrong problem, and replaced it with text files. Knowing when AI adds value and when it adds complexity is a judgment call most teams have not had to make yet. I have made it a few times now.

Current AI Tooling

  • Claude Code — AI-assisted development and infrastructure work
  • MCP Servers — Tool and context orchestration for AI workflows
  • PAI — Personal AI infrastructure for persistent, organized context
  • n8n — Workflow automation connecting AI to business systems
  • Fabric — Structured pattern library for repeatable AI tasks

Experience

2022-2023
DevOps Engineer
Berkindale. Montreal (Remote)

DevOps Engineer

Key Achievements: Created reusable Terraform modules to streamline multi-env deployment of MVP app, enabling team to replicate dev, staging and prod environments in under 15 minutes Deployed AWS resources for MVPs using Lambda for compute, IAM for access control, and CloudWatch for real-time monitoring Implemented GitHub Actions pipelines to enforce secure, consistent deployments across environments Focus Areas: Infrastructure automation for rapid application development and deployment Multi-environment deployment standardization Secure CI/CD pipeline implementation AWS cloud architecture for startup MVPs Worked in a fast-paced startup environment, contributing to infrastructure decisions that supported business growth and enabled the development team to focus on product features rather than deployment complexities.
2021-Present
Consultant (Cloud Infra & DevOps)
Virtual Exponent. Remote

Consultant (Cloud Infra & DevOps)

Key Achievements: Helped SMB clients reduce monthly AWS spend by ~60% through infrastructure re-architecting and deployment standardization Leveraged Terraform to accelerate infrastructure setup, shortening development cycles by several weeks Built lightweight Bash and Python scripts to automate provisioning tasks and reduce manual overhead Advised early-stage teams on infrastructure and systems architecture for scalability Focus Areas: Cloud-native architecture design and implementation Infrastructure-as-code workflows and automation Cost optimization and resource management Business metric tracking and monitoring solutions This consulting role allows me to work with diverse clients and technologies, applying best practices to help businesses optimize their infrastructure investments while building scalable, secure systems.
2017-2021
SecOps & Cloud Infra
LendingClub. San Francisco, CA

SecOps & Cloud Infra

Key Achievements: Helped lead migration of a key legacy loan processing system from on-prem to AWS microservices, improving deployment agility and reducing infra overhead by enabling horizontal scaling Managed AWS KMS and F5 Big-IP ASM in hybrid cloud setups for secure financial services infrastructure Created Splunk dashboards for hybrid monitoring and security signals across cloud and on-premises environments Supported audit-related infrastructure adjustments under compliance advisement for financial regulations Focus Areas: Large-scale cloud migration and modernization Financial services compliance and security Hybrid cloud infrastructure management Security monitoring and incident response AWS security services and access controls Worked in a highly regulated environment, ensuring security and compliance standards were maintained throughout the infrastructure modernization process while supporting the company’s digital transformation initiatives.
2013-2017
Systems Engineer
Finastra. San Francisco, CA

Systems Engineer

Key Achievements: Created Python scripts to automate log ingestion and reporting, improving visibility for infra team and reducing manual log triage by several hours per week Supported infrastructure automation initiatives using Puppet and Ansible in PoC environments Deployed and maintained Linux servers in hybrid on-prem/cloud setups for enterprise financial services Assisted in scripting and monitoring tasks to boost operational efficiency across development teams Focus Areas: Infrastructure automation and configuration management Log management and operational monitoring Linux system administration and maintenance Hybrid cloud infrastructure deployment Enterprise storage and virtualization technologies This role provided essential experience in infrastructure automation and hybrid cloud environments, establishing the foundation for my career in DevOps and cloud engineering.

Certifications

List of earned certificates and their active status.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate
ACTIVE
AWS Solutions Architect

Associate Level

Current Certification
HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate
HISTORICAL
HashiCorp Terraform

Associate Level

Previously Certified
SANS GIAC Certified Incident Handler
HISTORICAL
SANS GCIH

Incident Handler

Previously Certified

Education

Bossier City, LA
Bossier Parish Community College
A.A.S., Telecommunications
Natchitoches, LA
Northwestern State University
B.S., Business Administration

Technical Skills

Technologies I work with regularly. The relevant question is never which tools I know. It is whether I have used them in situations where the wrong choice had real consequences.

Cloud & Infrastructure

AWS

EC2, Lambda, S3, ECS, Step Functions, IAM, CloudWatch, EventBridge, RDS, VPC, CloudFront
9+

Terraform

Infrastructure as code, multi-environment patterns, modular design
5+

GitHub Actions

CI/CD pipelines, OIDC, automated workflows
4+

Docker

Containerization, Compose, ECR
5+

Automation & Scripting

Bash

Shell scripting, system automation, tooling
15+

Python

Automation, data processing, Lambda functions, CLI tools
8+

n8n / Make

Workflow automation, business process integration
3+

Platforms & Tools

Linux

Server administration, system configuration, security hardening
15+

Git

Version control, branching strategies, team workflows
12+

Prometheus / Grafana

Metrics collection, dashboards, alerting
4+

AI & Automation

Claude / Claude Code

AI-assisted development, prompt engineering, building AI-integrated workflows
2+

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

AI tool and context orchestration, custom MCP server development
1+

Personal AI Infrastructure (PAI)

File-based AI knowledge organization, persistent context across projects
1+

Fabric Patterns

Structured AI pattern library for repeatable text and analysis workflows
1+

Security

IAM / Zero Trust

Least-privilege design, OIDC, credential elimination
7+

Security Operations

Incident response, SIEM, threat detection (GCIH certified)
4+

Companies I've worked with

Lively Languages Community
Berkindale Estate Management
Spiritual Explorer
LendingClub
Kerstin Bachler
Finastra
CSC
Cerner

What people say

A shout out to tech wizzard, Blake McNeal, who taught me the ropes of creating my website. After a few 1-1 sessions it was good to go. And the best part… I can keep editing it forever as I please without the assistance of anyone. Thank you Blake, you are the best!

What people say

Fride

Whale Guide | spiritualexplorer.no

His desire to help is striking.

I really needed a helping hand, a consultant, an advisor, to keep me moving through the nitty gritty details of the tech world, holding me accountable through the big milestones. He’s been the one.

I sincerely hope we’ll have the opportunity to work together again in the future.

All the best!

What people say

Genevieve

Coach | lapoulepasdetete.com

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you formally for all your help and support in taking my business online.

I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with you and hope you know that for me you’ve turned a really quite daunting task into one that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed (and continue to enjoy 😊)!

Many thanks again, you’ve been awesome!

What people say

Claire

Holistic Therapist | clearhealing.uk