# Austin Kurtz

> High-Agency AI Enabler

Location: Walnut Creek, California, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/austinkurtz

I've been in tech FOREVER.  My addiction started on an IBM AT at the ripe age of 5, I was reading DOS manuals for fun and assembling computers from parts at 9, coding in Basic at 11, building server networks in my bedroom / home at 13 (thanks mom and dad!), developing websites at 14, admin of an enterprise network at 16.

I love startups.  I crave the agility and stimulation of jack-of-all-trades roles, being scrappy, efficient, innovative, flexible. Fewer meetings, more problem solving and getting-sh*t-done.  My degree is in entrepreneurial finance + computer info systems, and these days I work exclusively for startups as a software engineer.  I usually wear 2-5 hats simultaneously which would fall under the umbrella of: "Backend / API / Data / Infrastructure / Cloud / Site-Reliability" Engineer.  The only thing I DON'T do anymore is frontend work.

Startups love me back. I automate ALL THE THINGS which drastically reduces cost and human error and makes the engineers happy!

Strengths: Enthusiasm, proactivity, resourcefulness, curiosity, efficiency, detail-orientation, communication, documentation, best practices, learning new things daily!

Weakness: Trying to resist buying another pair of skis 😅 🎿

## Work Experience
### Staff Software Engineer — Infrastructure @ Afresh
Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States

### Engineering Manager — Developer Experience @ Afresh
Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States

### Staff Software Engineer — Infrastructure @ Afresh
Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco, California, United States

### Senior Software Engineer @ Unknown
Jan 1999 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco Bay Area
» Cloud-focused, specializing in AWS (Certified SysOps Admin + Developer + Solutions Architect), have also used Azure
» Experienced in serverless architecture like Lambda and Fargate
» Architecting, building, and maintaining modern web apps and the dynamically scalable infrastructure to support them
» Automating everything — environment setup, builds, testing, deployment, monitoring, reporting, etc, mostly via CI/CD pipelines like CircleCI and Jenkins
» Building REST APIs, most recently in Python, previously in Node / Express (JavaScript)
» Designing, creating, and managing databases (Postgres, MySQL, NoSQL)
» Representing startups professionally in client-facing roles, making technical concepts approachable to non-technical stakeholders
» Interviewing, onboarding, managing, and mentoring other engineers
» Geeking out about team communication and documentation in Slack and Notion

### Software Engineer, Enterprise Division @ Shift3 Technologies
Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 | Fresno, CA
» Created modern enterprise web apps for medium to large businesses using Javascript (Node.js) and PHP
» Architected cloud solutions on AWS and Azure
» Team Lead and backend developer on six-figure medical scheduling / billing app; implemented Agile principles and productivity aids like Slack, Kanban, and Sentry
» Developed RESTful API in Node.js (Express) on Nginx
» Modernized and migrated 20-year-old legacy DB with 50+ tables to PostgreSQL and later SQL Server on Azure
» Singlehandedly designed and built new desktop and mobile website and custom CMS for the largest agricultural real estate brokerage in California using Laravel (PHP) and MySQL

### Owner, Photographer @ Wotography LLC
Jan 2010 – Jan 2014
» Portrait and wedding photography with a candid, photojournalistic style
» Photographed weddings in Europe, Hawaii, Chicago, and Los Angeles
» Wrote and delivered educational talks on photo editing and digital asset management

### Network Administrator @ Fairfield University
Jan 2000 – Jan 2003
» Supervised team of half-dozen student volunteers
» Administered, and maintained network of 200+ computer systems
» Upgraded servers from Windows NT 4 Server to Windows 2000 Server
» Implemented remote Norton Ghost system to roll out Windows 2000 to hundreds of client machines, saving dozens of hours per week


## Education
### BBA in Finance, Entrepreneurship, Computer Information Systems
Loyola Marymount University, College of Business Administration

### Aerospace Engineering
UCLA

### H.S. Diploma
Fairfield College Preparatory School


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/akurtz

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Source: https://flows.cv/austinkurtz
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/austinkurtz/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-04-01