# Uriah Harston

> Software Engineer | Distributed Systems & Kafka | Node.js | AWS Certified Solutions Architect

Location: Columbus, Ohio, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/uriah

​ I bridge the gap between startup speed and enterprise scale.

 As a Software Engineer at Southwest Airlines (AWS Certified Solutions Architect), I drive cloud modernization efforts that transform legacy data flows into event-driven platforms. My work focuses on building high-volume ingress and egress patterns to migrate mission-critical data from JMS to Apache Kafka, all without disrupting live flight operations.

 Before Southwest, I was a Founding Engineer at an early-stage startup where I designed and self-hosted Kafka clusters on bare metal. That experience forced me to learn the internals the hard way, covering everything from Zookeeper coordination to consumer lag tuning.

 I’m most effective in the “messy middle” of complex migrations where I balance reliability, velocity, and long-term platform health while enabling other teams to move faster.

## Work Experience
### Software Engineer - Cloud Modernization @ Southwest Airlines
Jan 2022 – Present

### Founding Software Engineer @ Indie Tech
Jan 2021 – Jan 2022
- Engineered the platform's backend using NestJS and deployed a self-hosted Apache Kafka cluster to facilitate real-time event-driven messaging.

- Designed and implemented secure enterprise authentication flows using Azure AD B2C and B2B, managing complex login requirements for diverse user groups.

- Integrated Azure OpenSearch to provide high-performance, full-text search capabilities across the platform's primary data sets.


## Education
### Certificate in Computer Software Engineering
Flatiron School
Jan 2020 – Jan 2020

### TESOL Certificate in Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language/ESL Language Instructor
Oxbow Institute
Jan 2016 – Jan 2016


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/uriah-harston
- Website: https://www.uriahharston.com
- GitHub: https://github.com/uharston

---
Source: https://flows.cv/uriah
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/uriah/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-03-29