Hi, I'm Michal
For companies: cloud, DevOps and AI architecture, from the first presales call to a system running in production. For young engineers: a coach who has spent twenty years doing the work.
Cloud, DevOps and AI architect. I co-founded the AI Lab at the Slovak University of Technology, where students and staff use a RAG platform I designed, running local models on our own GPU clusters.
Harnessing technology to solve new summits.
I started Blue DevOps in 2008, before DevOps had much of a name, and I'm still doing the same thing: sitting down with a messy system and a few good people until it works.
In 2017 I went freelance and spent a few nomad years helping more than thirty companies around the world with data, CI/CD and big data. Then came fintech. In 2020, in the middle of COVID, I led a data-center migration of Java applications from Slovakia to Italy, with strict security standards and no room for a bad night.
Today I'm co-founder of the AI Lab at the Slovak University of Technology. We built a RAG chatbot that more than 15,000 students and staff use, running local models on our own GPU clusters. The part I enjoy most is the team: young engineers I get to coach, who are quickly better than me at things I used to be proud of.
Away from the keyboard I climb and run. Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya taught me more about planning than any project plan did. I've been part of Global Shapers Bratislava since 2013 and have organised and mentored at Startup Weekend since 2011, because good ideas need good company.
Two decades of hands-on engineering, from payment infrastructure in fintech to a RAG platform at a university. Everything below runs, or ran, in production.
Designed and delivered a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) chatbot for students and staff, from technical design to production and ongoing optimization. It runs local models on the lab's own Nvidia and AMD GPU clusters.
End-to-end AWS and Azure migrations for Trustsoft clients: presales, architecture, deployment and optimization. Before that, Python services on Azure AKS at Macromo and a bare-metal move off AWS at HydraDX.
DevOps and SRE change in regulated, fast-moving companies: a data-center migration from Slovakia to Italy at SIA Europe, SRE adoption at Fiserv, and Jenkins and Ansible/AWX automation as a consultant during Telia's Agile transformation.
I lead and mentor the Gen Z engineering team at the AI Lab, and before that I was DevOps lead at SIA Europe, Fiserv, HydraDX and Macromo. The goal is always the same: a team that can run what we built without me.
It was a pleasure collaborating with Michal. He combines expertise with a proactive mindset and strong teamwork skills.
Cooperation with Michal was exceptional and quick. All tasks were delivered as expected and on time… Communication was also excellent. This all points out his expert skills in the field.
Two of the 23 recommendations on my LinkedIn profile.
The short version is below. Each role in full, with recommendations, is on LinkedIn.
Twenty years in infrastructure, half of them as an independent consultant. I started in enterprise storage and Unix, founded Blue DevOps in 2008 and have since been the person companies bring in when operations have to change under pressure: data-center migrations, SRE adoption, agile transformations. Mentoring and teaching have run alongside all of it since 2016.
End-to-end AWS and Azure migrations from presales to optimization; AI workflows, model fine-tuning and local inference in containers.
A RAG chatbot for 15,000+ students and staff, running local models on Nvidia and AMD GPU clusters. I lead and mentor a Gen Z team.
Innovation and prototyping, DevOps culture, and training in Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Linux, storage, cloud and automation.
Python FastAPI on Azure AKS, CI/CD with GitHub and Metaflow, and an Azure Storage data warehouse.
Jenkins CI/CD, Ansible/AWX infrastructure as code and Kubernetes operations during an Agile transformation.
A bare-metal migration off AWS, with Ansible, Cloudflare, Prometheus and Grafana, in Go and Python.
SRE and DevOps culture, infrastructure consolidation, monitoring and lean CI/CD in remote Scrum teams.
A data-center migration of Java applications from Slovakia to Italy under fintech security standards.
30+ companies worldwide: data management, CI/CD, DevOps and big data.
A university course, plus mentoring students in co-working and hacker spaces.
9+ industries · 10 lead and consulting roles · AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner · Slovak, English, Czech
Certifications: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, HP Certified Instructor, HP ASE StorageWorks, HP CSA HP-UX, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager. Teaching & talks: lecturer at Comenius University (2016–2019), “Automation with Ansible” at WebElement 2015, Startup Weekend mentor since 2011. Education: electronics, Slovak University of Technology. Languages: Slovak (native), English and Czech (professional), Spanish and Italian (learning, ~2 years).
From architecture blueprint to production reality. I work across the full technology lifecycle — from the first conversation with a client through to running production systems. Every engagement is grounded in deep engineering fundamentals and shaped by real-world delivery experience.
Design scalable, production-grade systems using cloud-native infrastructure across AWS and Azure, DevOps automation pipelines, and intelligent AI integration. Kubernetes, infrastructure as code and monitoring that your team can run after I leave.
Lead complex projects through the complete arc — presales architecture, technical design, delivery. I bridge the gap between business ambition and engineering execution with clarity and accountability.
I coach junior engineers from debugging instincts to architecture decisions, until they can own a production system themselves. I do this today with the student team at the AI Lab.
Help your organization decide where AI is worth it and where it is not, then run it responsibly: local or cloud models, retrieval over your own documents, and the people who will own it.
From junior to production-ready. Coaching and mentorship are different things, and I offer both.
Remote, or in person in Bratislava and Prague, for individual engineers and for company teams. Write me a few lines about where you are and we'll agree on a format.
I ask the right questions, challenge your assumptions, and help you find your own answers. I don't tell you what to do — I help you figure it out. For young engineers who feel overwhelmed by choices, unsure of direction, or just need someone to think alongside them.
Ask about coachingThe best engineers are not born — they are built through deliberate challenge and honest feedback.
20+ years of experience. Yours to learn from. I share what I've learned — the mistakes, the patterns, and the shortcuts that only come from doing it for real. If you want to understand how the industry actually works, not just how it's supposed to work, this is for you.
Ask about coachingExperience is not just what happened to you — it's what you make available to others.
AI is moving into universities, banks and public services faster than most teams can design, run and explain it. I work on that gap from three sides.
Help Gen Z engineers grow into responsible, capable builders of AI systems — engineers who think before they deploy.
Help organizations embrace AI without surrendering human values — building systems that serve people, not the other way around.
Architect and deliver scalable technology platforms that actually perform in production — not just on a whiteboard.
Technology should amplify human potential, not replace it.
The most important systems in the world are not purely technical — they are socio-technical systems, built by strong teams with shared clarity of purpose. Code and infrastructure are the medium; human understanding and responsibility are the message.
Good architecture is not measured by the elegance of its diagrams or the size of its toolchain. It is measured by how clearly it was thought through, and by whether the people who run it understand it.
Endurance, discipline, and the courage to explore.
Outside of technology, I push my limits in nature and endurance sports. These experiences shape my professional work: complex systems, like complex terrain, require endurance, discipline, and the willingness to enter unknown territory without a guaranteed path forward.
Summited the roof of Africa — a journey through five climate zones that demands both physical preparation and mental resilience when the altitude strips every reserve down to will.
Mont Blanc (4,808 m) for the altitude, Triglav (2,864 m) for the exposure, and Gerlachovský štít (2,655 m) because the Tatras are home — every summit is a lesson in pacing.
Kilimanjaro (5,895 m) took me through five climate zones, Mount Kenya (5,199 m) was the technical peak that rewarded careful planning and trust in my team, and Toubkal (4,167 m) in the High Atlas rounded off the continent.
Fansipan (3,147 m), the highest peak of Indochina, for the jungle approach — a climb that begins long before the first rock.
Marathon training, trail running and mountain hiking: the daily practice behind the bigger climbs.
Startups that need architecture that will scale, companies working out where AI fits, engineers who want to think in production terms: these are the four ways I usually work with them.
I join your team for a defined period and own the cloud, DevOps or AI architecture from design to production, as I do today for Trustsoft.
A scoped piece of work: a cloud migration plan, a CI/CD or Kubernetes setup, or an AI integration reviewed before you build it.
I work with your junior and Gen Z engineers until they can run what they build, the way I coach the student team at the AI Lab.
For a young engineer choosing a direction: honest feedback, an outside view of the industry and a next step you choose yourself.
Remote, or in person in Bratislava and Prague.
Thanks for reading this far. The best systems start with a good conversation, and so do most good things.
I work remotely from Bratislava and Prague and come on site when it helps. Founder, CTO or young engineer: send me two or three sentences about what you're working on and where you're stuck. That is enough to start.
A direct, honest conversation about your challenge, with no sales pitch and no boilerplate. We work out what the real problem is and whether I'm the right person to help.