Brennan Kinney
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolBrennan Kinney is a versatile software engineer based in Auckland with 11 years of experience building end-to-end solutions across backend, mobile, embedded IoT and DevOps. He blends systems-level Linux and deployment expertise with hands-on development in Python, Rust and front-end React/Gatsby work, and has contributed to notable open-source projects including nginx-proxy and Gatsby image tooling. Brennan has a strong security and reliability focus—hardening TLS and cipher configurations for docker-mailserver and improving DH parameter handling for nginx-proxy—while also optimising performance for large 2D/3D data pipelines and production art assets. Comfortable leading small teams and mentoring juniors, he pairs rapid R&D with practical product delivery and has stepped into director-level hiring and operations when needed. Unusually, his background in technical art and game development gives him an edge in solving graphics, mesh and pipeline problems that often cross into engineering.
11 years of coding experience
2 years of employment as a software developer
Graduate Diploma in Game Development (Art), 3D Graphics, Video Games, Graduate Diploma in Game Development (Art), 3D Graphics, Video Games at Media Design School
English
Github Skills (38)
javascript10
docker10
tls1210
scripting10
image-optimization10
post10
it-security10
configuration-management10
bash10
tls1310
dockers10
security10
mtls10
script10
postfix-notation10
Programming languages (41)
Github contributions (5)
docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver
Apr 2020 - Jan 2023
Production-ready fullstack but simple mail server (SMTP, IMAP, LDAP, Antispam, Antivirus, etc.) running inside a container.
Role in this project:
Back-end & DevOps Engineer
Back-end & DevOps EngineerContributions:3 releases, 2219 reviews, 120 commits in 2 years 9 months
Contributions summary:Brennan primarily contributed to the configuration and maintenance of the Docker-based mail server. They focused on security enhancements, including TLS configuration, cipher suite updates, and the removal of deprecated settings. Their work also involved automating configuration, managing dependencies, and refactoring existing code to improve maintainability. The user further contributed to performance optimization, security hardening and ensuring the reliability of the mail server's infrastructure.
production-readydovecotantivirusproductionimap
nginx-proxy/nginx-proxy
Sep 2021 - Jan 2022
Automated nginx proxy for Docker containers using docker-gen
Role in this project:DevOps Engineer
DevOps EngineerContributions:2 reviews, 27 commits, 2 PRs in 3 months
Contributions summary:Brennan focused on improving the deployment and configuration of the nginx-proxy Docker image. They implemented features for handling Diffie-Hellman parameters, including integrating RFC 7919 standardized DHE groups and allowing users to skip DH parameter setup. They also refactored the entrypoint script for clarity and maintainability, and corrected syntax issues within the shell script. The user significantly improved testing, improving both the test structure and adding more robust DH parameter tests.
nginxcontainersproxydockerreverse-proxy
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