Eric Helms
Senior Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat
Apex, North Carolina, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolEric Helms is a Senior Principal Software Engineer with 16 years of experience leading backend and infrastructure work, currently shaping the Red Hat Satellite product as an architect. He blends deep systems and DevOps expertise—contributing significant backend code to Foreman, Katello, and Pulp—and automates complex deployments with Ansible, Puppet, and shell tooling. Eric’s open-source track record includes developing Foreman Ansible modules, refining Katello’s package lifecycle integrations, and improving Pulp’s server tooling, showing a focus on lifecycle management and reproducible operations. He pairs rigorous academic training in computer science and physics with practical engineering, from API design to CI-enabled deployment scripts. Known for tackling thorny backend and operational issues, he often surfaces small but impactful improvements like enhanced logging, API response docs, and deployment resilience. Based in Apex, NC, he combines engineering leadership with hands-on contributions that keep large-scale open-source infrastructure reliable and maintainable.
16 years of coding experience
12 years of employment as a software developer
Master's degree, Computer Science, Master's degree, Computer Science at North Carolina State UniversityMaster of Science - MS, Physics, Master of Science - MS, Physics at Auburn University
Stackoverflow
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Github Skills (48)
git10
ruby-rails10
puppeteer10
docker10
foreman10
back-end-development10
apidoc10
python10
theforeman10
kats10
scripting10
testing10
puppet10
api-design10
configuration-management10
Programming languages (21)
Github contributions (5)
theforeman/forklift
Jan 2014 - Jul 2022
Helpful deployment scripts for Foreman and Katello
Role in this project:
DevOps Engineer & Automation Engineer
DevOps Engineer & Automation EngineerContributions:259 reviews, 411 commits, 937 PRs in 8 years 7 months
Contributions summary:Eric primarily focused on automating deployment and configuration processes within the Foreman and Katello ecosystem. Their commits showcase the creation and modification of shell scripts (e.g., `bootstrap.sh`, `setup.rb`) to facilitate installations, configure repositories, and manage dependencies. The user also worked on integrating and testing deployments using Vagrant, and Ansible, demonstrating a focus on infrastructure-as-code and automated testing. Additionally, the user added support for different Katello and Foreman versions.
forkliftvagrantdevopsdeploymentansible
Katello/katello
Jun 2011 - Jul 2022
Katello integrates open source systems management tools into a single solution for controlling the lifecycle of your machines.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:71 reviews, 3410 commits, 588 PRs in 11 years 3 months
Contributions summary:Eric's contributions center on back-end development, involving enhancements and bug fixes within the Katello project. They are responsible for addressing issues within the PulpV2 code, including handling ActiveSupport dependency clearing, fixing Glue layer fencing, and adding new test cases. The user demonstrated a focus on refining core functionalities and addressing issues related to package and distribution management within the system.
zammadrpmlifecyclepuppettheforeman
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