Trailblazing Techologist

Trailblazing Technologist

Joel Holmes is an optimistic human with over a decade of expertise as a technical expert and a customer champion. He has sucessfully led teams, launched products, architected systems, mitigated risks, and managed end-to-end platform lifecycles.

Driven by an insatiable curiosity, Joel digs deep into the technical details to craft innovative solutions that securely meet customer needs. He skillfully translates between tech and business stakeholders to build common ground for engineers, executives, clients, and partners.

Joel was recognized as an "Innovator and Disruptor" for fostering a mindset of learning, innovation, and collaboration among his team and his peers at Rocket Mortgage.

Experience

Benefit from over a decade of technology experience across multiple disciplines.

Product Management - Senior Product Owner/Manager, PO
Rocket Mortgage
Feb 2019 - Aug 2023

Managed 3 products over 4 years that provided visibility into AppSec/CloudSec risks for software engineers and technology leaders. Managed a custom OAuth management portal to enable authorization/authentication best practices. Migrated products from on-premise to Cloud/Kubernetes infrastructure. Helped define and implement secure software development lifecycle standards.

Engineering Team Leadership - Team Lead, Systems Intelligence
Rocket Mortgage
Apr 2017 - Feb 2019

Formed a new team, led 7 engineers, and launched a new observability platform within 1 year that provided visibility into critical infrastructure and services. Used open-source components (Telegraf, InfluxDB, Grafana) which provided faster feedback during incidents and saved over $1m annually.

Support Team Leadership - Team Lead, Internal Helpdesk
Rocket Mortgage
May 2014 - Apr 2017

Led and mentored a team of 13 tech support specialists supporting 10,000+ internal users for 3 years. Developed career plans that led to 11 promotions. Participated in tabletop exercises and refined processes as part of the IT Emergency Response team. Coordinated incident response, mitigated impact, and performed root cause analysis to prevent future incidents.

Customer Support - Senior Technical Support Specialist
Rocket Mortgage
Sep 2013 - May 2014

On-boarded and trained 10 new team members. Updated internal documentation, provided advanced support and coached new team members to work independently and gain confidence.

Skills

Adaptability

Works well with others in dynamic environments. Remains calm during stressful or unexpected situations. Cultivates an attitude of open-mindedness to new ideas.

Collaboration

Maintains positive relationships with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders. Listens and builds trust across multiple teams to achieve common goals.

Communication

Communicates clearly, concisely, and effectively in verbal or written form. Creates clarity for both technical and non-technical team members.

Continuous Improvement

Unsatisfied with the status quo. Actively seeks feedback and identifies areas to improve. Implements incremental changes over time and measures the impact.

Strategic thinking

Skilled at creating long-term visions, roadmaps, and strategies. Focuses on long-term value to gain a competitive edge.

Engineering expertise

Broad expertise in both systems and software engineering. Proficient in architecting, building, deploying, managing, and securing applications in cloud environments.

Certifications

Industry-recognized confirmation of education and skills.

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
ISC2
Oct 2023

Confirms technical knowledge and experience to design, engineer, implement, and manage the overall security posture of an organization.

Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
The Linux Foundation
Nov 2020

Demonstrated the skills, knowledge and competencies to perform the responsibilities of a Kubernetes Administrator.

Demonstrated proficiency in Application Lifecycle Management, Installation, Configuration & Validation, Networking, Scheduling, Security, Cluster Maintenance, Logging / Monitoring, Storage, and Troubleshooting.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
Amazon Web Services
May 2018

Demonstrated the ability to build secure and robust solutions using architectural design principles based on customer requirements.

Certified SAFe 4 Scrum Master
Scaled Agile, Inc.
May 2018

Demonstrated competency for integrating Scrum practices into an organization, including using Scrum and Kanban to facilitate team events, support program execution, and coach Agile teams.

ITIL Foundation in Service Management v3
PeopleCert
Feb 2016

Demonstrated a foundational understanding of service management for IT and digital service delivery, including the key ITIL concepts, principles, and terminology.

Bachelor of Commerce Degree, BCom (Honours)
University of Windsor
June 2008

Demonstrated competence in a wide range of managerial skills with an advanced specialization in business marketing.

Awards

Innovators and Disruptors
Rocket Mortgage
2023

Awarded to technology thought leaders who consistently set a high bar for excellence, leading the company, and driving the business through their high levels of awareness, cross-team leadership and collaboration.