Hi, I’m Neil Hanlon. I’m the principal consultant at Shrug PW — an open source contributor and infrastructure pragmatist (read: opinionated asshole) based in Bedford, MA and working with companies across the Northeast. I co‑founded the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation and led its infrastructure team; these days I’m the PTL for RDO, sit on OpenELA’s Technical Steering Committee, maintain packages for Fedora and EPEL, and review for OpenStack‑Ansible. I’m also a licensed amateur radio operator with FEMA and MEMA emergency‑management training, which is where my interest in resilient communications comes from. When I’m not elbow‑deep in infrastructure you can find my thoughts on weird systems and cursed tech over at thepotato.tech.
My career has taken me through homelabs and hyperscale datacenters alike. For five years that meant Rocky Linux, where I built and ran the global build and distribution infrastructure behind the project — the systems that served billions of requests a month, the Peridot build system, and the enclave that signed it all for Secure Boot. Alongside that is the consulting work: designing networks, leading migrations, and running the post‑incident recoveries that happen when infrastructure outgrows the way it was first built. I tackle real‑world business problems rather than hypotheticals, and I always document what I build so the next person doesn’t inherit chaos—only better (or at least differently broken) systems.
If you’ve got a tool chain that spiraled out of control, an environment you can’t trust, or a network that makes you sigh, let’s talk. You can also grab my résumé or see how I work on the consulting page.
How I Work
I keep things simple and readable so anyone can pick up where I left off. I document every step to make sure you’re never stuck with undocumented magic. I focus on working code and tangible outcomes rather than chasing the latest shiny tool. Ultimately, I believe good infrastructure blends into the background; doing its job without fanfare.