Profile
Michael O'Neal
Hands-on Senior Software Engineer specializing in fullstack applications, backend services, applied AI, and cloud infrastructure.
Hands-on Engineering
Building Systems That Work in the Real World
I am a hands-on Senior Software Engineer with experience building production software systems across fullstack web development, backend automation, cloud infrastructure, and applied AI.
My recent work focuses on AI-native software: automation systems, computer vision workflows, fullstack applications, deployment pipelines, and operational tooling that solves real-world problems outside of demo environments.
I am strongest where product, infrastructure, and automation overlap:
- ✓Unreliable external systems
- ✓Missing APIs
- ✓Operational constraints
- ✓Workflow automation
- ✓Production debugging
- ✓Systems integration
- ✓Scalable delivery and performance tuning
Abstractions & Metal
Every layer of abstraction, from the bottom up
I started programming with low-level languages and systems development — managing memory, registers, and low-latency routines. From there, I transitioned across every architectural layer as modern software evolved:
- Systems & Backend: Deep understanding of operating systems, network latency, distributed queue management, and relational database modeling.
- Fullstack & UI: Building high-fidelity dashboards and responsive admin flows using TypeScript, React, and modern CSS/Tailwind stacks.
- Cloud Platform: Automated multi-tenant clusters, infrastructure-as-code deployments (Terraform), container orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker), and unified observability pipelines.
- Applied AI: Custom computer vision models, local LLM integrations fulfilling strict HIPAA guidelines, automated eval loops, and pipeline caching.
Proven Track Record
Engineering Contributions at Scale
Microsoft
Developed platform components and developer-facing tools across multiple product groups.
Intel
Systems-level engineering work on performance-critical software close to the hardware.
PayPal
Built financial services infrastructure handling high-volume transaction processing.
X.com
Worked on platform infrastructure during a period of rapid technical transformation.
Off-Grid Navigation
Ocean passages and practical problem solving
In 2019, I stepped away from the desk to sail the Pacific coast down to Colombia. Navigating a small boat in open ocean forces you to deal with hardware failures, electrical breakdowns, and unreliable routing systems under extreme constraints.
When plans broke in remote regions, there was no customer support or extraction. You fix it with the tools and systems you have aboard.
I bring this exact operational resilience back to software engineering — taking complete ownership, adapting immediately when production pipelines break, and engineering robust, clean fallback paths.