Ouail Derghal

About

ouailderghal@protonmail.com (Ouail Derghal) — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m a DevOps engineer holding a master’s degree in networks and distributed systems, currently completing a PhD in software engineering on secure continuous deployment for the cloud. I have extensive freelance experience delivering projects for a wide range of international clients, combined with a strong command of deployment and automation for cloud-native applications in multi-cloud environments, CI/CD practices, containerization, infrastructure as code, and Linux system administration.

I’m based in Brest, France. See my publications for peer-reviewed work from my PhD.

Skills

Cloud & Virtualization: AWS, GCP, Azure, DigitalOcean, VMware ESXi
Containers & Orchestration: Docker, Docker Compose, Kubernetes
IaC, CI/CD & Observability: Terraform, Ansible, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Grafana, Zabbix
Servers & Systems: Nginx, Apache, Caddy, Bind9, OpenLDAP, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Amazon Linux
Languages & Scripting: Python, Go, Bash, Java, PHP
Databases & Web: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Django, Laravel

Education

PhD in Software Engineering · IMT Atlantique, Brest, France (2024–2027)
MSc in Networks and Distributed Systems · University of Constantine 2, Constantine, Algeria (2020–2023)
BSc in Software Engineering · University of Constantine 2, Constantine, Algeria (2017–2020)

Languages

🇺🇸 English (C2) · 🇫🇷 French (bilingual) · 🇩🇿 Arabic (native)

Experience

ouailderghal@protonmail.com (Ouail Derghal) — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

PhD Researcher — IMT Atlantique, Brest, France (Full-time)

January 2024 – present

Java Z3 Docker Ansible Terraform Kubernetes

Thesis “Secure Continuous Deployment for the Cloud”: constraint-driven multi-cloud deployment.
Supervised by J.-C. Bach and F. Dagnat (P4S, Lab-STICC).
Designed a domain-specific language (DSL) to specify application requirements and infrastructure constraints.
Formalized deployment as an SMT problem, with formal reasoning about plan consistency.
Automatic synthesis of solver-verified deployment plans, with IaC code generation.
Implementation in Java with the Z3 solver; automated deployment with Docker, Ansible, Terraform, and Kubernetes.
Paper published at the IC2E 2025 conference (runner-up, best-paper award); a second paper is under review at SEFM 2026.
Conference presentations and participation in seminars and scientific events.

Teaching Assistant — IMT Atlantique, Brest, France (Part-time)

September 2024 – May 2026

Python Java Go SQL Git

110h across 2 assignments for engineering students.
Prepared lab sessions and tutorials, and graded assignments.

Year	Course	Format	Hours	Language	Keywords
1st	Programming	Lab	31h	🇫🇷 French	Python, OOP, Testing, Copilot
1st	Algorithms	Tutorial	13h	🇫🇷 French	Recursion, Data structures, Complexity, Dynamic programming
1st	Databases	Lab	13h	🇫🇷 French	SQL, Normalization, UML, Persistence
1st	Project work	Lab	20h	🇫🇷 French	Java, Networking, Vert.x, UML
2nd	Codecamp	Lab	20h	🇫🇷 French	Python, CLI, Code review, argparse
2nd	Developer tools	Lab	5h	🇫🇷 French	Git, Terminal, IDE, AI tools
3rd	Distributed systems analysis	Tutorial	8h	🇫🇷 French	Go, Consensus, Leader election, Gossip

Programming: taught Python fundamentals, object-oriented programming, testing and defensive programming, documentation/code quality conventions, and AI-assisted programming with GitHub Copilot.
Algorithms: taught algorithm design, recursion, data structures, complexity analysis, and divide-and-conquer and dynamic programming strategies.
Databases: taught relational database principles, SQL, schema normalization, conceptual (UML) modeling, and data persistence in object-oriented applications.
Project work: supervised student teams building a smart-grid system in Java, integrating networking, UML design, and database persistence with the Vert.x framework.
Codecamp: coached student groups building a Python CLI task-management tool from a common base, incrementally adding self-chosen extensions, with peer code review and cross-team validation of code quality, functionality, and documentation.
Developer tools: taught the development environment: operating systems, file systems, terminal usage, IDE setup, version control with Git/GitLab, and AI-assisted development practices.
Distributed systems analysis: taught distributed algorithms in Go through hands-on labs: message passing, leader election, failure detection, broadcast/gossip protocols, and voting-based (Byzantine-tolerant) probabilistic consensus.

Freelance DevOps Engineer — Fiverr, Upwork (Remote)

March 2023 – October 2025

Docker Kubernetes Terraform Ansible AWS GCP Azure Grafana

Delivered 77+ projects for 50+ international clients, rated 5.0/5 across 65 Fiverr reviews — see Testimonials.
Containerized and deployed 30+ applications with Docker and Kubernetes.
Provisioned multi-cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure) with Terraform and Ansible.
Set up 4 production environments on GCP with auto-scaling and Grafana monitoring.
Deployed to AWS ECS and Azure App Service through CI/CD pipelines.
Automated backups of MySQL databases to Amazon S3.

Engineering Intern — IMT Atlantique, Brest, France

March 2023 – July 2023

C++ Python Node-RED MQTT Docker Ansible

Developed a control system (C++, Python) for the Fischertechnik Learning Factory, an Industry 4.0 pilot plant.
Programmed the PLCs and control logic for the production line stations.
Designed a real-time monitoring system with Node-RED and MQTT to track sensors and actuators.
Built a dashboard to visualize production data and machine states.
Containerized services with Docker and automated deployment with Ansible.
Wrote technical documentation and a setup reproduction guide.

System Administrator Intern — University of Constantine 2, Constantine, Algeria

February 2022 – September 2023

Debian Laravel OpenLDAP Bind9 GitLab Ansible

Configured a Debian server (Laravel application, OpenLDAP, Bind9, DHCP).
Installed and configured 22 network switches.
Deployed a private GitLab instance and automated application deployment with Ansible.

Web Developer Intern — University of Constantine 2, Constantine, Algeria

May 2020 – November 2021

PHP Laravel Docker Docker Compose GitLab CI

Developed the back-end of a MOOC platform (PHP, Laravel).
Set up the development infrastructure with Docker and Docker Compose.
Configured 2 GitLab CI pipelines for testing and deployment.

Publications

ouailderghal@protonmail.com (Ouail Derghal) — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Towards a Constraint-Driven Deployment Process for Cloud-Native Applications

Ouail Derghal, Jean-Christophe Bach, Fabien Dagnat

2025 IEEE International Conference on Cloud Engineering (IC2E), pp. 85–93, IEEE, 2025.
🏆 Runner-up, Best Paper Award

PDF · IEEE Xplore · Google Scholar

We address deployment fragmentation in cloud environments by proposing a constraint-based approach to deployment, where constraints are declarative and treated as first-class inputs, tackling technological lock-in, multi-cloud complexity, and unclear role definitions among development teams.

See my Google Scholar profile.

Testimonials

ouailderghal@protonmail.com (Ouail Derghal) — Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Feedback from clients on Fiverr and Upwork, where I delivered projects between 2023 and 2025.

Fiverr

5.0 / 5Rating

65Reviews

5.0Communication

4.9Quality of Delivery

Upwork

100%Job Success

11Jobs Completed

Ouail Derghal delivered TOP-NOTCH work with impressive attention to detail and thorough documentation. His proactive communication and speedy responsiveness made the entire collaboration a breeze. Highly PROFESSIONAL and reliable freelancer!

Ouail Derghal delivered ABOVE my expectations with excellent documentation and meticulous attention to detail. Working with him was smooth thanks to his prompt delivery, proactive communication, and politeness. Highly recommended!

Highly recommend! The setup of our infrastructure in Docker and deployment to the cloud was flawless. Customer service was second to none, and the professionalism and efficiency were outstanding. Truly exceptional and great value for money! Would book again without hesitation.

It was a great experience, He is very knowledgeable in CI/CD, gitlab, Linux, Devops. Attention to details and thorough. Recommend him for Devops gigs for sure.

Wow! A senior developer and I were hitting our heads against a wall for hours trying to figure this out, Ouail knocked this out in less than a day. It's worth every penny; we'll definitely be back for more help as our CI becomes more sophisticated.

Excellent service helping troubleshoot my Docker container launch to Azure. Ouail methodically eliminated each possible problem throughout the launch session we shared. He explained every step along the way and made a lot of really great suggestions on security, architecture and performance.

Very very fast availability. After my initial message, we set up a meeting in 30 minutes. Although i had a big project with lots of contextual knowledge, my bug was solved in 30 minutes. Whilst he was solving it, he explained his thought process thoroughly, so i could learn and understand.

Very smart and professional. Fast to respond and started working on dockerizing our app immediately. Finished it in less than 24hrs, deployed it including https and even fixed some issues with our code. Called to explain all he did and fix anything that was not yet working. 5/5

I highly recommend Ouail when it comes to Docker, Django projects and Python in general. He was the fastest to respond and requested to review the code before giving the final quote and the estimated required shows his professional approach to deal with projects. On top of that he solved my app issue remotely and gave some professional advices.

Took my project for a reasonable price that we both agreed on. Very informative and kept me up to date as he progressed. He was quick to get it done and finished early. Very efficient and communicative. Highly recommend because he did everything perfect.

Extremely knowledgeable with Docker set up, he helped us work through fairly complex and custom environment issues all the way until we got everything working as we wanted.

It was an exceptional experience, the seller does his absolute best to accomplish the given task perfectly. I'm very happy knowing that I have him now as a strong reference to DevOps tasks. Very great!

See all reviews on Fiverr · See all reviews on Upwork