Vice President, DevSecOps Center of Excellence
Welcome back to our series featuring Octo’s innovators! In our first installment, we talked to Cesar Tavares, Senior Director of Emerging Technology. We followed it with an interview of James Farley, Vice President of Enterprise Solutions. Today, we’re spotlighting Mark Wells, VP of our DevSecOps Center of Excellence (CoE).
What is your title, and what do you do for Octo?
I am the Vice President of the DevSecOps Center of Excellence at Octo. The Centers of Excellence are the power behind oLabs™. My CoE is responsible for all of the Agile DevSecOps best practices, technologies, and automations that support our government clients.
At Octo, we talk about jumping the technology curve. What does that mean?
Jumping the technology curve is not an easy thing to do in DevSecOps. The advantage we bring to our government clients is that we have a unique set of technologies and understanding of the tools and technologies that make up the DevSecOps space. Our team has embraced the art of accomplishing the automations required to bring the best tools and technologies into a single environmental solution, enabling us to jump the technology curve and land beyond everyone else.
What technologies does your team currently place a lot of focus on?
The biggest set of technologies we are growing is associated with artificial intelligence (AI). Our focus is really process automation rather than working with drones, video feeds, or similar things that people often think of when they think of AI. Within the DevSecOps space, we build operators, which are basically pieces of AI software. We transfer our knowledge into the operator, and the operator uses that knowledge to run processes and make sophisticated decisions. We spend time developing the models to train the software to adapt and recover because we know that things can go wrong in many places within the DevSecOps environment. Our team will continue to experiment with these operator models to support automation and DevSecOps solutions.
What are some of the technologies you get to work with on a regular basis? What do you geek out on?
I lead of team of technologists who geek out on everything. On a daily basis, I work with DevSecOps experts. I help coach agile development teams through their delivery and systems and software engineering capabilities. On a personal level, I geek out on anything related to cloud and enhancing and developing cloud technologies for our clients. To me, the cloud is the biggest accelerator we can bring to the Federal Government.
What are you most excited about with the opening of oLabs?
We have some fantastic opportunities to differentiate ourselves and our solutions on the AI and machine learning (ML) side. For example, the work we’ve done on army helmets and micro drones is impressive and sets us apart. The ability to run video feeds directly to an augmented reality helmet that uses a little drone to monitor force and tank movements allows us to deliver information to a squad commander who can direct actions accordingly. That kind of stuff is science fiction. oLabs was really designed around that purpose – to accomplish the kind of work where we can bring science fiction to reality. I think this is the advantage we are going to bring to the market with this facility.
Why would new developers want to work at Octo, and what does oLabs specifically offer to the next generation of innovators?
If you are a technologist, the best job you can have is one that allows you to learn, experiment, and discover new things with new technologies. Octo has approached the high-end parts of the market that everyone from a technical background would love the opportunity to play with. The fact that the company has actively invested in oLabs to provide a place where you can be immersed in different programs, experiments, projects, and development opportunities outside of just the general support of company contracts is what sets us apart from other employers. You are going to learn from the best of the best if you choose Octo, and most importantly, you’re not just going to fulfill a job at a contract somewhere – you’re going to make a difference.
If you’ve read this far, we know you’re interested in learning more. Seeking something different in the GovCon space? Explore career opportunities with Octo. Want to see what oLabs can offer your federal agency or organization? Schedule a tour. General questions? Reach out to our experts: cto@octo.us.