About

Leslie Cordell.

Principal Consultant & Platform Engineer. Kristiansand, Norway. Specialised in Azure, Kubernetes and delivery systems that are safe to grow on.

Leslie Cordell.
Background

A short version of who I am.

I've worked across the full web and cloud stack for over a decade — from deep Drupal development to modern AKS clusters on Azure. Along the way I've learned which choices pay off and which ones cost — both in money and in lost sleep.

Cordell Consulting is a sole-trader practice I set up to deliver what I'm best at: platform work that actually supports the business. Not just architectural theory, not pure operations either — but the whole journey from strategy to a signed artifact in production.

I'm a CNCF Kubestronaut (CKA, CKAD, CKS, KCNA, KCSA), Azure Administrator (AZ-104) and Acquia Triple Certified. Certifications aren't the answer to everything, but they're a commitment to staying current — and a reasonable way to show you take the craft seriously.

I live in Kristiansand with my family. When I'm not at a terminal I'm usually in the mountains or in the kitchen.

Certifications

Active Certifications.

CNCF Kubestronaut
Complete CNCF certification stack
CKA
Certified Kubernetes Administrator
CKAD
Certified Kubernetes Application Developer
CKS
Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist
KCNA
Kubernetes & Cloud Native Associate
KCSA
Kubernetes & Cloud Native Security Associate
AZ-104
Microsoft Azure Administrator
Career Timeline

Where i have been.

2022–present
Principal Consultant & Platform Engineer
Cordell Consulting ENK · Kristiansand

Independent practice delivering cloud-native platform engineering and full-stack development. Key clients include Hygiena (global life sciences) and SAG-AFTRA (US entertainment).

2018–2021
Senior Full-Stack Developer
Old Moon Digital · Canada (Remote)

Enterprise Drupal and React platforms for media, telecoms and public sector clients including Shaw/Freedom Mobile and Regional District of Nanaimo.

2016–2018
Senior Full-Stack Developer
ImageX Media · Vancouver, Canada

Led e-commerce migration from legacy C++ to Drupal Commerce generating $5M+ in client revenue. Acquia Site Factory deployments for educational institutions.

2014–2016
Full-Stack Developer
Acromedia Inc. · Canada

E-commerce and fraud detection workflows for Telus and Koodo on Drupal. Marketplace integrations and early IoT/edge work.

2012–2014
Software Developer & Team Lead
Windward Software Inc. · Canada

Progressed from support to team lead. Web integrations with POS systems, Unix/Linux environments, Asterisk telephony and Mikrotik routing.

Values

How I prefer to work.

Write the choices down

Decisions outlive people. ADRs, short reports and readable IaC let the next team understand the why — not just the what.

Build the simplest thing that works

Choose the simplest solution that meets the need. Complexity is a cost — it has to be earned, not assumed.

Customer ownership

No lock-in, no black boxes, no "only I can run this". The goal is to leave the platform in better shape than I found it — and make myself unnecessary.

Could it be worth talking?

Send a message or reach me on LinkedIn — I usually reply within 24 hours on weekdays.