I'm a Computer Engineering student at Politecnico di Milano, currently building practical skills in cloud infrastructure with Azure.

I passed the AZ-900 certification, I'm currently working toward AZ-104, and I'm strengthening my hands-on experience with Terraform, Linux fundamentals, and infrastructure-focused projects.

My goal is to grow through real practice: building, testing, making mistakes, fixing them, and learning by doing.

• Cloud infrastructure on Azure
• Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
• Linux fundamentals for real-world cloud environments
• Git and GitHub workflows
• Building practical, recruiter-ready infrastructure projects

• Azure — solid practical familiarity with core services and management workflows
• Terraform — comfortable with the fundamentals and actively using it in projects
• Git / GitHub — strong day-to-day confidence
• Linux — basic operational knowledge, currently improving it step by step
• Bash — basic usage
• Nginx — basic usage in cloud VM scenarios
• JSON / ARM / Bicep — can read and understand them, but currently focused more on Terraform
• Python — academic background, but not yet applied in real projects

• AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
• Currently preparing for AZ-104, CCNA

A practical Azure infrastructure project built with Terraform to deploy a Linux virtual machine with basic networking, secure access, and automated web server provisioning.

Focus of this step Build and deploy a first Azure virtual machine environment with Infrastructure as Code.

What it includes

• Resource Group, Virtual Network, and Subnet
• Network Security Group rules
• Linux virtual machine with SSH key-based access
• Automated Nginx installation through cloud-init

What this project helped me practice

• Azure resource structure
• Infrastructure as Code fundamentals
• Basic networking and access control
• Practical deployment workflow from code to running VM

A more realistic Azure infrastructure project built with Terraform to simulate a two-tier environment with separate management and workload layers, subnet-based security, and automated provisioning.

Focus of this step Move from a single VM design to a more structured infrastructure with separated roles and tighter network control.

What it includes

• Virtual network with separate management and web subnets
• Subnet-based Network Security Groups
• Dedicated management VM for administrative access
• Public-facing web VM running Nginx
• SSH key-based access control
• Automated VM provisioning through cloud-init
• ARM64 Ubuntu virtual machines on Azure

What this project helped me practice

• Azure virtual network and subnet design
• Network Security Groups and controlled access paths
• Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
• Linux VM provisioning and SSH authentication
• cloud-init automation
• More realistic infrastructure design

A Terraform-based Azure infrastructure project focused on private compute, secure administrative access, and monitoring foundations, using Bastion instead of direct public VM exposure.

Focus of this step Shift from segmented infrastructure to a private-first platform design with more secure administrative access and monitoring components.

What it includes

• Private Linux virtual machine with no public IP
• Azure Bastion for secure administrative access
• Virtual network with dedicated subnets
• Log Analytics Workspace for monitoring foundation
• Key Vault included as a security-oriented platform component
• Modular Terraform structure
• ARM64 Ubuntu deployment on Azure

What this project helped me practice

• Private infrastructure design on Azure
• Secure VM administration without direct public SSH
• Terraform module organization
• Bastion-based access patterns
• Monitoring and security service integration
• More production-aware platform design

A hands-on Azure infrastructure project built with Terraform to deploy a small load-balanced web platform with a public frontend, private ARM64 Ubuntu backend virtual machines, Azure Bastion for secure administration, and automated provisioning with cloud-init.

Focus of this step Move from private infrastructure design to proper public service delivery through a dedicated frontend while keeping backend virtual machines private.

What it includes

• Public Azure Load Balancer
• Two private ARM64 Ubuntu backend web VMs
• Backend pool and HTTP health probe
• Load balancing rule for web traffic on port 80
• Azure Bastion for secure administrative access
• Network Security Group and subnet-based security
• cloud-init bootstrap for automated Nginx provisioning
• Log Analytics Workspace for monitoring foundation

What this project helped me practice

• Public frontend and private backend platform design
• Azure Load Balancer fundamentals
• Health probes and traffic distribution
• Multi-VM infrastructure design with Terraform
• Secure VM administration through Bastion
• cloud-init automation across multiple instances
• More resilient web platform design on Azure

I’m trying to move beyond university theory and build real technical experience as early as possible.

I learn best by doing: creating projects, breaking things, understanding mistakes, correcting them, and improving from there.
To me, that is one of the most valuable ways to learn cloud and infrastructure work.

• Azure administration knowledge
• Terraform best practices
• Linux operational confidence
• Infrastructure design mindset
• More real-world cloud projects

• Italian — native
• English — C1
• French — conversational
• German — currently learning
• Russian — currently learning

• LinkedIn: [www.linkedin.com/in/karim-el-atfy]