AWS Cloud Consulting Services
Work directly with an AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional on your AWS infrastructure: architecture, migration, security, Terraform, and cost.
Shane Schlabach · AWS Solutions Architect – Professional · 12+ years in AWS & Azure · Remote across the US
Overview
I help businesses build, migrate, and improve AWS environments that are secure, reliable, and practical to maintain. Whether you're planning a migration, troubleshooting an existing setup, or trying to get cloud costs under control, I provide hands-on engineering from planning through implementation.
I'm an AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, with additional certifications in AWS Security, Advanced Networking, and SysOps, and more than 12 years of experience designing, migrating, and running production cloud environments. At 3 Hops Tech, you work directly with me, from the first conversation through delivery and ongoing support.
AWS consulting services include
- Architecture and account setup: Design account structures, VPCs, connectivity, and access controls that fit your applications, team, and security requirements.
- Cloud migrations: Move applications and databases to EC2, ECS, Fargate, or managed services, with a plan for dependencies, testing, cutover, and rollback.
- Security improvements: Protect root accounts, strengthen identity and access management, enforce MFA, and configure encryption, logging, and threat detection.
- Terraform and infrastructure automation: Bring manually created infrastructure under version control and build reusable Terraform configurations that make changes consistent and repeatable.
- Application delivery: Build or improve CI/CD pipelines and container deployments so your team can release changes with fewer manual steps.
- Reliability and troubleshooting: Investigate infrastructure issues, improve monitoring and alerting, and review backup and recovery processes to support day-to-day operations.
- Cost optimization: Identify idle resources, right-size workloads, and apply autoscaling and scheduling where they make sense, while accounting for performance and availability needs.
The goal is an AWS environment your team understands and can operate with confidence. Infrastructure work is delivered as code in your own AWS accounts, with documentation covering what was built, how to manage it, and how to make future changes. You keep ownership of your infrastructure, code, and access, whether you continue with ongoing support or manage everything internally.
Have an AWS project in mind, or an environment that needs attention? Let's talk about what's working, what needs to change, and where I can help.
Selected work
Examples from enterprise production environments I've led. Client names are kept private.
Move .NET services to Docker on ECS with autoscaling
- Problem
- .NET services ran on Linux EC2 instances sized for peak traffic around the clock, and every rollout meant updating servers one at a time.
- What I did
- Containerized each service with Docker, deployed them to Amazon ECS, and added autoscaling based on actual demand.
- Result
- Consistent builds and deploys, no more server-by-server rollouts, and infrastructure costs down about 25% with no application code changes.
Import live AWS services into Terraform
- Problem
- Production AWS infrastructure had been built and modified by hand, making it hard to review, reproduce, or hand off.
- What I did
- Imported the live environment into Terraform, organized it into reusable modules, added Checkov security scanning, and rolled out AWS best-practice settings, including encryption, tighter access controls, and logging.
- Result
- Every infrastructure change and new service now goes through version-controlled code: reviewable, repeatable, and easy to hand off.
Set up Jenkins pipelines with gated production deploys
- Problem
- Releases were manual, and no one could easily tell which version was running in each environment.
- What I did
- Set up Jenkins on AWS with pipelines that build on every push, store artifacts in Amazon S3, and deploy with AWS Systems Manager: straight to QA, with an approval gate before production.
- Result
- Standardized deployments across environments, a clear view of what runs where, and rollback by redeploying any previous build.
How engagements work
Every engagement starts with a free, no-obligation conversation. Project work is $150/hour with scope agreed up front, or ongoing care as a monthly managed service.
- 1
Discovery
What you run today, where it hurts, and what “done” looks like.
- 2
Plan
A written roadmap: options, sequence, and what I would touch first.
- 3
Build
Infrastructure, automation, and security — as code, in your accounts.
- 4
Support
Monitor, patch, and keep changing it as the workload changes.
Common questions
What kinds of AWS projects do you take on?
Account and network architecture, migrations to AWS, security reviews and hardening, Terraform and CI/CD pipelines, cost optimization, and ongoing managed support. Most engagements mix a few of these.
Can you work on an AWS environment someone else built?
Yes, and that's most of the work. I start by reviewing what's running today, then improve it in place rather than rebuilding it, including importing existing resources into Terraform without downtime.
Who will I be working with?
Me, Shane Schlabach. The person on the first call is the person doing the work. There are no account managers and no handoffs to junior staff.
How much does it cost?
Project work is $150/hour, with scope and a plan agreed before work starts. Managed service starts at $2,000/month and is scoped after a review of your environment.
Do you work with companies outside Ohio?
Yes. I'm based in Cincinnati, Ohio and work remotely with teams across the United States.
Who owns the code and documentation?
You do. Everything is built in your own AWS or Azure accounts and source control, with handoff documentation so your team can run it without me.
How do we get started?
Use the form below to send a few sentences about where things stand. I reply within one business day, and the first conversation is free with no obligation.