2026
Cloudflare Leading the Way Challenge Coin
Recognized by Customer Engineering leadership at Tech Summit 2026 for contributions to helping build a better Internet.
Ricardo "Rick" Fernandez
Senior Solutions Engineer, Enterprise East @
Cloudflare Inc (NYSE: NET)
Washington, DC
15+ years turning complex security and networking into shipped solutions.
App SecZero TrustSASENetwork ServicesAIDev Platform
// why i built this site
In June 2026, bot traffic passed human traffic on the internet for the first time in history, driven by AI agents. That got me thinking. If I want to stay discoverable, a site that only looks good to people isn't enough. So I built this one with a clean front end for humans and a backend tuned for AI crawlers, so an LLM like ChatGPT or Claude can find me and surface me in its answers. You're looking at the human view. Flip it, and see the site the way an agent does.
workers-ai · llama-3.1-8b
$ render rfern.dev --as agent
flips the whole page into a live, AI-native terminal. see exactly what an agent ingests. esc to exit.
// about
I started in technical support and QA, learned what breaks and why, and spent the next decade working my way through ad-tech, cloud infrastructure, edge computing, and cybersecurity. I've built and led engineering teams, shipped products from scratch, and gone from first hire to Director at a startup. Today I help enterprises evaluate and deploy Cloudflare across application security, Zero Trust, SASE, and networking. I run POCs, deliver technical deep dives, build custom demos, and architect solutions tailored to each customer's environment.
My approach is simple: I build what I sell. I run a homelab where I deploy, break, and rebuild the same products I demo to customers. If I'm recommending a Zero Trust architecture or a WAF configuration, I've already tested it in my own environment first.
Outside of work, I collect watches, tinker with my homelab more than I probably should, and spend time with my wife, our son, and our little dog.
// experience
Cloudflare Inc (NYSE: NET)
Senior Solutions Engineer, Enterprise East
2021 - Present
Technical pre-sales for enterprise accounts across application security, Zero Trust, SASE, network services, AI, and the developer platform. Design and execute POCs, deliver technical deep dives, and build custom tooling to streamline the sales engineering workflow. Run a personal homelab for live customer demos over Cloudflare Tunnel.
Promoted from Senior Customer Solutions Engineer to Senior Solutions Engineer, Sales.
Akamai Technologies
Senior Customer Outcome Engineer II
2020 - 2021
Owned customer outcomes across CDN, edge computing, and web security products including Kona Site Defender, Bot Manager, Ion, and EdgeWorkers. Managed strategic accounts, troubleshot complex issues at the network and application layers, and mentored junior engineers.
Nativo Inc
(Acquired by Life360)Support Engineer → Director, Solutions Engineering
2015 - 2020
Joined as the company's first support engineer. Built and led a team of five engineers. Promoted four times in five years. As Director, managed the solutions engineering team and launched ContentEdge, a new product built on edge computing (AWS Lambda, CloudFront, Route 53).
Lightspeed Systems
Support Engineer → QA Engineer
2011 - 2015
Web filtering and MDM for K-12 education. Worked across BSD, iOS, and Android platforms. Owned release management, wrote automated test plans with Cucumber BDD, and advised clients on network architecture. Closed 2,500+ support cases in two years. Highest customer satisfaction rating in 2013.
Xerox
Wireless Customer Care Assistant
Apr - Sep 2011
Where it all started. Phone-based technical support, resolving 90+ issues per day. Learned how to diagnose problems fast and communicate technical solutions to non-technical people.
// speaking & events
2025
Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit
National Harbor, MD. 5,000+ attendees. Represented Cloudflare on the expo floor.
2025
Atypon / Wiley Community Meeting
Baltimore, MD. Spoke to researchers and publishers on protecting content from AI crawlers.
2025
FutureCon DC
Speaker. Presented on stacked security models and the importance of multi-layered defense.
2025
GPSEC (GuidePoint Security)
Represented Cloudflare alongside key channel partner GuidePoint Security.
2024
Cloudflare Customer Event @ International Spy Museum
Washington, DC. Executive-level customer event featuring a former CIA Chief of Disguise.
swipe to browse / tap a photo to expand
// selected builds
Three systems I built to make my work more effective, turn product knowledge into working demos, and test how far autonomous agents can go.
OpenCode SE Workbench
A personal operating system for the work around the work.
I built a suite of purpose-specific OpenCode skills that combines account context, product research, and repeatable workflows. It moves a question into structured research, account plans, presentation materials, and follow-up notes without rebuilding the process every time.
OutcomeLess time stitching tools together, more time on customer strategy and technical depth.
system flow
- contextAccount + product knowledge
- orchestratePurpose-built OpenCode skills
- deliverResearch, plans + decks
Cloudflare Demo Lab
The environment where ideas become working customer demos.
A Proxmox-based lab connected through Cloudflare Tunnel hosts the services, test clients, and traffic generators I use to demonstrate Cloudflare. It also runs the personal infrastructure I want to understand, operate, and troubleshoot myself.
OutcomeRecommendations are grounded in systems I have deployed, broken, and rebuilt.
system flow
- edgeCloudflare network
- connectTunnel + Zero Trust
- runProxmox demo workloads
Anton
I don't play fantasy football. Anton does.
Anton is an autonomous agent built on OpenClaw to manage my ESPN team across an entire season. He combines live league state with expert rankings and injury data to draft, optimize lineups, watch waivers, and evaluate trades.
OutcomeA real-world test of agent autonomy, current-data grounding, and safe action boundaries.
system flow
- readESPN + expert sources
- decideEvidence + safety gates
- actDraft, lineup + trade workflows
// credentials
Education
DeVry University
BS, Systems Networking and Communications
2010 - 2013 / GPA 3.8 / Dean's List
Certifications & Training
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - AssociateAmazon Web Services / Historical credential / earned 2020
Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals: Core InfrastructureGoogle Cloud / Coursera / Course completed 2021