Atypical Resolvers Discuss the situation
00

Special situations engineering

I take responsibility for software projects in trouble.

Stuck, fragile, insecure, or unable to reach production. I find the constraint, set the route out, and do the work.

Principal-level engineering and secure architecture, engaged directly. I work on the system, not around it.

Discuss the situation See the situations
Schedule comparison Two schedules against the same time axis and the same committed date. In the typical one, infrastructure, software, and security run strictly one after another with a marked handoff gap between each, security arrives last as a short block, and the release milestone lands well past the committed date. In the second, every phase takes less time, software starts the moment infrastructure finishes because there is no handover to wait on, security runs the length of the engagement rather than arriving at the end, and the release milestone lands before the committed date. Committed date Typical Infrastructure Software Security Atypical Resolvers Infrastructure Software Security
The same work, scheduled twice. Split across specialists every handover is dead time, security arrives last as a review, and the date moves. Held by one engineer each phase takes less time, nothing waits on a handover, and security runs the whole length because it is a condition of the design rather than a stage at the end. The release lands before the date.

Project recoveryProduction readinessSecure systemsTechnical leadership

01

Situations

These are the conditions I am called into.

If one of them describes your project, the first conversation will be short and specific.

  • 01 The prototype works, but it cannot safely go live. It was built to prove the idea. Production needs authentication, data boundaries, deployment that repeats, and someone willing to sign off.
  • 02 The project has stalled and nobody can say exactly why. Status stays optimistic while the date keeps moving. The real constraint is usually structural, not effort.
  • 03 You inherited a system that is fragile, undocumented, or insecure. The people who built it are gone. Changes break things in places nobody predicted.
  • 04 The architecture no longer fits the product. Every new requirement costs more than the last. The team is working around the system instead of with it.
  • 05 Releases depend on one person remembering the steps. Deployment is manual, risky, and scheduled around somebody's calendar. Recovery is a hope rather than a procedure.
  • 06 You need senior technical direction, not a full-time hire. Someone has to own the architecture, review the work, and make the calls. The role does not justify a permanent one yet.
  • 07 An AI feature needs real boundaries before customers touch it. Model access, data handling, tool permissions, cost control, and an audit trail all have to be designed. None of them are configured by default.
02

Capabilities

Four areas of work. One person accountable for all of them.

Most engagements draw on more than one. The balance shifts as the picture gets clearer.

Project recovery

Establish what is actually wrong, then get the project moving again.

  • Technical assessment
  • Failure-point identification
  • Recovery planning
  • Hands-on remediation

Production readiness

Turn a system that demos well into one that can be operated and trusted.

  • SaaS and backend architecture
  • Authentication and authorization
  • API design and integration
  • PostgreSQL data architecture
  • Docker and cloud deployment
  • CI/CD and operational hardening

Secure systems

Design for the conditions the system will actually meet, not the happy path.

  • Application security
  • Identity and access design
  • Threat-informed architecture
  • Security requirements
  • Production acceptance review

Technical leadership

Hold the technical direction while the team builds.

  • Fractional CTO support
  • Architecture ownership
  • Code and design review
  • Coordination across developers, vendors, and stakeholders
03

Approach

Four stages. Most of the work is in the fourth.

The written assessment ends at stage three. That is where a lot of engagements stop. Mine does not.

  1. 1

    Understand the system

    Establish how the application, infrastructure, team, and business requirements actually fit together. This comes from reading the code and the deployment, not from collecting opinions.

  2. 2

    Find the constraint

    Identify the technical, architectural, security, operational, or organizational condition that is preventing progress. There is usually one that matters more than the rest.

  3. 3

    Set the recovery path

    Define the smallest credible route to a stable, production-ready system: the order of work, what it depends on, and what can safely wait.

  4. 4

    Resolve the problem

    Implement, review, and validate the work. I write the code, correct the architecture, harden the deployment, and stay until it holds.

04

About

Engaged directly with the principal engineer.

Atypical Resolvers was founded by Adam Dyer, a principal software engineer and secure systems architect with over twenty years of enterprise experience across software engineering, DevSecOps, cloud infrastructure, identity, networking, and cybersecurity.

The work suits situations where a company needs one person who can understand a complex system without a long handover, determine what will fail under production conditions, set a practical technical direction, and deliver the improvements without heavy management overhead.

I own every architecture decision, security call, code review, and production sign-off. AI-assisted engineering speeds up implementation, testing, analysis, and documentation underneath that. It does not decide anything.

You work with the principal engineer. There is no handover to a junior team and no account manager between you and the person doing the work.

05

Contact

Tell me where the project is stuck.

A short description is enough to start: what the system does, what is preventing progress, and what a good outcome looks like.

You will get a direct answer about whether this is the kind of work I take. If it is not, I will say so.

Write to

hello@atypicalresolvers.com

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