About Me
I am an IT architect with a focus on Linux, automation, and security.
This career path truly started back in late high school when the IT coordinator handed me an Ubuntu CD, which started me down a long and interesting path of ups and downs, starting with ndiswrapper. While attending college, I found myself digging into both web debuggers, strace, and other diagnostic utilities in order to troubleshoot any problem, no matter how deep it went.
My first introduction into enterprise environments was a wild first week; I was even pulled out of orientation in order to prevent a mail service from running out of capacity, which would have happened that evening. If not for some extremely well-written documentation and other blog posts, that situation could have been catostrophically worse. This highlighted the importance of quality documentation and the necessity of taking the time to review it before taking action.
After settling into the role and finding the credentials that were left behind, I began to understand what it meant to be the sole linux admin, responsible for over 500 servers distributed across the nation. I was also responsible for supporting the users that connected to these servers, any corporate Linux server, and the applications running on top of them. supporting the applications hosted on each. This experience encouraged me to adopt configuration management (automation) early on in my career.
Due to the absence of a suitable test environment at work, I repurposed a desktop at home to create a comprehensive network that adhered to best practices I could discover. This allowed me to break down work-related problems, delve into the underlying technology, and pursue thorough investigations to identify root causes and implement lasting solutions for recurring issues.
Outside of work, I contribute to open source projects, primarily focusing on bug fixes and enhancements aimed at improving quality of life.