I always had a fascination with computers and wondering how they worked. This led to me taking a computer and networking course at a local tech school during my junior and senior years of high school. I had free range to work on whatever interested me. Which at that time was coding and security. Those remain the areas I enjoy the most. After graduating high school I went on to a community college to get my general education classes out of the way and use a scholarship I had earned. I was able to take one programming course on C++ while I was there, but wasn't able to take more because the scholarship wouldn't pay for it. From there, I went to Missouri University of Science and Technology. While there, I joined ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and ACM SIG-SEC (ACM Special Interest Group - Security). I helped form the Cyber Defense Team and participated in a few competitions. These were a lot of fun and what I enjoyed most about college. I graduated in December 2013 with a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science.
My first IT position was as an intern at a cement plant. I was able to keep this position for the summer of 2012, winter break of 2012, and summer of 2013. They didn't have any full time positions available after I graduated so I had to look elsewhere to start my career. They agreed to bring me on as a contracted employee while I was job hunting. I eventually found an IT Tech position open at a local hospital. The interview went well and they hired me in March 2014. I've been there ever since.
The hospital's IT department was one person when I started so it took a little while to bring me up to speed. I started out only doing helpdesk tasks. I was able to start taking on more roles as I showed what I could do. I started managing user accounts, creating new accounts, setting up new computers, and respond to malware. While I was waiting for more responsibility, I created an application using Python and PyQt to do rudimentary asset management. This helped me learn Python better and learn more about the organization. After showing I knew what I was doing and had a good methodology for troubleshooting issues, I was given more room to do what I wanted. Wanting to make the computer security better, I researched ways to keep our software up to date. I found a solution that would work for us and was in our budget. I implemented that patch and asset management solution and maintained it. That was the first of many projects I took on.
When we decided to move away from VMware vSphere due to costs, I researched different solutions. We like open source software so we were looking for a kvm based solution. I looked at ProxMox and oVirt. We decided on oVirt because it supported our needs better. I got it installed on a server so we could start migrating our servers to it. I created a guide so we could setup new servers quickly.
Another project was a 2 in 1, upgrading Windows 7 to 10 and upgrading the HDD to an SSD. I found a good imaging application, Macrium, to make the SSD upgrade easier. I would clone the HDD to the SSD then upgrade to Windows 10 since that would be the faster way with less downtime. That was for approximately 200 desktops and laptops.
A recent project was making our workstation on wheels (WOWs) compatible with the new EMR. We purchased a few new WOWs without a workstation and had to come up with a solution for them that would also work with our old WOWs. We wanted to make it work with a Raspberry Pi so I set out to find a solution. I settled on Thinlinx since it could run the new EMR software and keep costs down. The new WOWs had an AC outlet so they were easy to get the Raspberry Pis to work on them. The old WOWs on the other hand had a DC barrel plug for power. I had to find a buck converter to go from 12v to 5v to power the pi. I found one with the right barrel connector that went to USB and used them to make the pi work on the old WOWs.
My most recent project was implementing Lansweeper. I had stumbled across it and found it had the functionality to replace our patch management, asset management, change management, helpdesk ticket system, and knowledgebase. These were all separate applications and I thought bringing them all in under one system would be beneficial. I got a trial license and setup the server. I configured the deployment packages for patch management and remotely installing software. I setup dynamic groups to better manage our assets. I migrated our knowledgebase and organized it to be easily accessible. I configured the helpdesk templates and email settings, but we haven't moved over to it yet due to time. These were the projects I had the most fun with over my career.
Which brings us to today. I've completed an online course on Python and currently using it and Flask to create this website. I'm currently going through a ethical hacking course from the same company, Zero to Mastery. I really like the way they present the material and have fun projects along the way. My goal is to get the OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional) and move my career into pen testing. So that's been my journey so far, bye for now.