My Journey
It started with a Tandy 1000HX. My uncle passed it down to us when I was a kid, and I thought I was one step closer to working on a starship. Growing up watching Star Trek, Star Wars, and the Alien films, I was convinced it was unfair that we did not have that level of technology yet. When that computer landed in our house, I spent endless hours learning MS-DOS and Windows 3.0, and eventually took the whole thing apart screw by screw just to see what was inside.
In high school I took keyboarding and Visual Basic 6 classes. Programming did not click right away, and I assumed IT would probably require a degree I did not have. So I took a path through customer service, where I ended up working with AS/400 systems and quietly became the person everyone came to when something did not work. A few years in, I applied for a helpdesk position on a whim. No formal training, no certifications. I did not expect to get it. I got the call, got the offer, and never looked back.
From the helpdesk I moved into remote job entry and batch processing in mainframe environments, working with JCL, COBOL, RACF, and QWS3270. That work led me to an enterprise IT security team, where I was introduced to Microsoft Azure for the first time. Azure AD clicked immediately and became a core focus.
Later, as part of a two-person IT team supporting a large multi-location organization, I took ownership of the full picture: infrastructure, Azure AD, MDM, SharePoint, and GRC. I also inherited the company website, a VB.NET Framework 3 application. I migrated it to ASP.NET Core, then again to WordPress, largely on my own initiative. Somewhere in that process I realized I genuinely enjoyed web development. That led directly to building Andificus, my current project built with Next.js, React, and TypeScript.
Areas of Focus
Cloud Infrastructure
Azure AD, identity management, and enterprise-scale cloud operations. Expanding across Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud environments.
Systems Administration
Windows Server, MDM, and endpoint management across large multi-location enterprise environments.
IT Security
RACF, Windows security, GRC workflows, and security analysis in high-stakes enterprise settings.
Web Development
Next.js, React, TypeScript, and Tailwind. Building production applications with clean fundamentals and real deployments.
Beyond Work
Outside of technology I am working on a fantasy novel, a long-term project that takes as much patience and discipline as any technical challenge. I do art, graphic design, and photography, which is probably why I care as much about how things look as how they work. When I am not building or creating something I am reading or gaming. Same curiosity, different inputs.