IT Support | Cybersecurity | Cloud | AI/ML Infrastructure Engineer Labs_
Building hands-on technical skills through real-world labs, troubleshooting, and project documentation.
I am a U.S. Army veteran and IT professional focused on technical support, troubleshooting, cybersecurity, cloud fundamentals, and AI technologies. My military background shaped how I approach technology: with discipline, attention to detail, clear communication, and a mission-focused mindset.
This portfolio highlights my hands-on labs and projects across hardware, networking, operating systems, virtualization, cybersecurity, and cloud environments. Each project documents the tools used, the steps taken, the problems encountered, and the lessons learned.
My goal is to continue building practical technical skills and contribute to reliable, secure, and efficient IT operations.
Current Focus Areas
Identified major internal and external PC components and documented their purpose, compatibility, and troubleshooting considerations aligned with CompTIA A+ objectives.
Build and configure virtual machines to practice OS installation, snapshots, basic networking, and system configuration across Windows and Linux environments.
Practice core network troubleshooting commands and document systematic approaches to diagnosing common connectivity issues in a real or virtualized environment.
Design a structured system to sort IT support tickets by urgency, category, and issue type using a spreadsheet-based urgency matrix and AI-assisted classification.
Competed solo in a Department of Defense-level Capture the Flag cybersecurity competition against 2,151 national participants.
Solved challenges across networking, reconnaissance, web application testing, OSINT, and advanced forensics using professional security tools. Finished ranked #767 out of 2,151 competitors — top 36% nationally. Earned 1,200 points across 6 challenge categories including packet analysis, virtual host enumeration, RTSP enumeration, memory forensics, and geolocation OSINT.
Tools: Kali Linux, Nmap, Wireshark, Burp Suite, Volatility 3, CyberChef, Gobuster, exiftool, Hashcat, ffprobe
View Full Write-Up →Problem: Help desk teams lose time manually sorting tickets without a structured triage system.
Built a rules-based and AI-assisted workflow to classify help desk tickets by urgency, category, and issue type — reducing response overhead and improving resolution tracking.
Tools: Spreadsheet, Python (basic), AI prompt workflow, urgency matrix
View on GitHub →Goal: Build a clean, organized virtual lab environment on a dedicated PC to support CompTIA A+, networking, and cybersecurity hands-on practice.
Built a personal IT lab on an HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini running Windows 11 Pro. Verified BIOS virtualization settings, installed VMware Workstation Pro, and created an organized folder structure under C:\IT-Labs with dedicated folders for ISOs, virtual machines, Packet Tracer labs, screenshots, notes, diagrams, and GitHub projects. Currently setting up Ubuntu and Windows virtual machines for hands-on practice.
Hardware: HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini · Intel i5-7500T · 8GB RAM · 256GB SSD · Windows 11 Pro
Tools: VMware Workstation Pro, Cisco Packet Tracer, Ubuntu Linux, Nmap, PuTTY, ShareX, VS Code, GitHub Desktop, draw.io
Problem: Security concepts require a live environment to understand attack and defense in practice.
Set up a virtualized home lab for practicing security monitoring, access control, defensive tooling, and log analysis with real scenarios and documented findings.
Tools: VirtualBox, Kali Linux, Wireshark, pfSense, Security Onion (planned)
View on GitHub →Problem: Cloud skills require hands-on deployment beyond reading documentation.
Beginner cloud project using AWS, Azure, or GCP to deploy VMs, configure storage, set permissions, and document architecture decisions and lessons learned.
Tools: AWS Free Tier / Azure / GCP, IAM policies, S3 / Blob Storage
View on GitHub →Problem: AI/ML Infrastructure Engineer roles require physical and procedural knowledge that's hard to show without experience.
Project focused on rack-and-stack concepts, structured cabling documentation, server hardware identification, and AI/ML Infrastructure Engineer operational workflows — built as a reference guide and checklist suite.
Tools: Physical hardware, cable management diagrams, documentation templates
View on GitHub →Every lab in this portfolio is documented to show not just what I built, but how I thought through the process. Each entry includes the objective, tools used, steps completed, issues encountered, troubleshooting actions, screenshots, lessons learned, and next steps.
This approach prepares me to communicate technical work clearly — in tickets, runbooks, post-mortems, and interviews.