Personal | Career Journey
Journey & Timeline
From zero IT background midway through junior year to a documented homelab, CompTIA trifecta, CySA+, and SkillsUSA Florida 1st Place — in under two years.
The Full Timeline
Every step, in order — including the failed exams and the hard parts.
Started in IT Midway Through Junior Year
Enrolled at SouthTech Academy halfway through junior year with zero IT background. First exposure was CCST Networking. Failed it twice — kept going anyway.
IBM System x3750 — The Lab Starts
My mentor got me my first server — an IBM x3750 rackmount. No space in my room, so it lived behind a bookshelf near the router. Started experimenting with Pterodactyl, NGINX, and Minecraft hosting. First time actually seeing how services connect.
Synology NAS, SG300 Switch, OPNsense Optiplex
My mentor gave me a Synology NAS — first time managing real storage and backups. He and my dad helped build a two-post rack: IBM server at the bottom, NAS on the second shelf, SG300 switch on the third, and an Optiplex running OPNsense at the top with a KVM switch. First real rack.
All-In After Loss
After my grandmother passed, I put everything into IT. Passed CCST Networking on the third attempt — which I needed to qualify for SkillsUSA. Started the CompTIA track immediately after.
CompTIA Trifecta: A+, Network+, Security+
Studied with Professor Messer and YouTube. Passed A+ Core 1 and Core 2 in a single week, Network+ the week after, Security+ the week after that. Three industry certifications in three consecutive weeks.
Dell R610 & R410 — Two More Nodes
My mentor found two servers people were throwing out — a Dell R610 and R410. Added them to the Proxmox cluster alongside the IBM, forming a three-node setup.
SkillsUSA Florida Internetworking — 1st Place
Won first place in Internetworking at the SkillsUSA Florida State Competition — networking knowledge tested under pressure against peers from across the state. Qualified for SkillsUSA NLSC in Atlanta, GA.
CySA+ Passed
Added the Cybersecurity Analyst certification, completing the CompTIA CSAP stackable credential pathway on top of the trifecta.
CyberLaunch USF State Championship
Competed in Florida's largest state-sponsored high school CTF at the University of South Florida — hosted by Cyber Florida. Advanced from the November virtual qualifier to the in-person State Championship.
Switch Refresh + Enclosed 4-Post Rack
Upgraded to a Cisco SG300-20 core and Netgear GS728TP PoE access switch in the enclosed 4-post rack. The lab moved to a full Gigabit fabric with better VLAN control and PoE capacity for access devices.
Enterprise VLAN Segmentation — Flat to 10-VLAN Production
Redesigned the entire lab from a single flat network to a fully segmented 10-VLAN production design using role-based private subnets. Replaced legacy switches mid-migration, recovered Proxmox corosync quorum, migrated 30+ services to correct VLANs, rewrote DNS overrides, updated NPMplus backends, and deployed default-deny OPNsense firewall rules. The biggest infrastructure project to date.
OPNsense OIDC Bug Fix & DNS Migration
Discovered a PHP SimpleXML iterator bug in the open-source os-oidc-devel plugin that silently hid the Authentik SSO login button. Applied a rootless fix via FreeBSD package tooling and the configd socket — without touching the live config. Simultaneously migrated all OPNsense service configs from hardcoded IPs to DNS names for resilience.
SkillsUSA NLSC Nationals — Internetworking
Competing at SkillsUSA NLSC in Atlanta — the national championship with 6,500+ state champions from across the country. Actively studying CCNA (targeting June–July 2026) and PenTest+. Open to junior networking, SOC, NOC, MSP, and IT support roles.