Experience

Full chronological record — reverse chronological. Soft dates stay soft. Built as the long form behind LinkedIn for companies weighing fit.

1. Present

   AWS cloud transition — self-directed learning

   Moving toward remote CloudOps Engineer, Cloud Engineer, and Solutions Architect path roles — seeking the right company and team to grow with.

   • AWS Skill Builder — Technical Essentials Parts 1 and 2 completed
   • MFA enabled on the root account and on the PowerUser (normal login)
   • Next: hands-on projects (planned: host this site on AWS, e.g. S3 + CloudFront) and associate-level cert study
2. Present

   101 Computer Services — sole proprietorship

   Trade name for self-directed practice and this professional site — the public repository of experience. Practical web delivery, IT hygiene, and cloud orientation.

   Framed as practice and ownership — not as a multi-client agency claim.

3. 2024 – ongoing

   SHARI node 655760 — AllStar / Asterisk

   Built a kit SHARI node (655760) and keep it connected 24/7 to the East Coast Reflector — a very busy node on AllStar. Configuring Asterisk for this path was a stretch: new work outside my prior knowledge base, tying radio, VoIP, and always-on service together.

4. 2023 – ongoing

   Amateur radio — Technician & General · KQ4GKO

   In 2023 I studied for and took the Amateur Radio Technician and General license tests in the same sitting. Callsign KQ4GKO. Practice around VoIP, APRS, Winlink, and computer/network integration. Local club involvement. Follow-on: SHARI/AllStar node project (2024). License is on my LinkedIn profile. Personal credential — not employment.

5. Since 2009 · ongoing

   Self-employed handyman — owner / operator

   Self-employed handyman since 2009: troubleshooting, repairs, and installations. Show up, finish, communicate clearly.

   Clients know me as a computer power user. They call when the internet goes out or similar problems appear. I have installed Starlink twice as part of handyman work — not as a separate specialty line. Network fixes are real but uncounted. One client has ongoing printer, computer, and network trouble and reaches out about once a week.

   Pays the bills while I pursue AWS employment. Operational discipline and practical IT help — not a cloud job title.

6. ~35 years · off and on

   Construction

   Construction work spanning roughly 35 years, off and on — not one continuous employer, but long field experience in the trades. Physical-world troubleshooting, safety habits, and finishing work under real constraints.

7. Long-running practice

   Linux systems administration & hosting

   Strong Linux systems work — still primarily Debian, and Ubuntu sometimes. Building PCs, Raspberry Pi, and servers. Over the years I have tried many distributions.

   • Slackware — lasting affinity; stayed true to its Unix roots
   • Gentoo — long interest; ran it on a Pentium single-core 64-bit laptop (source builds meant updates took about three weeks on that machine)
   • Apache, Nginx, cPanel, email — real exposure over the years
   • Asterisk — stretch learning in 2024 via SHARI/AllStar node config
   • Private server in Switzerland — managed over SSH for a period
8. Long-running practice

   Networking — field and fundamentals

   Ethernet and structured cabling in the field. Starlink installs twice. Day-to-day network and internet troubleshooting for handyman clients as they come up. Anchored by CompTIA Network+ (May 2009).

9. Multi-year

   Virtualization & hypervisors

   • VirtualBox — created and configured VMs on Ubuntu and Debian over the years when a guest was useful.
   • Qubes OS (~2022–2023) — laptop dual-booted Qubes OS and Windows 11 for about a year; Xen-based compartmentalization; the deeper daily virtualization experience.
10. ~2 years

    AI study and practical use

    Focused study and applied practice: prompt engineering, context engineering, and Stanford STORM workflows. Daily tooling includes Grok, modern agent-assisted editing, and PowerShell workflows.

    Applied AI literacy for real work — not a production ML engineering claim.

11. May 2009

    CompTIA Network+

    Passed the CompTIA Network+ exam in May 2009. Networking fundamentals — connectivity, troubleshooting posture, and network literacy that transfers into cloud-adjacent roles. The certificate is on my LinkedIn profile.

12. Late 1990s – present

    Systems generalist — computers & infrastructure

    Long-running depth across servers, desktops, Linux, Windows, cable plant, and networks. Hardware and software generalist work alongside the trades path — continuous practice more than a single corporate title track. Linux roots below.

13. Late 1990s → early 2000s

    Red Hat 5 → 7.1 → 7.2, then an “M” Linux

    A friend, Mitch, mentioned a new OS that looked interesting but he had no time to dig in — would I take a look? That was Red Hat 5 in the late 1990s, and that was my introduction to Linux. I later upgraded to Red Hat 7.1, then 7.2 (Red Hat Linux 7.2 era: about 2001).

    After that, Red Hat’s free consumer line gave way to a more commercial / enterprise model (RHEL from about 2002; the old free Red Hat Linux line ended around 2003 as Fedora became the community path). I switched to another Linux whose name began with M and used it for a few years — it may have been Mandrake, though the name is not certain. I then found Debian, and later Ubuntu. I still work with Debian day to day and Ubuntu sometimes; many other distros along the way (including a deep appreciation for Slackware’s Unix character and hard lessons on Gentoo).

14. Early 1990s

    First computers — Commodore 64, Atari, Apple IIe

    First hands-on computers in the early 1990s: a Commodore 64 and an Atari (model not remembered; storage was cassette tape). I probably got the C64 when someone upgraded to a Commodore 128. Later in that stretch, old Apple IIe machines. Curiosity and tinkering long before formal IT titles.

15. 1988

    Basic Electricity and Electronics (BE/E)

    Completed the Basic Electricity and Electronics (BE/E) course in 1988 — my first formal exposure to electronics. Foundational electricity and electronics training that started the technical path.

Growing the record

This site is the long form of my experience. New projects, certs, and refined dates land here first.