Derek Garland  ·  IT Systems & Operations

The curiosity doesn't clock out.

I administer a 1,700 device national POS program across 1,100+ seasonal locations and support 500+ users across 90+ retail locations, then go home and maintain a 4-node Proxmox cluster with its own SIEM, single sign-on, and monitoring. Systems, networking, and security operations, held to the same standard whether it is production or my own rack.

Open to systems, network, and security operations roles A+ · Network+ · Security+ B.S. IT · Youngstown State University
Homelab Status Operational
Proxmox Cluster
4 nodes · Ceph · HEALTH_OK
Online
Wazuh SIEM
9 agents · OPNsense syslog
Online
Authentik SSO
OIDC · 5 providers
Online
Grafana · Prometheus
Node exporter · all nodes
Online
Cloudflare Tunnel
NPM · Let's Encrypt · 6 routes
Online
PBS · Synology NAS
Daily backups · keep-last=3
Online
Immich
LXC · photo sync active
Online
Snapshot · June 20267 services
Experience

Hired as support.
Running IT operations.

IT Support Specialist
Youngstown, OH · Open to Remote
01 / Multi-Site IT
500+

Users across 90+
retail locations.

Tier 1 and 2 support by phone, ticket, and deskside, plus hands-on field deployments: full network racks, firewalls, switching, POS, and cabling across 13 new store builds and 39 network upgrades nationwide.
Active DirectoryWindows ServerPhysical InfraMulti-site
02 / MDM Fleet Operations
1,700+

Devices under one
accountable owner.

Primary IT administrator of a national, seasonal mobile POS program: roughly 1,700 iPad minis and Square hardware across 1,100+ locations per main season. JAMF MDM, Apple Business Manager, Advantix cellular, and 19 Square for Retail accounts, administered start to finish.
JAMF MDMApple ConfiguratorSquare POSAdvantix
03 / Homelab
4

Node Proxmox cluster,
self-built.

A production-grade cluster with Ceph storage, Wazuh SIEM, Authentik single sign-on, Grafana monitoring, and verified nightly backups. Enterprise tooling, configured and maintained on personal hardware.
ProxmoxCephWazuhAuthentik
Home Network Topology

Edge to service,
mapped in full.

Physical + logical topology
Self-managed · Always on

From the ISP edge to every running service: each physical device, managed switch, VLAN boundary, and service path. Designed, deployed, and monitored without a team behind it.

WAN / internet: active flow inbound through firewall
Lab VLAN path: isolated homelab network segment
Cluster fabric: all 4 Proxmox nodes as equal peers
Persistent mount: NFSv3 backup path to Synology, always active
Standard ethernet: ordinary wired connections
Planned run: cabled but not yet active
Home network topology: ISP modem to OPNsense firewall, through Dell and Luxul managed switches, down to four Proxmox nodes, a Synology NAS, and personal devices on a separate VLAN. INTERNET EDGE FIREWALL CORE SWITCH DISTRIBUTION SERVICES VLAN · LAB SEGMENT ISP Modem Edge · WAN uplink internet OPNsense Baremetal firewall · VLAN · syslog firewall Dell PowerConnect 2824 Core managed switch · 24-port core switch Access Point Wireless · personal devices wireless Luxul XMS-2624P Lab switch · 26-port · PoE lab switch Nvidia Shield Pro Media · wall port endpoint Run 3 Not yet connected future PVE Node 1 Proxmox VE 9.1 PVE Node 2 Proxmox VE 9.1 PVE Node 3 Proxmox VE 9.1 PVE Node 4 Ceph storage Synology NAS PBS target · NFSv3 PC 1 Personal PC 2 Personal
Service Inventory

What's running
in the rack.

All services self-managed
No cloud dependencies
ServiceCategoryStackStatus
Proxmox ClusterHypervisorPVE 9.1Ceph4 nodesOnline
Wazuh SIEMSecurity4.11.29 agentsOPNsenseOnline
Authentik SSOIdentityOIDCDocker5 providersOnline
Grafana · PrometheusMonitoringNode exporterAll nodesOnline
NPM · Cloudflare TunnelIngressLet's Encrypt6 routesOnline
PBS · SynologyBackupDailyNFSv3All VMs+CTsOnline
AdGuard HomeDNSLXCNetwork-wideOnline
OPNsenseFirewallBaremetalVLANSyslog→WazuhOnline
Cluster Nodes
4
Proxmox VE 9.1 · Ceph distributed storage · HA-ready
SIEM Agents
9
Wazuh 4.11.2 · OPNsense syslog · SOC default view
SSO Providers
5
Authentik OIDC · Homarr, Grafana, AdGuard, NPM, Proxmox
Credentials

The CompTIA trifecta,
plus the degree.

CompTIA A+ · Network+ · Security+
B.S. IT · Youngstown State

CompTIA A+

CompTIA · Certified

CompTIA Network+

CompTIA · Certified

CompTIA Security+

CompTIA · Certified

B.S. Information Technology

Youngstown State University
Under the Hood

Real commands,
real cluster.

A snapshot of the cluster doing its job. Every command here is one I actually run, and every service behind it is deployed, monitored, and maintained, not theoretical.

Full Lab Breakdown
derek@node1 ~
Contact

Let's talk about
the next role.

Youngstown, OH
Open to Remote
Ready for the role that puts all of it to work.

A+, Network+, and Security+, a B.S. in Information Technology, a 1,700 device program under active management, and a production homelab that runs around the clock. The capability is here. I am looking for the team that will use it.