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Gershom James
Cloud • Cybersecurity • Builder • Entrepreneur
Ibuild.
About
A builder, not a résumé.
I'm Gershom. I care about how things work, how they break, and how to make them better. Here's the short version.
Who I Am
An IT professional and systems builder.
I'm Gershom, an IT professional with 7+ years of hands-on technical experience across systems, networking, and security. I'm happiest when I'm troubleshooting something gnarly, hardening a system, or building something that didn't exist yesterday.
My Mission
Use technology to make things work better.
My Passions
Where curiosity meets craft.
What pulls me forward
Technology
Cybersecurity
Networking
Linux
Cloud & Virtualization
Entrepreneurship
Photography
Nature
Christian Faith
Learning
Problem Solving
Off-grid Living
Principles
How I work.
The instincts behind the work. How I approach a problem long before I touch a keyboard.
Systems Thinking
I don't see a website, I see hosting, DNS, the app, plugins, security, and content. I find the layer that's actually broken and fix that.
Bias for Ownership
I don't wait for someone else to fix it. I become the person who can, or I route around the problem until it's solved.
Finish What I Start
Open loops bug me. If something's unfinished, it stays on my mind until it's done right, zero-downtime migrations included.
Pattern Recognition
Years in security trained my eye for anomalies. I spot the pattern in a network, a system, or a problem before it becomes an incident.
Lead by Doing
I absorb the chaos so the people around me don't have to. Leadership is competence and service, not a title.
Learn on the Fly
Never migrated email? I learned it overnight. Never built a robot? Built one from loose parts with no manual. The unknown is where the fun is.
Projects
Things I've built.
A selection of work, from security tooling to self-hosted infrastructure. Featured first.
Experience
Where I've put it to work.
The hands-on chapters. Building real infrastructure and solving real problems.
Several years administering production networks end to end: designing and maintaining LAN/WAN infrastructure, optimizing Wi-Fi reliability, configuring DHCP, DNS, and VPNs for secure remote access, deploying monitoring and alerting to cut troubleshooting time, and hardening everything from the firewall inward.2022 to Present
The Arsenal
Everything in the kit.
The full toolset. 71+ technologies across systems, networks, security, and code. The things I actually reach for.
Operating Systems
11Arch LinuxDebianUbuntuKaliParrot OSFedoraWindows XP–11Windows ServermacOSAndroidiOS
Networking
12LAN / WANWi-FiTCP/IPDNSDHCPSSL/TLSVLANsCisco MerakiWireGuardOutline VPNSubnettingRouting & SwitchingSpine-and-Leaf TopologyToR Uplink ProvisioningCross-Connect MatricesLink Speed NegotiationDead Link RemediationTrunk VLAN Re-AssignmentStructured Cable Path PlanningSingle-Mode Fiber (SMF)Multi-Mode Fiber (MMF)MPO/MTP ConnectorsSFP+ / QSFP28 / QSFP-DDOTDR Testing & ValidationLight Source & Power MetersVisual Fault Locator (VFL)End-Face InspectionCat6a / Cat7 Copper STPCable Tray & Basket SystemsBend-Radius ManagementPatch Panel Compliance
Cybersecurity
12NmapWiresharkBurp SuiteMetasploitMaltegoBeEFUFWiptablesHardeningMalware RemovalOSINTRecon
Virtualization & Cloud
10VirtualBoxVMwareHyper-VKVMProxmoxGNOME BoxesDockerMicrosoft 365 AdminCloudflareBackup & RecoveryPXE Boot / ZTPIPMI / iLO / iDRAC / BMCOut-of-Band Management
Programming & Web
14PythonBashCSQLHTML / CSS / JSFlaskDjangoLAMPWordPressJoomlaGitVS CodePyCharmNeovim
AI & Emerging Tech
6OllamaLM StudioStable DiffusionComputer VisionOpenCVPrompt Engineering
Support & Remote
6TeamViewerAnyDeskRDPImaging & DeploymentHardware RepairTicketingRack Layout EngineeringAnchor Point VerificationServer Rack ElevationChassis Component PopulationPDU Balancing & ManagementPOST Code DiagnosticsRAID (HDD / SSD / NVMe)Component Break-Fix IsolationEHS Data Center ComplianceESD Prevention & GroundingQA Audit WorkflowsDeployment DocumentationAsset Inventory & Serial TrackingRack Receiving & LogisticsTicketing & Queue ManagementGlobal Cluster Capacity DropsRapid-Response DeploymentsHardware-Level Health Validation
Skills
Tools of the trade.
No progress bars. They never told the truth anyway. Hover any card to see what it actually means.
Operating Systems
Linux
Arch, Ubuntu, Parrot, Kali, Debian. My daily driver across the board.
Hover to readWindows
XP through 11: install, config, imaging, recovery, updates.
Hover to readmacOS, Android & iOS
10.8–14 plus mobile; setup, troubleshooting, and support.
Hover to readNetworking
LAN / WAN / Wi-Fi
Infrastructure design, optimization, and connectivity troubleshooting.
Hover to readTCP/IP · DNS · DHCP
Core protocols, addressing, and name resolution.
Hover to readVPNs & Cisco Meraki
WireGuard, Outline, SSL/TLS; Meraki monitoring & alerting.
Hover to readCybersecurity
Threat Detection
Malware removal and device/account/network hardening.
Hover to readOffensive Tooling
Nmap, Wireshark, Burp Suite, Metasploit, Maltego, BeEF.
Hover to readHardening & Firewalls
UFW, secure access, and defense-in-depth practices.
Hover to readCloud & Virtualization
Virtualization
VirtualBox, VMware, Hyper-V, KVM, GNOME Boxes.
Hover to readMicrosoft 365 Admin
Account provisioning, profiles, and security policies.
Hover to readBackup & Recovery
Cloud storage troubleshooting, backups, and restores.
Hover to readProgramming & Web
Languages
Python, Bash, C, HTML/CSS/JS, SQL.
Hover to readFrameworks & Stacks
Flask, Django, LAMP, WordPress, Joomla.
Hover to readTooling
Git, VS Code, PyCharm.
Hover to readSupport & Operations
Remote Support
TeamViewer, AnyDesk, RDP for fast, friendly fixes.
Hover to readIT Procedures
Documentation, safety, change management, ticketing workflows.
Hover to readCustomer Service
Translating chaos into calm for real people.
Hover to readThe Lab
Where I experiment.
This is the workshop, the place where curiosity becomes capability. Every card is a rabbit hole I've gone down.
AI
Ollama, LM Studio, Stable Diffusion.
Networking
VLANs, mesh, deep packet curiosity.
Cybersecurity
Attack, defend, understand.
Linux
Ricing, kernels, the command line.
Cloud
M365, backup, and recovery.
Home Lab
Bare metal that does real work.
Automation
If I do it twice, I script it.
Virtualization
VMware, KVM, Hyper-V, VirtualBox.
Scripts
Sharp little tools.
Research
Always reading the source.
Terminal Tools
TUI everything.
Reverse Engineering
Taking things apart.
Containers
Docker & Compose, reproducible stacks.
OSINT
Signals in the open.
$ psst, try typing in the terminal below
Terminal
Talk to the machine.
A real shell, kind of. Try help, about, projects, whoami, or ascii.
guest@gershomjames: ~
gershomOS 1.0, type 'help' to begin.
GitHub
Always committing.
A snapshot of the work that lives in public: repositories, languages, and the green squares that keep me honest.
30+
Repositories
1.2k
Contributions
120
Stars Earned
8
Languages
Contribution activity
LessMore
Languages
- Python42%
- Shell22%
- C14%
- JavaScript13%
- Other9%
Current Focus
What's on the bench right now.
A living snapshot of what I'm learning, building, reading, and chasing.
Currently Learning
CompTIA Network+
Currently Building
Home lab & OrionSec Toolkit
Reading
The Phoenix Project
Watching
NetworkChuck & Low Level
Listening To
Darknet Diaries
Languages
English & Tamil
Certifications
CompTIA A+
Certified · Sept 2024
CompTIA Network+
In Progress
Education & Coursework
High School Homeschool Diploma
May 2022
AP Computer Science Principles
Harvard
Understanding Technology
Harvard
Introduction to Computer Science
Harvard
Introduction to Python Programming
MIT
Reading
The bookshelf.
What's open on my desk, what shaped how I think, and what's next in the queue.
The Phoenix Project
Gene Kim
The Pragmatic Programmer
Hunt & Thomas
The Cuckoo's Egg
Cliff Stoll
Clean Code
Robert C. Martin
Sandworm
Andy Greenberg
The Holy Bible (KJV)
KJV
Designing Data-Intensive Apps
Martin Kleppmann
Atomic Habits
James Clear
Writing
Thinking out loud.
Notes on infrastructure, security, the command line, and building things that last.
Infrastructure 6 min
Why I Self-Host (Almost) Everything
Owning your stack is the most underrated form of digital freedom. Here's how I think about it.
#Self-hosting#Linux#Privacy
Read Linux 4 min
The Quiet Discipline of the Command Line
The terminal rewards patience and punishes hand-waving. That's exactly why I love it.
#Linux#Productivity
Read Security 5 min
Security Is a Mindset, Not a Checklist
Tools change. The instinct to ask 'how would this break?' is forever.
#Cybersecurity#Mindset
Read Reflections 5 min
Faith, Focus, and Building Well
On craftsmanship as a form of integrity, and why how you build matters as much as what you build.
#Faith#Craft
Read Photography
Through the lens.
When I step away from the keyboard, I'm usually chasing light, nature, machines, architecture, and the quiet of night.
Timeline
The road so far.
A few waypoints on the way from curious kid to systems builder, and where I'm headed next.
2014
First Lines of Code
Wrote my first scripts and got hooked on the feeling of making a machine obey.
2016
Built My First Servers
Repurposed old hardware into a home server. Learned what 'it works on my machine' really costs.
2018
Fell for Linux
Switched daily driver to Linux. Lived in the terminal across Arch, Debian, Kali, and Parrot.
2022
Homeschool Diploma
Graduated high school having already completed CS coursework through Harvard and MIT.
2024
CompTIA A+ Certified
Formalized the fundamentals: hardware, OS, networking, security, and operational procedures.
Now
Always Building
Network & systems admin work, a growing home lab, security tooling, and Network+ in progress.
Next
Future Goals
CompTIA Network+, deeper cloud security, a self-hosted everything stack, and a company of my own.
Faith
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”, Proverbs 3:5
My faith isn’t a section on a website, it’s the foundation under everything I build. It shapes how I treat people, how I do my work, and why I keep learning. These are the values I try to carry into every line of code and every conversation.
Integrity
Service
Humility
Purpose
Faith
Learning
Truth
Fun Facts
The little details.
The opinionated stuff. Yes, some of these will start arguments.
Operating System
Arch, btw
Keyboard
Mechanical, tactile, 75%
Language
Python
Shell
zsh + tmux
Coffee
Black. Always.
Bible Verse
Proverbs 3:5-6
Podcast
Darknet Diaries
Linux Distro
Arch / Debian
Editor
Neovim
Contact
Let's build something.
Got a problem worth solving, a project in mind, or just want to talk shop? My inbox is open.