Qualifications
Find out more about Derek's Qualifications: Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities, some of my prior professional work experience, formal education, and expired professional certifications.
Click here to find out about my goals and objectives for this site.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
I have a strong understanding of modern IT systems and security-related technologies including cryptography, access control, networking and network security. I've performed many risk assessments, and designed several large IT systems. I'm familiar with cloud-first technologies, distributed systems, Docker Swarm for application container orchestration, streaming event processing pipelines using Kafka stack, cloud-init for server provisioning, LXD for system containers, and many more interesting open source projects. I'm proficient in English and Bash.
Career
Here are the professional titles I've held:
- Sr Engineer for Security Products for a major ISP
- Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Tester and Tools Developer
- Certification & Accreditation Lead
But right now, I'm just working on Sovereign Stack and associated websites.
Education
I have the following degrees and formal training:
- Masters of Science in Computer Science with IT Option, New Mexico Tech
- Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, New Mexico Tech
- Associate degree of Network Technology (Networking emphasis), San Juan College
- Associate of Network Technology (Internet emphasis), San Juan College
- Cisco Certification Networking Associate training, San Juan College
- Cisco Certified Networking Professional training, Mesa Community College
Expired Certifications
I currently do NOT hold any active certifications. Some certifications I've held in the past include:
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) ((ISC)2ID: 434238)
- Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) in Windows 2000
- Network+, A+, Linux+, Server+, i-Net+ (retired) and Security+ (CompTIA ID: COMP001000706141).
- GIAC Secure Software Programmer- .NET (GSSP-.NET) (Analyst Number: 339).
- Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA).
- Cisco Wireless LAN Support Specialist (CWLSS).
Additionally, I took and passed three-of-four required exams to pass the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) exam.