Self Learning
^ I have my own working Fortigate 60F firewall that I’ve configured to route and secure my family’s internal home network.
^ I have a salvaged Equus/Supermicro, that I’ve repurposed into a personal home server. I use Docker to create containers for web apps for things like Heimdall for a web-app dashboard, Mealie which pulls recipes from webpages. I use Cloudflare tunnels to make these web-apps accessible to the internet due to an inability to get a static IP from Spectrum as a home customer.
^ I maintain my own Microsoft 365 tenant that I’ve used to learn and configure services like Intune, SharePoint, and Entra ID/Azure AD.
^ I’ve enjoyed using ChatGPT to help me generate codes and scripts for tasks I wish to complete at home or at work. It helps me troubleshoot by reviewing error codes I feed it, which directs me in the right direction to accomplish my goal.
^ I earned my CompTIA A+ certification in June 2023. I’ve put quite a bit of time studying for Security+, Fortigate NSE, CCNA, and Azure AZ-104 but haven’t taken tests for them.
Formal Education
Lewis & Clark College and Kaskaskia College > As of the Fall of 2022, I completed 32 hours of networking and IT education, for which I understand I’m eligible to receive my Associates in Information Technology from Lewis & Clark (I haven’t yet applied for the degree). The majority of those classes were in networking and Cisco, for which I received my Cisco Engineering Certificate from Kaskaskia College. From both schools, I completed (i) 13 hours of college credit in Cisco networking, (ii) 6 hours in network security, (iii) 3 hours in wireless networks and Linux each, and (iv) 7 hours in PC servicing and operating systems. Overall I earned a 4.0 GPA.
University of Illinois at Springfield, IL > I earned my Master’s Degree in Political Studies in May 2004 having attended UIS on a part time basis while working full time for the Illinois House of Representatives. I completed that degree with a 4.0 GPA.
Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL > I earned my Bachelors Degree while majoring in Psychology with a 3.45 GPA. I determined in maybe my junior year at EIU that I was actually more interested in working in a role in government. Being too far along to change majors that would have put me beyond four years for my Bachelor’s, I completed my degree with a Psychology major knowing I had enough credits to qualify for the Master’s program at UIS.
Bill Gruen 