Kanawha County, WV homeowner
Hands-on Technology Operations Professional
Infrastructure, network operations, Windows domains, Linux administration, traveling field IT, Data Center support, application support, and business systems. Seeking a full-time salaried employee role with benefits, long-term ownership, and full professional focus; PAFDS Technologies is maintained as side work and will not interrupt full-time employment.
Career pattern
Profile
I am a hands-on technology professional who came up through real installs, messy sites, family-business problems, and production environments instead of a straight classroom path. The pattern started early: my parents' business had daisy-chained five-port switches, my own connection was bad enough to affect online games, and I wanted proof instead of guesses. I bought used Cisco switches and routers, learned to validate whether the problem was the ISP, wiring, switching, or my own setup, and kept building from there. A lot of the professional work has been travel-based: flying to Arby's sites for end-to-end POS refreshes, moving between AEP branch offices, Data Centers, and power stations, and working as a roaming field tech where shared resources, dispatch notes, status tracking, and clean closeout mattered. Today I am strongest where networking, Windows domains, Linux administration, field work, application support, and operational data all meet. I am looking for a full-time technical role where I can stay close to infrastructure, operations, and practical problem solving.
What I Bring
Traveling field work across payment devices, kiosks, POS, workstation refreshes, public-safety site support, VoIP, cabling, rack cleanup, retail systems, lift/forklift work, small equipment operation, onsite validation, and customer-site closeout.
TCS client work for AEP and Eli Lilly, EOS / Meta Data Center work, server receiving/buildout, physical maintenance, monthly patching, release support, ticket discipline, documentation, validation, and handoffs.
SMKK, Doors2Go, reporting, Microsoft 365 workflows, documents, practical automation, and systems that fit how people actually work.
Home rack, Cisco switching/routing, NetApp storage, Dell servers, VMware, Linux/Windows server builds, backups, monitoring, and recovery practice.
Proof
Independent contractor
Worked as an independent contractor before PAFDS Technologies. The proof screenshot shows rating dates and work-order references; customer contact, address, pay, and private message details are not part of the public page.
Open the Field Nation proof screenshot
Field Nation is a contractor platform where someone with platform access could sign in and view provider history. My Field Nation account has been inactive since I moved into PAFDS Technologies. There is no public live-data pull available to this site right now; if Field Nation exposes a safe export, share link, or public profile path later, I would use it instead of a screenshot.
Buffalo High School
A deliberately kept early proof point: Buffalo had a technology environment that caught my attention, and I was the student who could get into the school camera system. I learned the important part the hard way: technical ability only becomes professional security work when it is authorized, documented, and responsible.
Field work
Worked outside and inside live sites installing and servicing ATM machines, drive-thru ordering and display systems, digital signage, POS hardware, and data cabling through conduit.
Winfield High School
Served as the student technology lead for a Business Management class company that sold apparel, including morning-announcement commercials and the Gang Green music video used as campaign advertising.
Home infrastructure
Built and operated a real rack with enterprise storage, Dell servers, Cisco switching, patching, and KVM access before the work shifted cloud-based in 2025.
Independent Contractor Projects
The independent-contractor period was not a side quest away from IT. It was hands-on technology work across real customer sites: travel, fast-food tracking-system installs, staging, wireless, endpoints, POS, field coordination, onsite validation, and closeout. That work built the base that later became PAFDS Technologies.
Supported workstation refresh work at an Ohio refrigeration and vaccine-related facility, focused on endpoint swaps, staging, user-ready validation, and clean closeout in a controlled production environment.
Worked on a Charleston-area wireless access point deployment in a controlled military environment, including AP placement and installation work for coverage supporting airfield operations.
Handled laptop deployments for linemen and workstation refresh work across branch-office environments, where travel, scheduling, user readiness, and dependable handoff mattered.
Worked in industrial shops, warehouses, and industrial-park environments around Nitro and Charleston, West Virginia, with most visits focused on Zebra printers, WAP work, structured cabling, workstation refreshes, and practical onsite validation.
Ran into jobs where one person was not enough, recruited friends as assistants, and learned through mixed results how important clear scope, reliability, documentation, and role fit are when bringing people into onsite work.
Early fast-food tracking-system installations led into Arby's work. Strong Arby's performance led to Zolarix, and Zolarix created more exposure to project leads, decision-makers, and repeated end-to-end POS refresh work across the U.S.
Home Lab
This rack was not decoration or a weekend toy. It carried home and Keith's Kitchens infrastructure for years, and it was used every day until operations moved cloud-based in 2025. Storage, switching, server hardware, remote access, cable layout, power, noise, heat, failures, rebuilds, and maintenance all had real consequences.
Top-to-bottom rack inventory:
The UCS blades were not built around local server disks. Boot and flash storage were served from TrueNAS, while larger high-speed shared storage lived on the NetApp SAN.
Working NetApp SAN gear is not normal homelab equipment because firmware, vendor licensing, support access, power, noise, and setup friction stop a lot of home labbers. The difference was legitimate professional IT access to vendor resources used for real support work, plus the patience to handle the firmware, licensing, and compatibility details. I was able to responsibly reuse decommissioned storage from a colo Data Center, keep it useful, and learn from equipment that otherwise could have become e-waste.
VMware/vSphere and vCenter, virtualization hosts, Linux and Windows server builds, VLANs, routing, firewall rules, DNS/DHCP, storage layout, SMB/NFS/iSCSI concepts, backups, restores, monitoring, and remote administration. One Dell PowerEdge server started as a general ESXi host before it was later repurposed as the all-flash TrueNAS storage controller when the NetApp equipment arrived.
Keith's Kitchens production infrastructure and my family's home IT environment, not just private experiments. Instead of relying on a standard ISP-provided SOHO modem/router combination box, the rack carried real routing, switching, storage, file services, internal tools, documentation workflows, backups, monitoring, and proof-of-concept environments before those operations shifted cloud-based in 2025.
It gave me repetition with real production constraints: storage decisions, network segmentation, service uptime, physical access, hardware failure, messy incidents, rebuilds, and clean handoffs. One power loss on a rack without battery backup killed vCenter and forced a rebuild, which turned VMware from a lab topic into a real lesson in shutdown order, backups, recovery planning, and documenting how to get management services back. Almost everything that could happen around a small infrastructure stack happened there.
Experience
Continuous Keith's Kitchens technology support since 2016; after the Meta assignment ended in Mar 2025, it became the current day-to-day technology operations focus. The current work includes shop systems, office workflows, SMKK, Doors2Go, user support, equipment change, and practical reporting.
Maintained PAFDS Technologies as side work outside full-time employment for business IT, field support, infrastructure, automation, documentation, and practical workflow projects. It supports professional continuity and small-business work, but it will not interrupt a full-time employee role.
Worked in high-quality Data Center facilities on rack/stack, cabling, labeling, hardware checks, break/fix, RMAs, ticket updates, ETAs, and handoffs. I respected the standards and quality of the facilities, but the repetition made me want to return to work where I could improve a whole business system instead of only repeat a narrow Data Center lane.
Moved into application support in a TCS-supported Eli Lilly environment, where the work shifted from mostly infrastructure to software deployment, Veeva CRM issues, release support, user validation, compliance-sensitive documentation, and closer coordination with developers around new features and fixes.
AEP is where I got to show the infrastructure side of my skill set at a larger scale: receiving servers, building them, coordinating with the network environment to get them online, handling physical server work, supporting monthly patching, SSL renewals, physical and virtual systems, PowerShell checks, and isolated Active Directory domains in remote areas. The work involved travel to branch offices, Data Centers, and power stations of different types, including significant time around the Roanoke, Virginia disaster-recovery Data Center environment, where redundant infrastructure preserved copies of critical IT systems and made resiliency more than an abstract concept. Growing up in Winfield, Putnam County, in the shadow of John Amos made the work personally meaningful. The work included power-station context such as black-start/dark-start environments around Clinch River in Virginia and visits to hydro facilities such as Rocky Mountain, and it built a strong interest in power operations, environmental impact, grid demand, electric vehicles, and Data Center power needs. My interest in the TCS and Jaguar TCS Racing Formula E connection also helped lead to Jaguar-related project exposure.
Managed Meraki networks, 3CX phone administration, Microsoft 365 tenant/domain support, Barracuda appliances, vendor coordination, and alert response. Also supported law-enforcement laptop deployment work, including a Portsmouth Police Department laptop rollout while at NIS.
Worked at MRC Global under an HCL Technologies contract engagement before joining Network Innovation Solutions, adding another enterprise customer environment to the path between field work, support operations, Data Center support, and larger-company IT standards.
Early fast-food tracking-system and POS installation work led into Arby's projects, Arby's led to Zolarix, and Zolarix expanded the work into national end-to-end POS refreshes with more exposure to project leads and decision-makers. Flew across the U.S. for retail-site installs including racks, switches, firewalls, wiring, POS equipment, cable management, cutover support, onsite validation, and closeout.
Trained on ATM installation and maintenance, Walmart self-checkout installation and maintenance, and Walmart network infrastructure support. The work fit the roaming-tech model: coordinating with other technicians, shared resources, dispatch updates, site status, and closeout details so the larger rollout stayed visible.
Worked as a roaming field tech on payment devices in gas stations and other public-facing systems, including fast-food kiosk environments. The work required coordinating with other technicians, tracking who was doing what, sharing resources, updating status, and keeping distributed field work organized.
Completed independent-contractor work mostly through Field Nation, with additional work through Upwork and WorkMarket. Took on fast-food tracking-system installations, office workstation upgrades, nurse cart deployments, WAP deployments, hospice-environment support, COVID-era workstation refreshes, public-safety site support, AEP branch-office laptop and workstation deployments, Thermo Fisher workstation refresh work, U.S. Army Charleston-area WAP deployment work, industrial-shop and warehouse support around Nitro and Charleston industrial parks, and hands-on IT deployment labor across a wide variety of company environments. Sometimes hired trusted friends as assistants for larger onsite jobs while staying accountable for the work, which taught practical lessons about scope, reliability, documentation, and knowing exactly why someone is being brought onto a job. Also participated in Thomas Hospital IT infrastructure upgrades before PAFDS Technologies.
Assisted customers with laptop and printer purchases across Best Buy and Office Depot retail locations, with a focus on HP hardware, printer setup needs, and HP Instant Ink conversations.
Started around Keith's Kitchens operations and a family-business network that needed practical cleanup: consumer switches chained together, unreliable connectivity, and no clear way to prove where problems started. That became the first version of the work I still do now: clean up the environment, validate the path, and make technology dependable for the business using it.
Case Study
SMKK is a private Keith's Kitchens workflow platform I helped build and support. It connects the work that happens in the office, shop, and field: leads, quotes, orders, receiving, shop/CNC coordination, scheduling, installs, closeout, documents, and reporting. It is the practical version of what I kept seeing across field work and enterprise support: if the data is captured cleanly while the work happens, the business can see problems earlier and recover faster.
Lead capture, no-order tracking, quote flow, active jobs, ordering, receiving, shop/CNC coordination, scheduling, install, closeout, DocumentAI, and reporting.
ASP.NET Core, C#, Razor Pages, MongoDB-backed workflows, Azure Blob storage, Microsoft Identity, Microsoft 365 paths, deployment scripts, TLS, and health reports.
Make work visible, keep users in their task flow, reduce lost details, improve reporting, and turn blockers into tracked follow-up instead of loose conversation.
Hands-on troubleshooting, proof-backed changes, user-readable notes, no fake action claims, careful privacy boundaries, and practical rollout discipline.
Business Growth
Doors2Go matters because it was not just a website or a side task. It grew from Keith's Kitchens shop knowledge into a business channel by connecting real production experience, customer questions, documentation, product understanding, and practical digital workflows. That is the startup work I care about: take something the shop already knows how to do, make it understandable to customers, and give the business a cleaner way to repeat it.
Helped move Doors2Go from a shop resource into something that could support real customer interest, quoting conversations, product clarity, and repeatable sales/support workflow.
Connected what was happening in the Keith's Kitchens shop with the way customers understand doors, options, lead times, expectations, and what information needs to be collected up front.
Worked on the practical bridge between photos, notes, customer needs, business process, and digital systems so Doors2Go could become clearer and easier to operate.
Project Highlights
Worked on wireless access point deployment in a controlled military site environment, including AP installation work supporting airfield coverage.
Handled laptop deployments to linemen and workstation refreshes across AEP branch-office environments before later TCS-supported AEP infrastructure operations work.
Worked in industrial shops, warehouses, and industrial-park environments around Nitro and Charleston, West Virginia. Most of that work centered on Zebra printers, WAP deployments, structured cabling, workstation refreshes, and practical onsite validation.
Started post-high-school field work in 2018 as a roaming field tech with break/fix on gas-station payment devices, public-facing fast-food kiosk systems, and fast-food tracking-system installations.
Trained on ATM installation and maintenance, Walmart self-checkout systems, and Walmart network infrastructure support, with distributed field coordination across technicians, parts, dispatch notes, and closeout status.
Fast-food tracking-system installations led into Arby's work, Arby's led to Zolarix, and Zolarix led to broader rollout opportunities with project leads and decision-makers. Flew to Arby's sites across the U.S. for end-to-end POS refresh work where the job was not just plugging in hardware; it was staging, cutover timing, network readiness, onsite validation, status communication, and leaving the store operational.
Helped with COVID-era workstation refresh work at an Ohio refrigeration and vaccine-related facility.
Handled hands-on IT field labor across many company environments: workstation swaps, nurse cart deployments, WAP deployments, monitor and printer staging, desktop setup, cable cleanup, user-ready validation, and practical closeout, including COVID-era refresh work.
I like working in law-enforcement and public-safety environments because the work has to be practical, respectful, and dependable. Experience includes laptop and workstation refresh work for police-station environments, light IT work at the West Virginia State Police building in Winfield as an independent contractor, and a Portsmouth Police Department laptop deployment while at Network Innovation Solutions.
Operated scissor lifts, boom lifts, man lifts, forklifts, trenching equipment, and a small excavator when field work required practical access, placement, or physical site execution.
Completed a VoIP-focused onsite visit with network cleanup and practical conference-room support, including table cable-routing work as extra cleanup around the main phone install.
Bought used Cisco switches and routers, built school-age network and Wi-Fi antenna projects, and learned to test the network path instead of assuming the connection problem was somewhere else.
Completed independent onsite IT dispatch work before PAFDS Technologies, mostly through Field Nation and also through Upwork and WorkMarket. For larger jobs, brought trusted friends as assistants when extra hands were needed and learned through varied results what works and what does not: clear task ownership, reliability, documentation, communication, and matching people to the job.
Between independent contract jobs and years around Keith's Kitchens, learned to think about hiring in practical terms: know why the person is there, what specific work they need to own, what proof or documentation is expected, and how the role supports the operation. PAFDS Technologies is separate from that earlier independent-contractor period, with more formal systems and documents in place.
Helped on healthcare-site IT infrastructure upgrade projects as an independent contractor before PAFDS Technologies.
Worked through Tata Consultancy Services on AEP infrastructure operations and Eli Lilly application support. A Jaguar TCS Racing Formula E driver profile image during the AEP work became a small internal TCS culture signal and helped lead to Jaguar-related project exposure.
Worked around a live shop environment where CNC, sanding, paint, prime equipment, air requirements, pneumatic systems, and machinery maintenance were part of the business changing over time. That context shaped how I think about technology supporting real production work and gave me practical PLC and pneumatic-system familiarity.
Photo Proof
For a faster visual review, the expanded photo proof page shows the work images with plain captions, grouped rack/server proof, and category shortcuts, separate from the full resume flow.
Core Skills
Cisco IOS switching and routing fundamentals, VLAN/L2/L3 troubleshooting, DNS, DHCP, VPN, SNMP, Meraki, Cisco wireless controllers, Nexus/ASA exposure, Palo Alto exposure, Cisco ACI collaboration, and the habit of proving whether the issue is ISP, cabling, switching, routing, DNS, or endpoint.
Windows Server, Active Directory, GPO, DNS/DHCP, domain-joined endpoints, file/share access, Office deployment support, user support, and practical troubleshooting across isolated or business-critical Windows environments.
Debian-style Linux is my preferred admin environment, especially apt-based systems, SSH, logs, shell workflows, hosting, systemd services, containers, scripting, and low-friction troubleshooting. On laptops, it is hard to beat a clean Linux desktop; on desktops and lab systems, I am open to experimenting.
Turning normal work into useful operational data: intake facts, item status, custody, blockers, photos, documents, activity proof, health checks, and reports that show what is happening without making employees do duplicate entry.
Systems that detect drift, surface blockers, route follow-up, validate state, and improve over time through dashboards, telemetry, reminders, repair scripts, rollback notes, and proof-backed support.
ASP.NET Core/Razor Pages, MongoDB-backed apps, IIS/TLS, SQL Server support, Azure Blob storage, ServiceNow, SCCM, N-able scripting, PowerShell validation, virtualization practice, and NetApp storage lab work.
Traveling field work, POS and kiosk installs, ATM and drive-thru systems, WAP deployments, VoIP visits, rack/cable cleanup, workstation refreshes, public-safety and law-enforcement site support, drywall-aware install work, trenching and buried conduit, antenna mounting and aiming, CNC/shop technology context, pneumatic systems, practical PLC familiarity, multi-tech coordination, shared-resource tracking, and onsite closeout.
Education and Training
Winfield High School / Project Generals
Project Generals was old high-school work, but it belongs here because it shows the pattern early: using technology, media, presentation, audio, and practical coordination to help a real group sell something and explain it publicly. The Gang Green campaign included morning-announcement advertising, student-made music, and a music video for the shirt campaign.
Diploma, 2018. Business Management focus. Technology Director for Project Generals, a class company that sold T-shirts, long sleeves, sweatpants, and hoodies. Served as the student technology lead for digital media, morning-announcement commercials, audio support, and campaign presentation work for the Gang Green shirt campaign. The #GANGGREEN music video was made by Matthew Wright with audio produced by Luke Lavender. WHS Show Choir with guitar.
I keep this older high-school media visible on purpose: it shows early creative technical work, comfort putting work in public, and the more human side of the same build-and-prove pattern that later became professional IT work.
Freshman year. I started high school at Buffalo partly because the technology environment caught my attention. That early curiosity became a lasting respect for authorization boundaries, responsible security work, and careful documentation.
Junior and senior year vocational Cisco Networking program, where I completed CCNA-focused coursework and achieved my CCNA while still in high school.
CBT Nuggets, INE, homelab practice, Cisco coursework, Microsoft server history, and ongoing infrastructure study. Early YouTube learning started around 6th grade with Eli the Computer Guy, and Jeremy Cioara's networking training became a major influence later.
Links
PAFDS stands for Process Automation Flow Design Systems. PAFDS Technologies is Luke Lavender's company identity for business IT, automation, workflow, infrastructure, and support work.