So I took some time to work on me some more
future me, and project me
Future me was encouraged to submit a resume for a position I was not 100% certain I was ready for, but that is honestly just me being me. I have never projected the confidence in myself that others have in me. It is not that I do not believe in myself, because in fact I do. Sometimes maybe just a little bit too much, but I do not believe that was the case in this scenario.
You figure I have spent 20 years doing everything but technology related jobs—Turning wrenches, Collision Repair, Management of a liquor / dining establishment, and even driving truck over the road. It wasn't that I did not want to be in Tech, nor even that I couldn't be in tech, when I left Tech 23 years ago, some of those associations left a really foul taste in my mouth. A week ago Thursday, I threw together the first resume that I had constructed since 2002. I then sent that resume off through the necessary channels, quite honestly not expecting to hear a whole bunch. I mean what does a 50 something guy that has not formally been involved in Tech in decades bring to the table.
Well, after the Round 1 Interview, apparently the positive attitude and willingness to once again expand my skill-set, along with my commitment to see something that I started many years ago through to completion, carries a fair amount of weight. To not say that I am grateful to have even had the opportunity would be wrong, because I am beyond grateful. The experience as a whole is more valuable to me than a mere wage.
Prior to getting all side tracked with the pursuit of real life dreams, I had set out to design and build a fully functional enterprise grade lab for my own learning adventures. Much about that adventure, was interesting to say the very least. I still have a siem server to set up yet, and one more workstation to bring into the mix, but things are actually coming along quite nicely.
First on the Agenda was Windows Server 2025 Data Center Edition. After three downloads, two installations, and some choice words for the Motherboard manufacturer, It was finally at least installed and updated, with a couple of user accounts. I have not yet set up Active Directory on it because in part life has been busy, but also because I went right from that to setting up an Ubuntu Server.
The Ubuntu server was straight forward, but the parts that came next and in all reality are still in set up phases are the Fleet Server, Prometheus, and Grafana. This will not be an immediate thing. Because I am doing this as a lab, I want to take some time to consider all of the necessary policies. I want to ensure that I have all of the machines in place and properly answering when queried. The roles are all being defined according to my initial plan.
It would not be fair of me not to highlight that the Fleet server is running on a 2002 Dell workstation. You guessed it 24 year old hardware. Along with that go Prometheus and Grafana. I still have to bring my Mac workstation into the fold, and get the old laptop configured to serve as a SIEM. Why? Because if I am going to venture back into the tech world after all these years, I should probably have a clue about some of the industry applications in play. Anyhow that is all for now. I will do a more detailed breakdown and a more procedural explanation once I get it done and have time to reflect on my notes.
If you actually took the time to read this, Thank You.
Have a great what ever remains of your day!