About

Thanks for stopping by. Read below to learn more about myself and my background.

Darren Nathanael with a colleague

Background

It all started with Minecraft.
What? you may ask, well yes, I say to that. I love playing Minecraft, and that started my career.


I accidentally discovered my calling while playing with my friends. Minecraft is a multi player game that allows you do basically do everything you want.

I learned the penguin, aka Linux. It was rough, but I got the hang of it. Then as I became more intrested, I started to dig deeper, and fell in the rabbit hole.

That's the short story of how I became who I am today.


Skills & Experience

  • Network
    • Background on service provider networks, including:
      • Routing (BGP, OSPF, IS-IS)
      • Internet Services (DNS, DHCP, NTP, BRAS)
      • Connectivity (Ethernet, IPv4, IPv6, and MPLS)
    • Strong understanding of network security technologies, their operation and limitations, including:
      • Switching and routing
      • Network security and Anti-DDoS measures
      • Network access control solutions
      • Network IDS/IPS solutions
      • Network monitoring solutions (Nagios, Cacti, Observium)
      • IPSec and TLS based VPNs
    • Familiar with layer-1 troubleshooting (datacentre, transport, optics, circuit troubleshooting, activation)
    • Familiar with layer-2 & layer-3 networking
    • Familiar with networking protocols and the OSI model
    • Network Automation, with Python, JS
    • Experience with hands-on work in bringing up network infrastructure
    • Experience creating documentation and procedures
    • 2 years of professional experience operating service provider, cloud, webscale network, deploying enterprise network solutions.
  • IT
    • Operational experience in a Linux production enviroment
    • Experience with Python & Bash scripting
    • Experience hardening Linux operating systems
    • Adept at learning new technologies and systems

    TLDR;

    I love learning new things and challenging myself to the next level. I'm not afraid to learn.


    Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. - Benjamin Franklin