snand in the place where you work

today for the first time ever

I removed a connection of mine from LinkedIn. Fuck that guy, seriously.

snand is exploring meshtastic. end goal here is to integrate it into the Chamboard, no idea how yet but I’ll either get there, or figure out why it’s a terrible idea. either way, super fun tech to play with and cheap; I’m less than 20 bucks into the hobby right now and I have successfully connected to about 30 nodes so far. I highly encourage anyone to pick up something like a Heltec v3 and join me in the fun. no need for a case, you can print one (or I can print one for you), but a battery wouldn’t be a bad idea, I had one of these leftover from another project, worked perfectly and gives me about a day of runtime. so, first run out of the gate for off-grid communication has been a wild success. I might even build some devices for Many Point this year so our whole family can stay in touch even if cell signal sucks.

snand is also working on our backup platform. I previously build a lego housed Raspberry Pi backup server but it fell off the shelf and did what legos do. clearly I needed a better case, but then once I had it put back together, I found that for some reason I put ubuntu on it, which let’s face it, is completly unacceptable. really needs to be debian or raspbian, so I might as well formalize it as a project. let this be the formal introduction to snand’s newest project, theirhouse – named for TheOffice (since all my home infrastructure is Dunder Mifflin themed), warehouse was just too obvious and generic and theirhouse captures the spirit of the project. watch snand and/or the repo for project status, just starting it right now.

additional things going on:

basement continues – I’m getting close
job hunt continues – ditto*

all in all, things are going pretty well in the snand house right now; not perfect, but considering the world situation right now, we are pretty ok.

update- *job search has just taken off. I feel great.

workshopping linkedin posts

before I go primetime with my drivel, I figure I’ve got my own blog, so why not workshop posts here first. I overshare, I know this; one of my strengths is my opennes, but I do sometimes need to temper it. so, sometimes just seeing my stuff in public helps me with the editorial process.

the following is not really meant for LinkedIn, this is prep for some networking that I’m doing. apparently, I’m a planner so…

My Career Journey: From Technical Leadership to Architectural Strategy and Back Again

My professional journey has been defined by leadership, technical strategy, and a relentless drive to improve IT operations. Over the years, I’ve built scalable infrastructure, optimized security, and driven process improvements that have saved organizations time, money, and frustration. But, like any journey, mine has had unexpected turns—each one teaching me something new about leadership, company culture, and what makes me thrive in a role.

At Infinite Campus, I was in my element as a Lead Infrastructure Engineer, overseeing large-scale VMware and Nutanix deployments, security initiatives, and infrastructure modernization projects. It was an environment where I was given the freedom to build, optimize, and lead a high-performing team. With clear goals and technical challenges to solve, I had the autonomy to make meaningful, lasting improvements to the organization’s IT strategy. The work was demanding, but I loved it.

When an Infrastructure Architect opportunity at Western National came along, I saw it as the logical next step. It was an environment where culture mattered, and I deeply respected the people I worked with. However, I started the role while recovering from a brain injury, and that made it difficult to ever feel fully settled. I never felt like I was producing my best work, and the structured, high-level architectural focus left me missing the hands-on leadership and direct impact I had at Infinite Campus. While I appreciated the supportive culture, I knew I wasn’t operating at my full potential, and I began to realize that I needed to get back to what I truly enjoy: leading teams and driving change.

That realization led me to Cambria, where I believed I was being brought in to modernize IT processes, implement structured improvements, and build the kind of operational maturity I had successfully driven at Infinite Campus. I was excited about the challenge, but I quickly learned that I was not at the right company for my leadership style. Unlike the autonomy I had at Infinite Campus, Cambria was a highly micromanaged environment, and my efforts to implement strategic IT improvements and operational efficiencies were met with resistance. The changes I was brought in to make were not truly wanted, and when my boss miscommunicated a key deadline, I became the scapegoat.

This experience reinforced something I already knew: culture matters as much as the role itself. Leadership isn’t just about technical expertise or strategic planning—it’s also about having the right environment to execute ideas, mentor teams, and make a meaningful impact. I realized that where I work is just as important as what I do, and that’s why I’m now focusing on finding a company that values collaboration, structured leadership, and continuous improvement.

I bring deep technical experience, a leadership style that empowers teams, and a strong focus on process-driven success. My next step is about aligning with an organization that appreciates these strengths and provides the right cultural fit for me to thrive.

at a crossroads

posted this to LinkedIn today. reposting here for posterity (since this is my social media replacement)

To my Linkedin friends and colleagues.

For the first time in my career, I find myself in uncharted territory. Since I was 14 years old, I have always had my next step mapped out—whether it was pursuing a new skill, stepping into a leadership role, or driving the next big infrastructure project. But today, I’m in a different position.

After several successful years as the Infrastructure Lead at Infinite Campus, I transitioned into an architectural role at Western National, drawn by the opportunity to take a more strategic position. Western National had a culture I truly appreciated—I felt valued and supported in ways that I still reflect on today. However, I hold myself to a high standard, and I never felt like I was able to contribute at the level I expect from myself. The biggest mistake I made was not having open conversations with leadership about my long-term goals. Instead of discussing my desire to get back to hands-on leadership, I assumed I needed to make a move elsewhere. That was on me.

My next step was a management role at Cambria, but unfortunately, the culture and expectations were not the right fit for my leadership style. This experience reinforced an important lesson: when you’re in an environment that values open communication, use it. Talk to your leadership. Advocate for your own growth. Because not every company fosters that kind of dialogue, and I learned the hard way what happens when that’s missing.

Now, I’m focusing on finding an organization where collaboration, structured processes, and operational maturity are truly valued—and where I can bring my leadership experience, technical expertise, and process-driven mindset to help a team thrive.

Beyond my career, I’m a father of three boys and an Assistant Scoutmaster to a big troop of incredible kids. Mentorship and leadership are core to who I am, and I’m eager to bring that same energy to a team that’s ready to evolve and grow.

If you know of an opportunity that aligns with my skills and leadership style, or if you just have advice on navigating this transition, I’d love to connect. Thank you to everyone who has been part of my journey—I truly appreciate the support.

Lesson learned: If you’re in a company that values open communication, take advantage of it. Be upfront about what you need. Because not every workplace operates that way, and you don’t want to realize too late that you could have stayed somewhere great.

do I have a cpap line?

IT gathering today, lots of dudes like me with cpap lines visible in their face. do I have one of those? I mean, I try to minimize it when showering and getting ready but I see it all the time, and figure they are doing just as much as I am..

again, weird world we live in. I’m not judging, I use one myself, I’m just curious.

what have I done?

I work in crazyland. today feels like I’m close to a break from reality.

beyond the usual dumbassery of working in IT, I joined a meeting today where the sales guy had a weird beard filter on his video. his beard kept migrating off his face, I had no idea what to say. was it intentional? I’m assuming it was the “beautify” filter gone wrong.

then just now I ran into a well dressed man who had the most unusual hairstyle I’ve ever seen. it can only be described as a mustache on his head. the whole thing was short, except for two ‘wings’ of hair curled up where his forhead and hairline met. truly unusual and a style I have yet to run into in the wild.

this is a strange world we live in. I’m officially old and out of touch.

update – looks like I’m going to have to get used to all the TPS Reports to my multiple bosses.

check it out…

figured I needed a professional profile on the tubes: https://www.gradyp.com/

honestly, came out exactly as I pictured and is crammed full of easter eggs. more to come for sure but a weekend of work well spent.

update- been hard at work on it today, nearly done, it looks like I want it, It’s as modular as I want it, now it just needs content. I did add some old videos from my career, I’ll dig around and find old photos next. added some tooltip functionality so I could add some context but keep the layout clean. should work well for my plans, which is just a static site to host my professional artifacts. honestly, I’m really proud of how this turned out, it came out exactly as I envisioned.

I do not want do this as a job, that’s not at all the point, but I guess I do need a professional profile out there since I am supposed to be one. If I am hosting a resume in public, I need to at least look the part.

new site vacation compatible workflow

someday snand may become modern, but then again, this garbage is supposed to be as simple as possible. I’ve got my professional side, gradyp.com up and running via GitHub pages though. I’ve plumbed my backend so that I can build and update this site all via markdown and since GitHub pages automatically builds when I push to the repo, I can essentially live edit the site in obsidian and it’s pushed within a couple minutes.

it’s not going to be snand, it’s my professional profile. I just feel like I’ve been at my current gig long enough that I need to get my profile back in order. May as well polish up the resume while I’m at it.

nothing there yet but been fun getting it going.

I overthink everything.

here I thought I needed to put forth all my effort, skills and knowledge into a thing when it really just takes the simplest approach.

I’m doomed.

it really is..

this was the third attempt, the prompt was: “oh, come on. you got the aesthetic but once again it’s a, fake transparent background. I thought you said you could generate a .png…”

this started as work, I swear. I needed a quick and dirty httpd server for testing a little mdm fix for work. so, I hacked up a compose file and put it online on my test url. I got sick of looking at an empty directory listing though and so I wanted to at least put a static banner of some sort. one thing led to another though and I basically recreated my very first website from the 1990’s, but this time using enough energy to burn down a forest. every single byte of that site was generated completely by ChatGPT.

more art I think. I mean, the first time I built this page, it was on a 486, I uploaded it over my 14.4k modem to the worlds worst ISP (seriously, I worked there, it ended with the cops being called and a lawsuit). this time, I can’t even imagine all the technology that led up to it’s creation. I honestly think it might be the single biggest waste of resources in human history.

Category: snand in the place where you work