Skills

Click a skill for details on my experience:

Documentation and Bug Tracking

Bugzilla: Zachariah

TigerVNC: dearZac

CFISD HEAT / iSupport

ADC Kentrox

Bazillion

Technical Writing

Not only am I a published author and taught English for a decade, but I also have created software guides for users (teachers and students) to follow, so they could use and learn unfamiliar features.

Visit my Example Guides pages to see a few from a unit that teaches about getting high-resolution images from the web, citing the source URL correctly, and inserting them into a Word document without messing up the layout or getting frustrated.

Linux Systems Administration

I’ve got a bit of a mad scientist lab going in my home office. Whenever it’s time to build a new updated desktop computer, I find a purpose for my old computers instead of getting rid of them. Usually this means having them run Linux.

My main Linux computer is a file server and Plex server I built in May 2018. As I installed the server version of Ubuntu 18.04, I used mdadm to set up four large drives in a RAID 5 configuration. I then added the Xfce desktop environment because of my previous positive experience with Xubuntu.

I use TigerVNC server with only local connections allowed to run some desktop apps (such as gPodder to download KCRW “Today’s Top Tune” and audio podcasts) over an ssh connection from home or around town.

I’m using mysecureshell to host files for my friends and family without giving them access to the whole filesystem.

I’ve also messed around with running a DNS server, an IRC bouncer, and other Linux software.

I got a Synology NAS recently, and it’s a very user friendly web UI for Linux but isn’t locked down for those who prefer the CLI.

My first Arch computer is my Steam Deck. I use it to do a little bit of gaming, but I have also poked around and done stuff like set up SSH for use with rsync to backup the configuration files and customization I’ve done.

Windows Systems Administration

Experience with desktop, server, and ActiveDirectory, CLI and PowerShell, and Group Policy Editor

I started my Windows experience by upgrading the family computer from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95. It was really easy to completely mess up Windows at that time, so I learned a lot by troubleshooting issues as they came up.

I then worked at a small computer company in Santa Cruz, at the end of and just after graduating college. There I supported small business and home users using Windows NT, Windows for Workgroups, and Windows 98 computers. Group Policy to prevent auto updates.

I still prefer to access IRC using mIRC (I actually paid for it ages ago), and I use it to participate in technical communities such as OpenNIC, Postfix, and TWiT. I leave mIRC running all the time constantly logging the discussions, so I can search though when needed.

One of my computers is my gaming PC though I rarely have time to spend in my office. I built it right before graphics cards got ridiculously expensive, so I’m still waiting on a GPU. I tend to play older games anyway, so the onboard graphics have been fine for now.

Networking

For years I would run DD-WRT, a Linux-based open source firmware for routers, on my router, switches, and access points. I’m still a big fan, but it became important to have greater reliability for the rest of my family’s network needs.

After a bit of research, I settled on the Unifi solutions from Ubiquiti. My main router is now their UDM. I also have an Ubiquiti AP and network switch.

I have a complex network. Segregated networks. OpenWirelesss.org guest network. Printer on iot network. Cloud flare DNS. SSH port forwarding and VNC/RDP to LAN. Plex server, Minecraft for my daughter.

Although I’ve recently switched to Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS service because it’s far more reliable, for years I used OpenNIC DNS. It was fun to have access to alternative TLDs, and it was good to know the servers weren’t logging everything like our ISPs do, so they can use website visits for their marketing purposes.

Virtualization

I’ve worked with Windows, MacOS, and Linux hosts and guests. I’ve used VMWare, Fusion, Parallels, and VirtualBox. I have used virtualization because I needed to access more than one OS on the same computer or I needed to run an older or newer versions of an OS. I’ve just started learning about using docker to avoid full-blown virtualization on Linux when wanting to run multiple versions of the same software.

Mobile Devices

I’m a power user on all my devices: iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, and many other platforms that are now obsolete. This means I know and use all the advanced features and shortcuts I can to increase productivity and make my life easier.

My experience on so many platforms means I can assist users on whichever they are most comfortable.

Web Development and Design

I started my journey in web development by reading the specs for HTML and CSS. Since then I’ve used websites such as W3Schools to teach others the basics of webdesign, but I still go back to the specs when I have a question about the intended behavior of the markup and style code. I’ve learned most of my JavaScript knowledge from online courses, and have applied it to the sites I’ve built.

The first sites I hosted I used cPanel for configuration. I settled on DreamHost at some point, and I’m currently grandfathered into an unlimited storage/domain/email account for a pretty low price. I host my project websites and those of friends, family, and occasional clients.

Although DreamHost has a great control panel, I’ve also taught myself to install and configure web servers on VPSs and dedicated servers now that I have a greater knowledge of Linux.

I also use one of my VPSs as a bouncer for my IRC traffic, so even if my home computer goes offline, I remain in the chat rooms.

I have set up a couple sites using Drupal as the CMS. I created and revised pages, uploaded content, upgraded the software, and did some troubleshooting along the way when things didn’t go quite right.

My go-to for new sites I build is WordPress. Above all, I appreciate their philosophy of the web. Their software is great, and gets better year after year. Customizing WordPress used to mean delving into PHP code, giving me experience in that language, but now most things can be done with one of the hundreds of plugins available.

Security and Privacy

this section needs completion / revision

I’ve never had one of my computers have a virus. I’ve successfully removed viruses from half a dozen user’s machines without loosing their data.

. SpamCop, catch-all, DKIM, Threema, Code42 Crashplan, Duplicati, Firefox uBlock Origin NoScript Cookie AutoDelete Container Tabs, 1.1.1.1, more…

Publishing

this section needs completion / revision

Yearbook spreads, Grizzly Gazette, Grizzly Tales, English Journal

Social Media, Marketing, and SEO

Social Media: I think social media is useful for promoting a brand by engaging fan and for public figures to get their message out by engaging their audiences.

I have tried most social media platforms that got bit and eventually (most of them) died out. For the past five years I haven’t posted much except to reach out to family when Coronavirus first hit. I have realized I much rather prefer messaging and video/phone calls to maintain personal connections. More than that though, I don’t think social media companies have been able to maintain trust with protecting personal information including photos that I might want to share with friends and family. It just feels like participation is exploited by the companies.

Mastodon has started to gain popularity, and I hope it wins out like the open Web won out over propriety networks like AOL and CompuServe. I’m especially delighted to see the insistence on adding alternative text to images to make sure the posts are accessible to those with disabilities. I’ve made a couple accounts to try it out, and I’m rending a micro-instance for one of my domains from MastoHost managed Mastodon hosting. If it keeps growing in popularity, I’ll install and run my own instance for friends and family later this year.

Marketing: Each year I ran the Yearbook program, I would market to the students and parents using the conventional email and phone announcements, but I would also work with the yearbook students to create engaging campaigns to get the attention of the student body. Parents and students are inundated with messages from the school, so it was a challenge to get them to hear about they books being on sale and complete the purchase. We sold out every year, so I was able to keep the yearbook program in the black even with changing economy and changing demographics. I found Instagram got the most engagement. This makes sense because Yearbook is very visual, and kids are, too.

SEO: The strongest search engine optimization, in my opinion, is to make sure your website complies with web standards, uses semantic markup properly, and is written with accessibility in mind from the beginning. At that point, as long as your site is updated regularly, it will naturally be highly ranked in search engines.

Getting Things Done

Reading David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done, and Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero Google TechTalks presentation changed the way I remember, prioritize, complete, and track what I get done. The biggest impact has been the ability to keep my mind clear and focus only on the task in front of me. This was important both for the yearlong project of completing instruction for the school year and the project of publishing the yearbook each spring for ten years.

For my trusted system, I use OmniFocus. I also have a shared todo list with my wife in the Things app.

Customer Service

this section needs completion / revision

Starbucks

Gas Company?

Teaching

Adobe Creative Suite

I’m pretty good at using Adobe Audition because I used the software Cool Edit Pro before Adobe bought the company and rebranded it as Audition. I’ve used it to compose (probably terrible) music for fun, to rip vinyl records of hard-to-find recordings and clean them up, and to process audio for video production.

My early Photoshop skills were just to put together funny images. After taking over the Yearbook program and running it for ten years, I was able to practice and become much better at applying Photoshop features to make publishing-ready images.

I’ve mostly modified other’s Illustrator files for use in the Yearbook, but I have created a few illustrations from scratch. I really only used it for the final five years of yearbook publishing.

I helped students use InDesign a few times to create the school newspaper. If you’re used to Word, PowerPoint, Acrobat, and Photoshop, it’s pretty easy to pick up.