Consulting
Though at the moment I'm happily employed, I'm actively seeking short project-based consulting work. Usually this means hourly or daily on-site work, including system and network installation, troubleshooting, configuration, and upgrades. I charge highly competitive rates and stand by my work 100%.
If you're looking for help with something that's here in my wiki, by all means, drop me an e-mail. If it's a quick question, I'll be more than happy to give you whatever help I can via e-mail.
Some of my recent past and upcoming consulting projects have included:
- Migrating a proprietary package from SCO OpenServer to RedHat Linux
- Performing some catch-up administration on a neglected SCO OpenServer box
- Troubleshooting a gateway between external SSH and an internal Telnet-based application
- Linux printer installation and troubleshooting
- PDF form generation and filling (scripted, server-side)
Some of my personal interests of note include:
- Linux system administration, specifically SuSE / openSuSE
- Configuration of monitoring systems such as Nagios, Cacti, Munin, etc.
- System and web programming in PHP, Java, shell, and Python
- Linux-based embedded solutions
- Software for the EMS, Fire, and Public Safety sectors
- Making the best possible use of less-than-optimal hardware
A note on software: As you may notice, I deal mainly with Free/Open Source software (F/OSS). As a personal choice, there are many reasons for this, some of which include the moral implications which are beyond the concern of most businesses. From the business perspective, F/OSS makes sense, and reduces many costly problems.
- Since each user has access to the source code - and the right to modify it - vendor lock-in is effectively eliminated. The ease of moving from one vendor to another is amazing, and if your chosen vendor takes the software in a direction that doesn't fit your needs, there's good likelihood that someone (maybe you?) will "fork" the code into an alternate version that better mirrors your needs.
- There's no worry about ongoing vendor support. If the original developer decides to stop supporting the code, there's good likelihood that someone else will pick up, or that a group of users can pool their resources and hire a programmer to make updates or changes.
- Transparency: you know what your business depends on. Bugs and security holes aren't hidden, they're there to be found. When discovered, there's good likelihood that they'll be patched quickly (often within a day or two) rather than waiting for the vendor's weekly or monthly patch cycle. More importantly, if something breaks, anyone with knowledge of the appropriate programming language can fix it - not just the vendor.
- You don't need to buy support from the vendor. While it's an option with many packages, you can shop for the best support prices and features from a number of companies that support F/OSS packages, or you can rely on an independent consultant to fix issues as they arise.
- Cost: Many F/OSS packages are available with no cost. While many do offer support for a price, the reduced initial investment allows you to re-focus your budget from licensing fees to paying for support, a consultant to help with installation and configuration, or that long-awaited hardware upgrade; spend your money on making it work, not buying a pile of DVDs.
All of this being said, I'm not a zealot. There are some instances when proprietary (closed-source) software is the best choice for the job. If the benefits of a specific package outweigh the benefits of F/OSS (and it's not financially possible to fund the development of a F/OSS equivalent), then it may be the only logical choice. However, more and more in both my own work and reading what others are doing, I find that companies and institutions are striving to replace proprietary, closed software with its' open equivalent.
A note on what I am not: While I am open to the occasional small programming project, I am not a programmer, and am not looking for programming work outside of what's related to administrative tasks, or what has been mentioned above. I am not a web designer - as is evidenced by this site. I know plenty of excellent designers, and don't claim to be one. When the beauty of an interface is a concern, I work with one of a few designers, so that I can handle on making it work and they can handle making it beautiful. Lastly, I'm a full-time college student and also have a day job. While my schedule is flexible, I simply cannot be available for on-site work 24x7 without prior notice.
Please feel free to take a peek at my Resume or Contact Me. I've previously been employed by Rutgers University and Sun Microsystems, and have a semi-active project on SourceForge, PHP EMS Tools.
Also, if you're interested, you can read a little more About Me.
