MIKE SMITH
Dallas,US
Summary
Experienced in network, security, software and infrastructure management, with a strong background in systems, network engineering, and cybersecurity. Adept at implementing, hardening, and optimizing advanced cloud configurations, on-premise data centers requiring high-performance VPN concentrators, along with cloud buildups in Azure, AWS, and VMware Cloud Director. I also bring a wide-ranging experience in deploying security products, such as SASE, EDR, MDR, XDR, and SIEM, by deploying them with best practices, along with serving as an escalation engineer in both NOC and SOC environments for these types of client needs. Software Engineering and Azure DevOps experience creating PRs for Terraform and Salt Stack buildouts for Azure DNS and backend Authoritative DNS management. Currently seeking to leverage skills as a Senior Infrastructure, Software Engineer, Network Engineer, and Security Engineer, and help bring my vast success to a new team!
Overview
18
18
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Systems Engineer (DevOps and Network Engineering)
UDT
Miramar, Florida
06.2025 - 11.2025
- Worked with Jira and Confluence (Atlassian)
- Provided support and assistance to Network Engineering and DevOps developers while deploying 100-gigabit fiber optic ring PoP and ENI ISP circuits provided via UDT's backbone, which is often deployed with both BGP and OSPF, depending on customer requirements.
- Worked with onboarding teams to assist on bridge calls to deploy Fortinet firewalls, Cisco Nexus switches, and worked with DevOps to manually modify Terraform, Salt Stacks, and Azure DNS specifically for hosting DNS of school system domain names.
- Used Git, Postman, Visual Studio / VSCode, SecureCRT, Ansible generally during day to day via TACACS+ connections to all devices - Worked with MITM (Man in the Middle Proxy) for DoH DNS Hybrid Proxy DNS filtering service for School system customers
- Used Icinga for RMM abilities of alerting of all devices being supported - Used Guacamole for Remote abilities in tandem with Icinga
- Worked heavily with Terraform in Azure DevOps, and also with AWS.
- I worked heavily with Azure DNS and modified Azure's built-out Authoritative DNS hosting by way of PRs issued for approval of Terraform-based code modifications, which were then pushed up from VSCode via Git to Azure DevOps so the Development Team lead could review the modified code and approve my Pull Requests.
- Worked to create a new solution for Tac_Plus-NG, which is an updated version of TACACS+ and is considered open source from developer Marc Huber, and is known as TACACS+ NG (https://github.com/MarcJHuber/event-driven-servers/).
- I worked heavily with local-based AI as a developer to help automate my role before my position ended. AI was used to automate my role's tasks but required local AI hosting of specific LLMs using OpenAI/LMStudio inside of VSCode's extension, Roo Code, via the API address of http://localhost:1234 and LM Studio as the broadcaster of your AI LLM model.
EMBEDDED ENGINEER AND NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR
MAKRÖ GAMING STUDIOS
Kennesaw, US
11.2024 - 04.2025
- Developed embedded software for gaming consoles and handheld devices.
- Implemented debugging processes for firmware issues in gaming applications.
- Designed, programmed, tested, and maintained firmware for microcontroller-based products.
- Documented all aspects of design including architecture diagrams and data flow diagrams.
- Configured and maintained routers, switches, firewalls, wireless networks and other network devices.
- Monitored system upgrades, patches and new configurations.
- Supervised configuration of local area network, wide area network and corporate Internet system.
DATA CENTER SYSTEMS MANAGER / SENIOR SYSTEMS ENGINEER (L3 ESCALATIONS)
NOVATECH INC.
Alpharetta, US
04.2023 - 04.2024
- Network, Security and Embedded OS Infrastructure management and architecting, both internally and externally.
- Provided lead role for Data Center Management Operations and Implementations, including Security Implementations, along with migrating all production servers from aging VMware vSAN Hardware Cluster, to AWS and Azure Cloud VPC's.
- Support all internal IT needs for employees, along with Network, Systems and Security hardening of any existing network appliances, along with migrate to newer equipment for future proofing.
SENIOR SECURITY ENGINEER / VCISO / SENIOR SYSTEMS ENGINEER
THREATADVICE (NXTSOFT)
Alpharetta, US
01.2021 - 12.2022
- Supported Datadog, Elastic, Splunk, and Perch/Connectwise SIEM for Deployment for clients, then help document for Support team to takeover long term.
- Performed same for SASE Deployments, Fortinet Fortigate Firewall Deployments, along with providing Customer Vulnerability detection & resolution during requested PenTesting scenarios.
- Migrated Edge equipment with over 1000 External IP's routing from it, onto SASE Edge devices at all locations within company, along with integrating/replacing DataCenter's aging Sonicwall NSA's and Dell Switch's with Fortinet FortiGate Firewalls and FortiSwitch's, helping to provide much greater bandwidth and overall utilization and performance within DataCenter operations.
- Mentored junior team members in advanced technical skills and provided guidance on professional development opportunities.
- Managed Backup team members locally in Alpharetta, GA office and India office, which involved a large volume of storage and SAN operations for 1000+ site backups.
- Delivered presentations to senior management on key project milestones, providing transparency into progress toward objectives.
- Supported over 300 companies in high volume MSP environment for customers, internal employees, educating employees on troubleshooting and problem-solving protocols.
- Provided 2nd and 3rd level technical support and troubleshooting to internal and external clients while serving as the 'End-of-the-Line' engineer support for escalations, and onsite Project Engineer assistance.
- Wrote and maintained custom Python script for Ansible and PowerBi to help with Network Automation, providing an increase of system efficiency and performance time for all company assets involved, both hardware and software.
- Recruited, hired, trained, and supervised staff or participated in staffing decisions.
- Managed backup, security and user help systems.
- Served as T3 for SOC and NOC team, providing End of Line Support for both company Internal Infrastructure Systems and Security, along with Providing Customer facing Roadmaps for External long term projects build up.
- Served as Senior Systems Engineer, Senior Security Engineer and vCISO to State and Local Gov, Financial Institutions and Private Sector Companies, along with overseeing both SOC and NOC teams.
- Advisory of Policies and Procedures build-up per NIST framework controls, ISO, SOC2, WISP, PCI and others required by individual clients and their industry needs.
- Leader in the field of buildup of new platforms such as PKI, EDR, MDR, NDR, XDR, SIEM, SOAR and Zero Trust Platforms such as Elastic, Splunk, SentinelOne, Crowdstrike Falcon, Cisco SecureX, etc.
- Reduced risks of cyber-attacks by routinely conducting vulnerability assessments and penetration testing.
- Stayed proactive by creating zero day automation tasks for MSSP based customers, allowing SentinelOne MDR and Connectwise SIEM (Elastic Dashboards and Visualizations) to automatically blacklist IoC's found that day from one customer's Lateral Movement, to then replicate those same blacklisting rules across all of our clients environments in real time, instead of manually adding IP's or SHA1's for blacklisting on each and every customer, these automation jobs would future proof all customers and help contain Zero-Day infections from spreading.
- Authored security and vulnerability reports from penetration tests, detailing logged incursions along with providing customer with remediation efforts.
- Coordinated with third-party security information and event management (SIEM) providers to maintain protection and predict threats.
- Offered preventive training to harden personnel against intrusion vectors such as phishing, ransomware and more.
- Worked heavily in Docker and Kubernetes to make version changes to our Vulnerability Scanner, providing new malicious definitions every 1-2 weeks.
- Provided expert guidance on best practices in systems engineering, improving team performance and product quality.
- Conducted thorough audits of system architecture, identifying areas for improvement and implementing corrective actions.
XDR ONBOARDING ENGINEER
CYNAMICS
Tel Aviv, US
03.2021 - 08.2021
- • Successfully implemented a leading-edge AI XDR solution that transformed cybersecurity practices for government clients.
• Collaborated with diverse teams to enable Netflow/IPFix/sFlow on multiple firewall models, enhancing data visibility.
• Developed and executed training programs on dashboard usage, empowering clients to proactively manage threats.
• Utilized Python and PowerShell for deployment, honing my scripting and automation skills.
SENIOR INFRASTRUCTURE CONSULTANT AND TEAM LEAD
SOPHICITY (VC3)
Atlanta, US
10.2016 - 01.2021
- Served as lead engineer in a fast-growing company, providing primary support for City Halls, Police Departments, Fire Departments, Public Works, and Community Centers.
- Served as lead Network Infrastructure Engineer overseeing servers, switches, firewalls, SANs, VDI environments including Citrix, along with Microsoft's Terminal Services buildouts, Azure, AWS, VMware ESXi, and Workspace ONE (MDM). Backup solutions supported include VEEAM, ShadowProtect, and MSP360.
- Provide network assessments, recommendations for upgrades of all appliances required to operate a network infrastructure for small, medium, and large business environments.
- Design, develop, and implement these recommendations primarily with local government environments, such as city halls, police departments, fire departments, public works, and community centers.
- Provided remote and onsite support for close to 100 customers. Performed special operations and projects every week, from the beginning of a project (sales engineering) to the end (onsite engineer), where the installation and testing would occur.
- Served as L3 team lead for the support of escalation tickets to assist L2 engineers with guidance on how to resolve challenges, along with taking over tickets as a hand-off, serving as the last line of defense.
- Role served as Escalation Engineer, Network Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Team Lead.
- Obtained yearly Office 365 certification to keep the company as a Gold Partner with Microsoft.
SENIOR TECHNICAL ENGINEER
TEAMLOGIC IT
Norcross, US
02.2016 - 09.2016
- Design, develop, and support all customer information systems.
- Served as the lead IT Infrastructure Engineer, specializing in best practices for IT security, implementations, and advisory among progressive IT solutions.
- Served as a Tier 3/Tier 4 escalation engineer.
SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR
INTEGRACORE
Lithia Springs, US
03.2014 - 11.2015
- Position involves a ticketed help desk system for all Internal IntegraCore Atlanta employees.
- At this branch I am the sole on-site IT employee with IntegraCore. Skills required are within areas of Applications/Programming, Systems Engineering, Network Analysis, IT
- Oversaw all IT operations for 1 of 2 North America Logistic/Warehousing/Shipping Hubs.
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 - DHCP, DNS, Active Directory Domain Services.
- VMware ESXi environment using SSD SAN driven SSO architecture for Warehouse shipping stations.
- Office 365 Cloud Services hosted via Microsoft Azure
- Juniper Firewall / JunOS programming ability.
- ESXi VMware vSphere cluster administration.
- Dell Compellent Storage Centre with Solid State drives driving SAN.
- Microsoft SQL Server 2005+2008+2012 Database
- Maintain and oversee 25+ Zebra Industrial ZM400 Thermal Printers used for Mass queue thermal label printing or single shipping label printing over local and LAN.
- Maintain and oversee 20+ HP LaserJet 4250/4350 Printers for heavy print workloads over LAN. -Maintain and oversee Xerox WorkCentre Multi-purpose Office printers.
- Maintain operations of scaled Automation Shipping Label Printing System (Panther Industries/Zebra Design), which is mounted over Conveyer line and serving as Print-n-Apply Thermal Label Application for boxes being shipped with automated verification abilities.
- Mitel VoIP Phone Network Administration.
- Maintain and correctly calibrate Scales for precise shipping weights.
- Custom GPO .WIM image buildup and Application for local machines, internal only.
- Hardware replacement, upgrades, RJ-45 Cabling, consolidation and maintenance
- Monitor and program Motorola MC9190 and MC9090 Handheld Scan guns used in 150,000 square ft warehouse.
- Create and implement new Documentation internal employee usage.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT ANALYST
3DMD, LLC
Atlanta, US
10.2011 - 10.2013
- Aid in the design, development, build, installation, and training for proprietary 3D imaging products with both domestic and international customers.
- Required both international and domestic travel to install and train 3D imaging scanning systems for doctors, scientists, and researchers within progressive, advanced technological establishments such as institutes, universities, and colleges, dental/medical schools, military bases, and research facilities.
- Countries traveled to for customer installations include China, Sweden, Chile, and many domestic cities throughout the United States.
COMPUTER TECHNICIAN / SERVICE DEPARTMENT ASSISTANT MANAGER
NEW AVENUES LEASE OWNERSHIP, LLC
, US
07.2007 - 03.2012
- Break/Fix Repair and replacement of Laptop/Desktop motherboards, laptop screens, etc.
- Served as Lead Computer Technician in Authorized Service environment.
- Operated as certified repair technician for Dell, HP/Compaq, Acer/Gateway, Sony, Samsung, LG.
- Helped build and establish Authorized Service Center Environment for multiple Manufacturers.
- Designed and operated Linux based automated PXE Network deployment services.
Education
Bachelor of Science - SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SUPPORT SERVICES
SOUTHERN POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY
Marietta, GA01.2013
Associate of Applied Science - COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECURITY/INFORMATION ASSURANCE
GWINNETT TECHNICAL COLLEGE
Lawrenceville07.2011
Associate of Applied Science - COMPUTER SYSTEMS NETWORKING AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
GWINNETT TECHNICAL COLLEGE
Lawrenceville, GA12.2009
High School Diploma -
SYMMES VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL
Aid, Ohio05.2001
Skills
- XDR SIEM
- Elastic 0-day IoC Malware detection
- Alerting and detection strategies
- Team collaboration
- Problem-solving aptitude
- Analytical thinking
- Source and version control
- Git/Github
- Source and version control
- Cryptography
- RESTful apis
- Project management
- Jira, Confluence, Atlassian
- Embedded device software design
- Professionalism
- Programming languages
- Java, C#, NET, Python, Terraform, Salt
- API design and development
- Testing and debugging
- Process improvement
- Technical writing
- Upgrade path design
- Switches and routers
- Documentation protocol design
- IT infrastructure
- Scripting languages
- Virtualization technologies
- Cloud computing
- Network architecture
- Mission-critical system design
- Infrastructure buildout
- Penetration testing
- Root-cause analysis
- Cybersecurity frameworks
- Web security
- Technical support
- Virtualization
- Cybersecurity
- Problem solving
- Network security
- Infrastructure tracking
- Mentorship
- Azure DevOps
- Firewall configuration
- Terraform automation
- Systems architecture
- Cybersecurity practices
- Cloud migration
- Technical documentation
- Data analysis
- Network troubleshooting
Certification
- MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration - Microsoft
- MCTS: Windows 7, Configuration - Microsoft
- MCPS: Microsoft Certified Professional - Microsoft
- CompTIA A+ (IT Technician) - CompTIA
- CompTIA Security+ (2008 edition) - CompTIA
- Exam 70-347: Enabling Office 365 Services - Microsoft
- CEH - Certified Ethical Hacker - Studying complete, certification pending
- CompTIA Pentest+ - Studying complete, certification pending
Websites Profiles
- Https://www.linkedin.com/in/hextiming/
- Https://www.virustotal.com/gui/user/Teksmyth_1/
- Https://www.github.com/MisterSmithers/
Timeline
Systems Engineer (DevOps and Network Engineering)
UDT
06.2025 - 11.2025
EMBEDDED ENGINEER AND NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR
MAKRÖ GAMING STUDIOS
11.2024 - 04.2025
DATA CENTER SYSTEMS MANAGER / SENIOR SYSTEMS ENGINEER (L3 ESCALATIONS)
NOVATECH INC.
04.2023 - 04.2024
XDR ONBOARDING ENGINEER
CYNAMICS
03.2021 - 08.2021
SENIOR SECURITY ENGINEER / VCISO / SENIOR SYSTEMS ENGINEER
THREATADVICE (NXTSOFT)
01.2021 - 12.2022
SENIOR INFRASTRUCTURE CONSULTANT AND TEAM LEAD
SOPHICITY (VC3)
10.2016 - 01.2021
SENIOR TECHNICAL ENGINEER
TEAMLOGIC IT
02.2016 - 09.2016
SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR
INTEGRACORE
03.2014 - 11.2015
TECHNICAL SUPPORT ANALYST
3DMD, LLC
10.2011 - 10.2013
COMPUTER TECHNICIAN / SERVICE DEPARTMENT ASSISTANT MANAGER
NEW AVENUES LEASE OWNERSHIP, LLC
07.2007 - 03.2012
Bachelor of Science - SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SUPPORT SERVICES
SOUTHERN POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY
Associate of Applied Science - COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECURITY/INFORMATION ASSURANCE
GWINNETT TECHNICAL COLLEGE
Associate of Applied Science - COMPUTER SYSTEMS NETWORKING AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
GWINNETT TECHNICAL COLLEGE
High School Diploma -
SYMMES VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL