Ben Hart

Senior Systems Administration

Welcome!

Hi, my name is Ben, I'm a tech junkie, lover of the outdoors and a bro to animals. I'm curious, have a great work ethic and I don't stop until the job is done. I've been a Sys admin for almost 20 years, tackling everything from server hardware to scripting automation. For 2020 I made a personal goal of to learn as much as I can about AWS and Python programming.

<<<<<<< HEAD

Multiple IT courses and certifications to include:

A+, Network+, Exchange 2010, , MCSA, MCP, Windows Server 2016, Python, Git, Django, PowerShell, and Basic Web development (HTML & CSS), VMWare vSphere, Azure and AWS.

Surveying Solutions, Inc.

Systems Engineer

Standish, MI

Oct 2019 to Present

    I am responsible for all technology aspects for the company. I provide IT solutions to the business and aim to increase efficiency, reliability, and performance of the computing and storage environment. I provide Tier I thru III level support and administer every system SSI has.
  • Sole IT support for ~140 end users, majority being remote
  • Manage all servers, communications, networking, also manage ~60TB of data.
  • Responsible for bringing technology to the table in intracompany discussions.
  • Stood up Netapp Filerr, production and DR w/SnapMirror to replicate data.
  • Upgraded all networking equipment to Ubiquiti Unifi with Watchguard firewalls

Globe Fire Sprinkler

Sr. IT Manager

Standish, MI

Apr 2018 - Oct 2019

    As part of a 3-person IT team I lead and mentor the IT Administrator Assistant and manage all servers and networking hardware to include Cisco networking, VMware ESXi 6.5 HA cluster, multiple HP MSA SANs, and the HA failover FortiGate firewalls. As well as multiple application servers and wireless presentation and meeting equipment. Worked with multiple departments to optimize use of technology. Created upgrade plan for all remaining Windows 7 machines and manage software licensing. Worked with facilities to create and tweak proposed building surveillance equipment and expanding WiFi coverage for the property.
  • Managed, mentored two other IT employees
  • Planned, executed email migration to ExchangeOnline/Office365
  • Worked with other department heads to help form tech solutions to solve workflow problems.
  • Implemented automation for on and off-boarding to maintain consistency

Montana Interactive LLC (NIC, Inc.)

Systems Administrator

Helena, MT

Oct 2016 - Mar 2018

    As a member of the SysOps team I help provide support for over 60 servers that provide web services for the state of Montana government and its citizens. We work closely with the developer team to roll out and deploy new services, code changes to existing services and migrations to new platforms. Our environment is primarily CentOS with about a dozen Windows servers ranging from 2008 to 2012. We support a full life cycle development environment from dev to test and production along with off-site DR. We utilize Jenkins for automated deployments, Nginx proxies, ManageEngine for Windows server monitoring, Ansible for configuration management and a local Git repo for code management. Since I've been here I've managed a project to migrate our test and prod Oracle servers to version 12. Implemented the Manage-Engine server to help proactively monitor and receive alerts for server situational and performance changes.
  • Supported over 50, primarily Linux, servers
  • Interfaced with developers to deploy code to test and production environments.
  • Translated Nessus scan reports, and implemented remediations.

Skills

  • Windows/Linux
  • PowerShell
  • Networking
  • Automation
  • Git
  • Azure
  • Virtualization
  • SANs
  • Project Management
  • Process Improvement

In Conclusion

I've been lucky enough in my career to have been able to experience a lot of different technologies.. from Windows and Linux to custom RaspberryPi solutions. Email migrations, remote office commission and decommission. From maintaining cable plant and telco termination to IDF re-wiring and field deployments to support remote staff. I've worked for various manufacturers, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Software companies and a Civil Engineering firm. I feel the diverse environments has shaped my outlook in a unique way and allows me to be very flexible and accomodating in the work place.

Multiple IT courses and certifications to include:

AWS: Cloud Practitioner, AWS: Solutions Architect, A+, Network+, Exchange 2010, , MCSA, MCP, Windows Server 2016, Python, Git, Django, PowerShell, and Basic Web development (HTML & CSS), VMWare vSphere, Azure.

Surveying Solutions, Inc.

Systems Engineer

Standish, MI

Oct 2019 to Present

    As a lone wolf Administrator I am responsible for all technology aspects for the company. I provide IT solutions to the business and aim to increase efficiency, reliability, and performance of the computing and storage environment. I provide Tier I thru III level support and administer every system SSI has.
  • Sole IT support for ~140 end users, majority being remote
  • Manage all servers, communications, networking, also manage ~60TB of data.
  • Responsible for bringing technology to the table in intracompany discussions.
  • Stood up Netapp Filerr, production and DR w/SnapMirror to replicate data.
  • Upgraded all networking equipment to Ubiquiti Unifi with Watchguard firewalls

Globe Fire Sprinkler

Sr. IT Manager

Standish, MI

Apr 2018 - Oct 2019

    As part of a 3-person IT team I lead and mentor the IT Administrator Assistant and manage all servers and networking hardware to include Cisco networking, VMware ESXi 6.5 HA cluster, multiple HP MSA SANs, and the HA failover FortiGate firewalls. As well as multiple application servers and wireless presentation and meeting equipment. Worked with multiple departments to optimize use of technology. Created upgrade plan for all remaining Windows 7 machines and manage software licensing. Worked with facilities to create and tweak proposed building surveillance equipment and expanding WiFi coverage for the property.
  • Managed, mentored two other IT employees
  • Planned, executed email migration to ExchangeOnline/Office365
  • Worked with other department heads to help form tech solutions to solve workflow problems.
  • Implemented automation for on and off-boarding to maintain consistency

Montana Interactive LLC (NIC, Inc.)

Systems Administrator

Helena, MT

Oct 2016 - Mar 2018

    As a member of the SysOps team I help provide support for over 60 servers that provide web services for the state of Montana government and its citizens. We work closely with the developer team to roll out and deploy new services, code changes to existing services and migrations to new platforms. Our environment is primarily CentOS with about a dozen Windows servers ranging from 2008 to 2012. We support a full life cycle development environment from dev to test and production along with off-site DR. We utilize Jenkins for automated deployments, Nginx proxies, ManageEngine for Windows server monitoring, Ansible for configuration management and a local Git repo for code management. Since I've been here I've managed a project to migrate our test and prod Oracle servers to version 12. Implemented the Manage-Engine server to help proactively monitor and receive alerts for server situational and performance changes.
  • Supported over 50, primarily Linux, servers
  • Interfaced with developers to deploy code to test and production environments.
  • Translated Nessus scan reports, and implemented remediations.

Skills

  • AWS Certifications
  • Windows/Linux
  • PowerShell
  • Networking
  • Automation
  • Git
  • Azure
  • Virtualization
  • SANs
  • Project Management
  • Process Improvement

In Conclusion

I've been lucky enough in my career to have been able to experience a lot of different technologies.. from Windows and Linux to custom RaspberryPi solutions. Email migrations, remote office commission and decommission. From maintaining cable plant and telco termination to IDF re-wiring and field deployments to support remote staff. I've worked for various manufacturers, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Software companies and a Civil Engineering firm. I feel the diverse environments has shaped my outlook in a unique way and allows me to be very flexible and accomodating in the work place.