Less a git tree, more a manzanita -- fire-tested, slow-growing. Still branching.
About
John McDougal
Infrastructure Engineer & Technical Consultant in Sacramento, working across Linux, virtualization, networking, storage, automation, documentation, and AI infrastructure.
I listen first
I'm the IT guy who listens. Not the one who pattern-matches to the most likely fix and moves on -- the one who keeps the loop open until the actual problem comes into view.
The habit of taking a problem apart until it makes sense started early. During a long power outage when I was a kid, I took apart a computer, got lost in the process, and learned to put it back together with help. What stayed with me was more than the hardware: understand how the pieces interact before prescribing a fix, improve what matters, test the result, and explain what changed.
That thread has carried through help desk and break-fix work, systems administration, project coordination, and independent technical practice. I like solving technical problems, but the best part is the moment a frustrating problem turns into “I didn’t know I could do that.” Getting there means staying with both the system and the person using it long enough to understand what they are actually trying to do, find the real problem, and leave something they can understand, run, and support.
How I work
I translate operational needs into technical work: deploy the thing, validate that it works, troubleshoot across layers when it does not, and document the path so someone else can support it later.
That work has put me between customers, users, vendors, contractors, developers, and multidisciplinary teams. I care about the handoff as much as the fix, because a system is only finished when the people using it can understand what changed and what to do next.
Professional experience
IT Systems Administrator / Infrastructure Lead — Manufacturing
Modernized infrastructure across three manufacturing businesses, including server platforms, physical networking, backups, endpoint management, asset inventory, and support workflows.
Coordinated ERP and manufacturing-system integration with developers and vendors, translating operational requirements into documented technical workflows and support procedures.
Delivered employee support and training while evaluating ITSM/RMM capabilities for documentation, monitoring, escalation visibility, and repeatability.
Support Technician / Systems Administrator — Managed services
Installed, configured, maintained, and troubleshot more than 150 physical and virtual servers across 100+ managed-services client environments.
Resolved 40–80+ weekly support requests while supporting servers, endpoints, applications, identity, hardware, networks, Microsoft 365, and Azure AD environments.
Worked with customers, vendors, and contractors on cabling, racks, enterprise Wi-Fi, switching, AV-integrated rooms, installation, validation, documentation, and transition into support.
Compliance Officer / Operations Support — Regulated operations
Managed compliance and inventory systems, maintained accurate operational records, and developed SOPs for repeatable work.
Supported hardware, labeling, data quality, photography, and process-improvement needs in a regulated operational environment.
Independent technical practice
Outside employment, I use my lab and writing projects to test ideas before they become claims. That includes Linux systems, Proxmox and virtualization, networking, storage and backup design, Docker, automation, documentation, and GPU-enabled AI infrastructure using Ubuntu, NVIDIA drivers and CUDA, NVIDIA Container Toolkit, Ollama or llama.cpp, LiteLLM, and repeatable validation notes.
Okta learning path -- in progress -- selected for the What's Next by Okta Learning Grant. Skill assessments complete; hands-on labs in progress before the Okta Certified Professional exam.
Current cybersecurity studies at Calbright College.
This site is where I document the work publicly while it is still in progress. If something clicks, or you want to think through a problem together, start with the projects, writing, or contact links.