Hello! My name is Jakub Paweł Cichon.

I'm a highly technical IT Professional with 6 years of experience. I find myself drawn to technology because of what it enables me to do. What I enjoyed most about my academic experience was writing code in R and Python for statistical computing. I found that love for solving problems with code manifested itself again when I joined the workforce. I worked as a Web Infrastructure Specialist at a banking software company in Connecticut starting in September 2018 where I had the opportunity to support critical enterprise applications and learn a whole lot more about web technologies and infrastructure than I ever knew, while at the same time learning there was so much more that I didn't know. What started as a level 1 position focused primarily on supporting a million+ user web application with on-premise infrastructure, and doing sometimes repetitive but critical work, blossomed into a role where I learned the power of automation, I discovered the joy of code through learning PowerShell, and I served as a force multiplier for my team by enabling them with custom tools that reduced toil. My ultimate goal was to transform my role into one that aligned with what I had discovered about myself: I like to a) question assumptions, b) solve real problems that you can only identify by doing the actual work, and c) learn new things for the sake of knowledge (I value competency, and strive to improve mine). In September 2022, I enrolled in a Full Stack Coding Bootcamp that enriched me with modern web application development practices and gave me an environment to work collaboratively with eager students of the craft. Given I was still working full-time, this was both a thrilling and exhausting endeavor, though it was invaluable experience despite the latter. After the end of the program, I decided to leave my current employer to take a break and pursue the next phase of my career. In hindsight, I can say that -- given the tech job market -- this wasn't my best idea! I had a brief stint at a local university doing application support, and decided to return to my former employer in a new role and a new domain, focused on technical risk and security.

I'm professionally experienced with supporting distributed applications, application deployment, automation, tool development, and incident management. I love the power of shell scripting, whether it is PowerShell or Bash. I like to build tools to solve my own problems. I'm constantly looking to fill the gaps in my knowledge. I'm particularly interested in web development, Linux system administration, and the command line interface. I have a low-stakes homelab set up in which I run Debian Linux on some old hardware with too many hard drives, which primarily serves as my network storage. I really enjoy using macOS for my main workstation and I've been using Macs alongside Windows for over 10 years now. I love the UNIX Philosophy. I'm also a fan of free open source software and the ethos behind it.