The fundamentals
I learned to diagnose rather than guess—connections, routing, DNS, hosting and the surprisingly human side of support.
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA / ENGINEERING WITHOUT BORDERS
Senior engineer · Systems thinker · Technical builder
A career spent
making things work.
I began by fixing internet connections. Today I work across identity, security, cloud, infrastructure and the software that ties them together. The common thread has always been curiosity: understand the system, solve the real problem, and leave something better behind.
2013 → nowProfessional IT journey
L3Senior engineering & escalations
BuilderTools beyond the ticket
The whole story—not just the latest job title
01 / INTRODUCTION
Not one discipline.
One way of thinking.
TelecomsManaged servicesCloudSecuritySoftware
I'm Michael—a South African engineer shaped by over a decade of work where networks, servers, cloud services, people and deadlines meet.
My foundation is technical support and telecoms. My later work moved through infrastructure implementation, support management, owning a small IT practice and senior engineering for a US-based managed services environment.
Alongside client delivery, I develop scripts, web tools and practical automation. Some are operational; others are carefully labelled experiments. I enjoy building systems that make complicated work more visible, repeatable and supportable.
Read the full professional autobiography02 / THE JOURNEY
How I got here.
A progression from answering support calls to designing, troubleshooting and improving the systems behind entire businesses.
Beyond first-line answers
Complex fibre, wireless and voice incidents evolved into escalation work, team leadership and service operations.
Engineering the change
Implementations moved me from resolving faults to planning migrations, delivering infrastructure and securing environments.
Building a practice
I ran my own IT services business, combining engineering with client discovery, accountability, monitoring and continuity.
Systems at scale
Remote MSP work brought deeper Microsoft cloud, identity and endpoint projects, solution design and software-assisted operations.
03 / THE TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE
A broad technical foundation.
The stack evolved with the responsibilities—networks first, then servers and managed services, then Microsoft identity, cloud security and software-assisted delivery.
Microsoft cloud & identity
Entra ID, Exchange Online, Microsoft 365, identity policy and access administration.
Endpoint security & governance
Secure configuration from tenant discovery to pilot design, MAM rollout and threat defense.
Servers, virtualisation & backup
The Windows and Linux foundations on which so many cloud projects still depend.
Networks & communications
An ISP background that continues to shape how I diagnose modern hybrid environments.
Automation & development
Small scripts and focused applications where repeatability, visibility and integration matter.
Service delivery & engineering practice
The operational craft that turns an engineering change into something sustainable.
04 / SIGNIFICANT ENGINEERING WORK
Where theory meets reality.
A few anonymized examples from projects and tools that pushed me to solve the deeper problem.
A transfer that had to keep running
A scheduled, monitored document workflow built for long-term reliability—not just a one-time file copy.
Explore the storySafer mobile work, practical access
Application protection, Conditional Access, testing and the user-experience details that decide whether a rollout succeeds.
Explore the storyA personal engineering cockpit
A local planning and service-data companion created to connect project visibility with the way engineering work actually happens.
Explore the story05 / HOW I THINK
Systems should be
understandable.
"Working" is the starting point. I care about knowing why it works, whether someone else can support it, what happens when it fails and what evidence proves a change was successful.
01 / Discover before changing02 / Security with usability03 / Automate repetition04 / Leave a clear handover
06 / THE BUILDER SIDE
My engineering workshop.
Private utilities, deployed automations and exploratory platforms—not a catalogue of inflated product claims.
07 / CONSTANTLY LEARNING
Still a student.
Always an engineer.
My experience is primarily built in the field, supported by focused training and independent lab work. The next stretch is architecture: connecting tactical security controls to business risk and design decisions.
CURRENT STUDY · IN PROGRESS
Microsoft SC-100
Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect exam preparation: Zero Trust, security strategy and cross-platform design. Not yet a certification held.
Hands-on professional learning
More about my learning approach Coursework and labs spanning Microsoft Azure security, Google Cybersecurity, Sophos, Fortinet, ethical hacking and TryHackMe.
08 / LET'S CONNECT
Good engineering starts
with a good question.
I'm interested in meaningful infrastructure, Microsoft cloud, cybersecurity, automation and technical solution-design conversations—inside or beyond traditional MSP work.
BASED INPretoria, South Africa
REMOTEExperienced working with US teams
LANGUAGESEnglish / Afrikaans
RÉSUMÉDownload PDF résumé ↗