My journey into tech started with a challenge: after graduating as a GIS major, I found myself locked out of the industry's standard tools due to the high cost of ArcGIS Pro and AutoCAD.
Refusing to be sidelined, I transitioned to the world of open-source. What began as a necessity—learning QGIS and LibreOffice—turned into a 5-year deep dive into the Linux ecosystem. Today, I'm a veteran Linux user dedicated to building open-source stacks that are as powerful as they are accessible.
🎯 Current Focus
- Infrastructure Automation: Mastering Ansible to transition my shell scripts into scalable, idempotent playbooks.
- Enterprise Security: Deepening my expertise in SSH hardening, advanced UFW/Fail2Ban configurations, and audit logging.
- Virtualization & Containers: Expanding my local lab capabilities by integrating Docker orchestration with my existing VirtualBox workflows.
🛠️ Technical Toolkit
-
Operating Systems:
-
GIS & Design: Google Earth, QGIS, GRASS GIS, LibreCAD.
-
DevOps & Automation: Bash Scripting, VirtualBox, Docker, Ansible, GitHub CLI.
-
AI & Productivity: Google Gemini, Google Suite, Local LLM Deployment (Ollama/Open WebUI), LibreOffice Suite.
-
Networking & Security: UFW, Fail2Ban, Nmap, Wireshark, SSH Hardening.
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/3ricvald3z
- GitHub: github.com/3ricvald3z
- Email: 3ric.vald3z@gmail.com
Fingerprint: C03C FA84 7BC6 D8F5 6FD5 C64E 3872 BD4F 0B36 9A37
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----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=5KLr
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----