Kodi.tv
My Media Center has grown in complexity over the years, and Kodi remains infinitely hackable to suit my needs.
My name is Nick
and I'm a Linux addict.
I started experimenting with Linux as a hobbyist back around 1999 with my first installation of Slackware on a Compact Presario and was instantly hooked. Around 2007, I moved to a Linux desktop full time. After a few years of building websites for friends and family, then acting as a technical consultant locally, I was recruited for my first 'Corporate' Linux Administrator job and never looked back. 4 companies later, I've held the titles of Linux Administrator, Linux Engineer, Senior Linux Engineer, Senior Site Reliability Engineer, Senior Cloud Engineer and am currently the Engineering Manager of a team of Senior Engineers and Architects.
Even though I took the management path in my career, I still eat, sleep, and breathe Linux and Open Source software. Throughout the years, I've been the president of two non profit organizations dedicated to Open Source software and the Linux operating system. Before moving cross country, I was one of the organizers for the largest community-run open source and free software conference in the state of Texas, Texas LinuxFest. I've been a member of the Linux Foundation, the Free Software Foundation, and the Electronic Frontiers Foundation.
I believe, as I did over 20 years ago, that Linux is absolutely the future. Linux has came a long way since my first installation of Slackware, and I look forward to seeing where it goes over the next 20 years.
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What I do
Projects and Passions
Despite my day job, I'm still an avid hobbiest in the community, here are a few fun things that I've been excited about lately:
Lemmy
As a privacy and security fanatic, I really like the idea of a self hosted social link aggregation and discussion platform. This empowers the users to take control of their own content and privacy. A long time ago, I anxiously awaited my invite to join Appleseed, the first open source distributed social network. When that project ground to a halt, I focused my excitement on the release of a similar project called Diaspora. While Diaspora did launch, it had more bugs, issues and leadership problems than the project could immediately handle, which more or less led to its EoL a few years ago. Lemmy is the first platform of this type that I've seen successfully launch with relatively few issues. The platform has recently seen a pretty decent spike in interest as issues from other social media platforms have driven more privacy minded individuals to Lemmy. I'm excited to see where this goes, and what other applications this inspires.
Linux Hackery
Years of introducing others to Linux and voiding warranties had me wanting to start a blog to pass on interesting knowlege. Unfortunately, I've had to leave my blog mostly neglected, with very few posts. However, watch this space, as I plan on ressurecting this project as soon as I am able.
Contact
Feel free to contact me! I generally don't bite!
Note for Recruiters: I'm currently located in Michigan and employed full time working remotely. This means that I am not interested in contracts, nor am I currently interested in relocating. If you have a full time remote position, or something close to my location, feel free to contact me!