What is this site?
Hi! I'm Jacob and this is my lab that I built to help me get more hands on experience inside of Azure. Below you'll find more information about me, and if you click on "About the Lab" it will take you to a breakdown of how this site and the snake game are hosted.
About Me
I’m a passionate Systems and Network Engineer with 7+ years of hands on experience supporting Military, Municipal, and private sector environments. My journey started at the helpdesk and grew into systems administration before moving up to full-time Systems Engineer and Project Engineer roles.
I have a strong background in Windows Server, Active Directory, and networking working with client environments ranging from small businesses to large enterprises with multi site environments.
To validate my skills, I earned CompTIA Network+ and Security+ certifications, and most recently passed the AZ-104 exam on June 4th, 2025, becoming a Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator!
I love digging into complex infrastructure, figuring out how everything works, and then finding smart ways to optimize and secure it.
Speaking of security, along with my Security+ certification, I gained extensive experience working with secure and classified networks during my time in the Navy, where I regularly navigated DISA (Defense Information Systems Agency) security requirements.
Since then, I’ve worked with clients focused on strengthening their cybersecurity posture, including those advancing new security initiatives and organizations needing to comply with CJIS (Criminal Justice Information Services) requirements.
These experiences have given me a strong foundation in both government and private sector security standards, and I’m always eager to help teams not only meet but exceed their compliance and security goals.
Recently, the cloud has been something that has really interested me so I have been pursuing more knowledge and experience inside of Azure due to me already having a strong foundation in Microsoft technologies. (365, Windows Server, Entra ID, etc.)
Right now, I’m especially focused on growing my Azure expertise (Thinking about taking AZ-700). This website has been a great challenge, and I'm excited to continue building it out and adding more information and features.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Personal Life
I recently moved to the Madison area in Wisconsin. I have family in the area and I have been enjoying being able to spend more time with them. Some things I enjoy in my free time are playing video games, reading books, listening to podcasts and music, and spending time outdoors. I’m a big fan of sci-fi movies and books, and working on finishing the last book in the Dune series right now. When I go outside a lot of the time it is to disc golf, usually playing with friends and family. On the weekends, finding a new cafe, bookstore, or restaurant to explore is a common occurrence if I'm not out playing disc golf or hanging with friends and family.
Intro to the Azure Lab
This lab is deployed using Azure App Services, blob storage, Azure functions, Azure DNS and more. To fully embrace the cloud and proper devops practices, I decided to deploy this entire app/site with Terraform. I use a CI/CD pipeline connected to my Github to deploy the infrastructure. It's cost-efficient (< $30/month) and overengineered just enough to simulate a production-grade environment.
This project served as a hands on learning ground for me to get into Terraform for the first time in my career. Learning how infrastructure as code works, how to deploy resources in Azure, and how to use Azure App Services to host a website was an adventure but eventually it came online.
Click on "About the Lab" to get a detailed breakdown of the infrastructure and how it all works. Note: This is all still a work in progress, so expect changes and improvements over time. I plan to add more features and content as I continue to learn and grow in my Azure journey.
View the infrastructure code on GitHub.