Hello, world!

Hello, world! I’m Troy. For as long as I can remember (and before I can remember honestly), I’ve always been fascinated with technology.

My parents told me when I was 2 or 3 years old I sat down at our family computer and asked “How do you spell dot com?”. I loved playing video games throughout my childhood. I remember we got a PS1 around the time I was 4 years old. The first game I ever played was Crash Bandicoot 2. It’s still one of my all time favorite games / series. I have very fond memories of playing video games with my siblings, cousins, friends, from the PS1 days of Crash and Spyro, to the PS2 classics like Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper, Star Wars Battlefront, and many many more over the years.

When I was around 10 years old, my brother found Game Maker, and we both began making games of our own. Eventually this evolved into us learning C# together when we were in middle school and messing around with XNA. We then started to play Minecraft with all of our friends, which resulted in me learning how to configure, host, and administer Minecraft servers and then I also began developing plugins and mods for Minecraft too.

In high school, I took a few classes in Java and web development, but my hobbies had shifted away from the conventional IT nerd into music nerdery. I spent countless hours producing music in FL studio, making beats, teaching myself some guitar, piano and ukulele, music theory, etc.

After high school, I decided not to pursue college (temporarily, I swear) until I decided what I wanted to do with my life. I considered learning a trade like elecrical or auto mechanics, but I was never particularly passionate about either. I ended up working at an Ace Hardware store for a year. My boss’ brother worked at the store with me for a few months, but then got hired at our local Cable company in Customer Service. My boss told me that the job would pay more than the store could afford, and that it had benefits. So, I applied that night, interviewed the next day and started a week later.

I was introduced to the world of Cable MSOs by chance, and quickly excelled at the technical side of the job. I knew what an IP address was, how a computer works, ping, ports, how to log into a router page and port forward, etc from my childhood, which come to find out was pretty abnormal. After a year in customer service, a NOC role opened up. One of the NOC technicians suggested I could study for JNCIA and apply for the role, and so that night I went home, purchased a JNCIA course on Udemy and began studying. I didn’t take the test then, but I did land the role and found myself immersed in true networking for the first time. I’d be lying if I said networking didn’t intimidate me at first, or if I said I wasn’t a lazy teenager during my time in the NOC.

After about a year into the NOC job, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. I quickly got my butt in gear and started to study. I moved into a DOCSIS/CMTS support role, and started to really fall in love with technology again. I certified for JNCIA and JNCIS during my time in that role.

I then changed companies and really dove deep into the world of ISP IP/MPLS networks. After a few years I returned to the company I started at, which I’ve gained additional experience in Linux administration, Enterprise, DC and ISP networking, DOCSIS and GPON, and programming. I passed the JNCIP-SP in 2024 and now I’m actively pursuing JNCIE-SP, which I hope to take by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

I’ve always loved writing, and have been told I’m pretty decent at it. My goal with this blog is to share my stories, knowledge, and experiences with other people. They always say the best way to master something is to teach others, so that’s what I’m hoping to accomplish here. There’s always something new to learn in this industry and there are certainly times where I wish I could find a resource for some bizzare thing. I’ve touched plenty of uncommon network technologies that I can’t wait to write about.

One of my favorite ways to describe what I do is “Internet Firefighter”, so I had to come up with some corny play on words for the name, mixing a well known fire response drill with some MPLS or VLAN tag actions.

Remember kids, when your network is on fire, Swap Pop and Roll!

Thanks for reading!