Joey Pena

Portfolio

I am a Network Engineer and Systems Administrator with approximately a decade of professional experience in IT, specializing in enterprise networking, routing and switching, and infrastructure operations. My work focuses on building, configuring, securing, and troubleshooting production networks with an emphasis on correctness, reliability, and deep protocol-level understanding.

My primary discipline is network engineering. I work extensively with advanced routing, traffic behavior, fault isolation, and configuration-driven troubleshooting in complex environments. I approach networking as an engineering problem—not a checklist—spending significant time validating assumptions, testing failure scenarios, and understanding how networks behave under load, change, and misconfiguration.

In parallel with my networking work, I operate as a systems administrator, supporting and integrating networked systems, operating systems, and services. This dual perspective allows me to reason across layers—network, system, and service—when diagnosing issues and designing solutions.

Security is a serious technical focus and applied discipline alongside my core role. While not my primary job title, I invest heavily in hands-on security work to strengthen my network designs and operational decisions. This includes defensive analysis, adversary simulation in controlled lab environments, and security-aware infrastructure configuration. Security informs how I engineer networks; it does not replace that role.

This website serves as a living portfolio of practical engineering work. It documents real configurations, labs, how-tos, and technical breakdowns based on things I actively build, test, and troubleshoot. The intent is to reduce friction for others while maintaining a public record of applied networking, systems, and security work.

Certifications & Formal Training

  • Cisco CCNP (Enterprise / Advanced Routing – ENARSI)
  • Cisco CCNA (Routing & Switching)
  • Cisco Meraki CMNA
  • CompTIA CySA+
  • EC-Council CHFI
  • CompTIA Security+
  • CompTIA A+
  • CompTIA Linux+ (LPIC-1 equivalent)
  • Adobe Certified: After Effects, Illustrator, Premiere Pro CS6, Flash CS6

Certifications reflect formal training and validated knowledge; practical experience extends beyond them through ongoing professional and lab-based work.

Technical Focus Areas

  • Enterprise routing and switching
  • Advanced network troubleshooting and fault isolation
  • Infrastructure and systems administration
  • Network-aware security design and analysis
  • Configuration correctness and operational reliability
  • Hands-on lab work and adversary simulation

Public Work & Labs

For a practical view of how I work, how I think, and how I solve problems, the rest of this site is the portfolio.