gerryk.com

I am a Unix admin, programmer, web designer and netizen. I have been involved in computers since the early 80s, and have been paid for that involvment since 1987.
I began my experience with Unix in 1996, with Slackware Linux, kernel 1.something and have been an avid supporter of Linux and the Open Source Movement ever since. I use Open Source Software in preference to commercial where possible. I started administering Unix networks in 2000, having managed a few servers prior to this. Since this time, I have managed networks of hundreds of machines with at least as many users. I have been involved with media streaming, enterprise level web sites, office networks and network security.
I started my career as a programmer, developing database software for the retail market, and from this, gained excellent experience in ascertaining the needs of the customer and giving them at least what they need, and, where possible, what hey want.
I became a freelance consultant in 2005, advising and managing small office networks, and in 2007, completed the transition to complete self-employment. As a consultant, I am asked to advise on a diverse range of subjects, some only distantly related to computer systems. I am, however, excellent at seeing through complexities to the root of a problem. This has come in handy.
I also do website design, but am not a graphic designer. I know my way around graphics design, but leave the really funky stuff to the experts. I am, however, a dab hand at PHP, Perl, MySQL, Javascript and, recently, Ruby on Rails.

Of late I have specialised in Drupal. I find it to be powerful and scaleable, and, although the learning curve is steep, it is well worth it, as I don't believe that there is a CMS out there that can handle such diversity of content, with such user-transparency and with such scaling potential. In the last year and some, I have built about 12 Drupal sites, two of which have high levels of content and high traffic.