# About Me — Carter

## 💼 Professional & Technical Background
- **Current Role:** Technical Service Representative at MCA in Chattanooga, TN, with a strong trajectory and focus toward **Systems Administration**.
- **Enterprise IT & Support:** Experienced in Tier 1 and Tier 2 enterprise IT support, providing high-reliability troubleshooting, hardware/software diagnostics, and user support.
- **Healthcare Deployment:** Specialist experience in large-scale healthcare system migrations (Epic EHR/EMR deployments), ensuring seamless transitions for critical clinical workflows.

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## 🖥️ Self-Hosted Infrastructure & Homelab
- **Hypervisors & Core Systems:** Multi-tiered infrastructure utilizing bare-metal TrueNAS SCALE for ZFS storage, a Linux Mint host running CasaOS for container orchestration, and Proxmox VE for virtualized security appliances and testing workloads.
- **Storage & Data Management:** Bare-metal ZFS array management, snapshot scheduling, and storage pool maintenance powering centralized network storage and self-hosted media services (Plex/Jellyfin).
- **Local-First Home Automation:** Home Assistant stack utilizing hardware passthrough for Zigbee controllers, MQTT brokers, Bluetooth services, and ASUSWRT presence detection. Configured with local energy monitoring (Powercalc) for real-time utility tracking.
- **Zero-Trust Networking & Access:** Deployed Tailscale mesh overlay network for encrypted, zero-trust remote administration across lab nodes without opening inbound router ports to the public internet.
- **Enterprise Sandbox & Operations:** Utilized as a practical sysadmin lab for hardware log diagnosis, power stability testing, containerized service deployment, and maintaining local-first data sovereignty.

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## 📡 Off-Grid LoRa & Mesh Networking Infrastructure
- **Mobile & Vehicle Node Engineering:** Designed and deployed a vehicle-mounted 915 MHz mobile node utilizing an RB-400 hatchback lip mount and coaxial cable routing. Engineered an isolated LiFePO4 battery setup in the trunk for continuous off-grid power independent of vehicle ignition.
- **Multi-Platform Hardware Builds:** Built, flashed, and tuned nodes across diverse architectures, including Seeed Studio XIAO nRF52840 + Wio-SX1262, Elecrow Thinknode M2, SenseCAP T1000-E (featuring custom MagSafe mounting), and RAK WisBlock weather-resistant solar/repeater builds.
- **Protocol & Firmware Optimization:** Hands-on configuration and firmware deployment for both Meshtastic and MeshCore ecosystems, focusing on node role parameters, hop limits, power profiles, and RF coverage optimization.
- **Regional Infrastructure & Coverage Mapping:** Mapped and expanded regional 915 MHz LoRa mesh coverage across the Chattanooga and Cleveland, TN corridors while participating in local repeater site planning and network growth initiatives.

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## 🔧 Hardware, Linux & Custom Builds
- **Custom PC Architecture:** Deep experience designing, building, and benchmarking custom high-performance systems (AMD Ryzen & Radeon platforms).
- **ASUS ROG Ally Z1 Extreme — CachyOS Optimization Summary:**
  - **OS & Kernel Tuning:** Precision installation of CachyOS with customized kernel parameters and optimized BIOS settings for x86 handheld performance.
  - **Input & Handheld Daemon Setup:** Configured Handheld Daemon (HHD) to manage controller mappings and rear back-button rebinds. Bypassed Steam Input to pass raw XInput directly through HHD, eliminating input conflicts and latency in titles like *Warframe*.
  - **Power & Efficiency Management:** Configured and tested customized 15W TDP power profiles to balance thermals, battery life, and frame pacing during mobile gameplay.
  - **Custom Linux Deployment:** Overcame non-traditional hardware hurdles to maintain a streamlined, desktop-grade Arch/CachyOS environment on handheld silicon.

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## 🎮 Personal Interests & Hobbies
*Outside of IT and homelabbing, I'm usually building MTG Commander decks, fine-tuning handheld Linux hardware, listening to EDM, or catching up on anime like TenSura.*

- **Tabletop & Strategy:** Active *Magic: The Gathering* (MTG) Commander format enthusiast.
  - Signature Commander Decks: *Chatterfang, Squirrel General* and *Lightning, Army of One*.
- **Gaming:** *The Legend of Zelda* series, *Warframe*, and *MTG Arena*.
- **Music & Anime:**
  - **Music:** Electronic Dance Music (EDM).
  - **Anime:** *That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime* (TenSura) and other fantasy/sci-fi favorites.

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## 📬 Connect & Contact
- **Email:** [fireflame2121@gmail.com](mailto:fireflame2121@gmail.com)
- **LinkedIn:** [linkedin.com/in/alex-dabbs-6385b3217](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-dabbs-6385b3217)
- **GitHub:** [github.com/zixxorb](https://github.com/zixxorb)
- **Resume:** [Download Resume (PDF)](Resume/resume.pdf)