I am Cory Stephenson.

I graduated from Tennessee Technological University in December of 2018 with a B.S. in Manufacturing & Engineering Technology. I also earned minors in Business, Mathematics, and Computer Science. While pursuing my undergraduate degree at Tennessee Tech, I was also selected as one of ten students to take part in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) summer internship for two consecutive years.

In May of 2021, I graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with an M.S. in Information Systems Security & Assurance. I had my first exposure to Linux in the spring of 2019. One thing I've never really been able to do is install Arch Linux without the assistance of that Python installation script.

My accomplishments for 2023 include installing the developer's edition of RHEL on one of my laptops, implementing a Synology NAS DS923+ device formatted as a SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID), and learning how to leverage ChatGPT for coding and learning more about Linux. I'm using my NAS as a more centralized location for local and cloud data, as well as my iPhone's photos. Just last week, I figured out to SSH into my NAS and created my first Docker container running an instance of Grafana, which I haven't used yet (A Grafana customer representative emailed me about that, so the application must be running semi-successfully). Although I'm familiar with Docker's containerization process, I'm not too familiar with the commands yet, or what they do.

I'm primarily studying for the CompTIA Security+ SY601 certification right now. I'm still looking for a job, and it's not too easy to get that initial interview. Everybody wants more experience than what I possess at this time. But in the meantime, I figure I can hone my coding skills.

I've got some experience with Tableau, and it's a great product, but I've always had my sights set on learning how to create data visualizations in Python and maybe using the resulting visualizations in LaTeX via Overleaf or Kile on KDE Plasma as the LaTeX frontend. Speaking of which, I used Python on Windows 10 for the first time to create a few charts (thanks ChatGPT). I'm working on a new business card for myself with LaTeX. I found a way to convert a professional headshot into a pencil sketch using Python (I've started a repo for this project if anyone wants to check it out).

• 🔭 I’m currently developing a handful of shell scripts for Linux System Administration purposes in general.
• 🌱 I’m currently studying for my CompTIA Security+ certification.