Chester, PA · Greater Philadelphia · Open to work
Hello, I'm

Melvin Williams

Seventeen years of operations discipline, four industry certifications, and an enterprise lab I built and run myself. I learn infrastructure by standing it up, breaking it, and documenting the fix.

Melvin Williams
📍 Chester, PA
About

About me

I am an IT Support Specialist based in the Philadelphia area. I build, configure, and maintain real infrastructure including Active Directory, Group Policy, Microsoft 365, and physical Cisco routing and switching. I deploy systems, test them under real conditions, and work through failures until they are completely resolved. All of the labs, network builds, and documented fixes are right below to prove it.

Behind that technical foundation is seventeen years at FedEx, where I learned how to operate under strict deadlines with total accountability. When something goes wrong in the field, there is nobody else to pass the problem to. I bring that same ownership to IT, meaning I can jump into your ticketing queue on day one, communicate clearly with users, fix the root cause, and keep your daily operations running smoothly.

What I'm Looking For

I am actively targeting Tier 1 and Tier 2 IT Support and Desktop Support roles across Greater Philadelphia, Delaware County, Chester County, Montgomery County, South Jersey, and northern Delaware. I am open to full-time, contract, and contract-to-hire opportunities, and I am available immediately for on-site, hybrid, or remote positions across first, second, or third shifts.

Credentials

Certifications

Four earned since October 2025, all verifiable through Credly. One actively in study, two mapped out next.

Actively studying
Microsoft AZ-104
AZURE ADMINISTRATOR
Next on the roadmap
Microsoft SC-300
IDENTITY & ACCESS ADMIN
Cisco CCNA
NETWORK ASSOCIATE
Capabilities

What I bring

Certification knowledge grounded in hands-on configuration, plus seventeen years of operational judgment that doesn't come from a course.

01

Help Desk Support

End-user troubleshooting across Windows 10 and 11 — password resets, MFA registration, profile issues, printer and peripheral faults, and software deployment. Comfortable owning a ticket from intake to documented resolution.

02

Identity & Directory

Active Directory Domain Services on Windows Server: OU design, user and group provisioning, Group Policy for lockdown and drive mapping, and NTFS permission layering on departmental shares.

03

Networking

Cisco IOS configuration on real hardware — VLANs, 802.1Q trunking, inter-VLAN routing, single-area OSPF, NAT, EtherChannel, and standard and extended ACLs. Studying toward the CCNA now.

04

Virtualization

Proxmox VE running the VMs and containers behind my entire lab, with snapshots, scheduled backups, and network bridges segmenting lab traffic from the rest of the environment.

05

Cloud & Microsoft 365

Built and administered a Business Premium tenant end to end: Entra ID groups, license assignment, Teams and SharePoint structures, and role-based permission separation. AZ-900 certified, AZ-104 in study.

06

Security Fundamentals

Security+ certified, applied in practice: least-privilege access design, MFA enforcement, NTFS permission layering, workstation lockdown through Group Policy, and network segmentation across VLANs.

07

Documentation

Every lab I build gets written up publicly on GitHub — configuration steps, screenshots, and the problems I hit along the way. Good documentation is the difference between a fix and a repeatable fix.

08

Operational Discipline

Seventeen years working against hard service windows where a missed deadline has direct cost. I triage by impact, communicate status before I'm asked, and don't leave a problem half-owned.

Track record

Experience & projects

Lab projects first — built from bare metal up. Professional experience follows. Amber marks lab builds, teal marks the day job.

2026 · HOME LAB

Active Directory Domain Services

Windows Server 2022 · Proxmox VE
Full domain environment with identity management, policy, and disaster recovery
What I built
  • Deployed a domain controller (MEL-DC-01) with static IP, DNS, and an AD forest for MELVINLAB.local, then joined a Windows 11 workstation (MEL-CL-01) to the domain.
  • Built a nested OU hierarchy across IT, HR, Finance, and Sales with 20 provisioned user accounts, security groups, and delegated local admin rights.
  • Authored Group Policy for password enforcement, automated drive mapping with Item-Level Targeting, and workstation lockdown across departmental OUs.
  • Configured NTFS/SMB share permissions, enabled AD Recycle Bin with a 180-day recovery window, Volume Shadow Copies, and Windows Server Backup.
↗ View full documentation on GitHub
Windows ServerAD DSGroup PolicyDNSNTFS/SMBBackup & DR
2026 · HOME LAB

Microsoft 365 Helpdesk Operations

Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Cloud identity and collaboration administration · 30-day evaluation tenant
What I built
  • Provisioned 11 licensed users across three departments, configured Entra ID security groups, and assigned roles with least-privilege access in mind.
  • Stood up three Teams workspaces and linked SharePoint sites with custom channel structures and hierarchical folder layouts (Projects, Network_Upgrade, Onboarding_Automation, Security_Audit).
  • Implemented role-based SharePoint permissions with inheritance disabled, verified OneDrive sharing controls, and confirmed Exchange mailbox routing end to end.
  • Ran the full helpdesk lifecycle: user provisioning, MFA registration, license changes, password resets, and access requests — documented for reproducibility.
↗ View full documentation on GitHub
Microsoft 365Entra IDTeamsSharePointExchange OnlineOneDrive
2026 · HOME LAB

ServiceNow ITSM Lab

ServiceNow Personal Developer Instance
Helpdesk ticketing and incident resolution · 10-phase structured curriculum
What I built
  • Connected a ServiceNow PDI to a live Active Directory environment (MELVINLAB.local, 20 users) running on Proxmox, so every ticket is worked against real infrastructure — not a sandbox with fake data.
  • Structured 10 phases by ticket category — password resets, account lockouts, DNS, DHCP, network shares, printers, Group Policy, permissions, software deployment, and data recovery — each with three escalating scenarios.
  • The third scenario in every phase includes a deliberate red herring to practice ruling out the obvious fix and isolating the actual root cause before closing the ticket.
  • Executed the full helpdesk workflow on every ticket: reproduce the fault, document the diagnostic steps, resolve, and close — no ticket was authored and marked resolved without the work being done.
↗ View full documentation on GitHub
ServiceNowIncident ManagementActive DirectoryHelpdesk WorkflowTroubleshootingTicket Documentation
2026 · HOME LAB

Azure Administrator Lab

Microsoft Entra ID · Azure RBAC · Azure Storage
Multi-layered identity and access control across directory and resource scopes · In progress
What I built
  • Built a multi-org Entra ID tenant with security groups, two Global Administrator accounts, and least-privilege role assignments across 10+ user accounts — scoped to directory, administrative unit, and resource level.
  • Created two Administrative Units to isolate Password Administrator permissions between organizations — neither team can touch the other's users despite sharing the same tenant.
  • Disabled storage account access keys and switched to Entra ID-only authorization, then scoped Storage Blob Data Reader to each team's private container — demonstrating that resource Owner roles do not grant data-plane access without explicit assignment.
  • Verified Entra authentication end-to-end with file upload and confirmed cross-team privilege escalation is blocked at every scope.
↗ View full documentation on GitHub
Microsoft Entra IDAzure RBACAzure StorageAdministrative UnitsLeast PrivilegeIdentity & Access
2026 · HOME LAB

Enterprise Network Infrastructure

Cisco 2901 Routers (2×) · Cisco 3750X Switches (2×)
Production-grade routing and switching integrated with Proxmox virtualization
What I built
  • Configured router-on-a-stick inter-VLAN routing across 3 production VLANs (10, 20, 30) plus an isolation VLAN 999, using subinterfaces on a Cisco 2901.
  • Implemented single-area OSPF dynamic routing between routers with passive interfaces on user-facing segments.
  • Built LACP-based EtherChannel redundancy between core and access layer 3750X switches with 802.1Q trunking throughout.
  • Applied standard and extended ACLs for NAT control and inter-segment filtering, and connected the physical network to the Proxmox lab via a trunk port.
↗ View full documentation on GitHub
Cisco IOSOSPFVLANACLEtherChannelNAT
SEPTEMBER 2009 — PRESENT · 17 YEARS

FedEx

Warehouse Handler → Courier
High-volume logistics operations, Greater Philadelphia
Role progression
2009 — 2011
Package Handler
Warehouse operations. Learned the network from the inside out — sort flow, scan accuracy, and what breaks when volume spikes.
2011 — 2014
PM Courier
Moved from the building to the road. Owned pickup commitments against fixed evening service windows.
2014 — 2019
Swing Driver
The utility role. Covered any route, any shift, AM or PM, on short notice — which meant learning every route in the station rather than one.
2019 — Present
Courier, Dedicated Route
Own a fixed route end to end, including the customer relationships on it.
Key contributions
  • Advanced through four roles in seventeen years, moving from warehouse operations to the road and into the utility position the station relied on for coverage.
  • As swing driver, absorbed unfamiliar routes and shifting schedules on short notice — the operational equivalent of walking into an unfamiliar environment and getting productive fast.
  • Troubleshoot scanning hardware, handheld device faults, and dispatch communication issues in the field with no escalation available.
  • Own customer-facing problem resolution end to end — the same accountability loop a Tier 1 and Tier 2 ticket queue runs on.
OperationsTroubleshootingCustomer ServiceShift FlexibilityTime-Critical Work
Stack

Technical skills

Configured hands-on in my lab, not just studied.

Operating Systems

Windows 11Windows 10Windows Server 2022Ubuntu ServerDebianmacOS

Networking

Cisco IOSOSPFVLANs / 802.1QInter-VLAN RoutingEtherChannelNATACLsDHCPDNSTCP/IPTailscale

Identity & Directory

Active Directory DSGroup PolicyEntra IDRBACMFANTFS Permissions

Cloud & Productivity

Microsoft 365Azure FundamentalsExchange OnlineSharePointTeamsIntune

Virtualization & Infrastructure

Proxmox VELXC ContainersHyper-VVirtualBoxDocker

Security

Least PrivilegeMFA EnforcementEndpoint HardeningNetwork SegmentationNTFS PermissionsVaultwarden

Tools & Ticketing

ServiceNow (coursework)PowerShellCommand LineGit / GitHubRemote DesktopWireshark

Hardware & Systems

Proxmox VEWindows Server 2022Windows 10/11Cisco Routing & Switching HardwarePC Hardware Components

Identity & Administration

Active DirectoryMicrosoft 365 Admin CenterRole-Based Access Control (RBAC)Group Policy (GPO)IAMNTFS PermissionsDHCPDNS

Support Tools

ServiceNow (ITSM)JiraRemote DesktopTicket Lifecycle ManagementTechnical TroubleshootingIncident Reporting
Get in touch

Let's connect

I'm actively looking for Tier 1 or Tier 2 support, junior systems administration, or network technician roles in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Message sent!

Thanks for reaching out. I'll get back to you soon.