Services
This is mostly out of date, but feel free to read it and contact me with any job prospects.
This is the part of the website where I try to convince you to hire me (Teran). This is where I presumably have just one shot to impress you, and can hopefully earn some money in return for my abilities. I'll be honest and won't overhype myself more than my conscience will allow, but I would certainly like to be hired.
The first prospect for me being hired (or not) is whether you are looking for a service, and if you aren't, if I can convince you that you need my services. If I simply can't be of use to you, I guess I won't be getting very far in this writing. If I can be, you also have to be convinced that I can do what it is you need me to, and that I am the best person for the job. My first policy is honesty, and I won't tell you that you need something I don't truly believe you do, and would do for myself. I also don't want you to go to the hassle of paying me if I end up giving you a one word solution to a problem which takes me a minute to solve. But If I end up saving you money in some way or reasonably benefit you (and it takes more than a few minutes of my time), I would certaintly appreciate payment (thus, my payment is quite flexible).
But let's get to the second question. I would start with what I can do for you, but first I'll say what I can do, and then the services I offer. This is in a nutshell anyways. See this page if you are really curious for more details.
Alright, so that's what I can. But what can I do for you? Basically, any of the above through mostly consulting, but I would certainly consider longer term jobs fully implementing something, rather than just addressing problems as they come up. With my diverse knowledge set and quick researching ability and my schedule, the service I can best offer is consulting, mostly as a go-to person. If you or someone else in your company is stuck on an IT problem within my knowledge set I would be happy to help. I offer consulting over the phone, email, and instant messaging to help you get on track with an issue, give advice, help fix issues directly, or just about what ever else you need. I offer my services to the technically inclined, and those who are less sure of themselves in that regard. I am not a complete expert in many fields, but I feel that my well-rounded skills and quick learning and adaptiblity make me a good person to turn to. But, if you are in need of full jobs beyond issues just as they come up, I am available for some of those. So, that's what I do. I consult, for the most part.
Here are some more specifics of what I could help with or do fully:
But how does payment work?
In regards to consulting services, I am quite flexible. If I spend 5 or 10 minutes and easily fix the issue, unless I've somehow saved you thousands of dollars, I would rather you not go through the hassle of paying me. Now, if that happens three times in a row, or it takes me 30 minutes and some effort to solve an issue, I would certainly want payment. Overall, with all of my services (especially consulting), I ask for reasonability with payment. My minimum rate is $30 per hour, but it doesn't mean you should only pay me that. If I've just saved you a good bit of money, I would appreciate a larger payment. If I've only helped mariginally, I don't mind receiving only my minimum rate at all. It really depends on the job, but I'd like you to use your judgement. I want to offer the best service I can to you within reasonability; I would appreciate a reasonable (sometimes the mininum, sometimes several times more than the minimum) payment in return for what I have accomplished.
Payment is done through Paypal (using the donation page for now; note that Paypal also supports credit cards), but if you prefered, I could also accept check or cash in person (or through mail). I'm possibly open to payments through other means, such as goods or services.
Personal (possibly work-applicable) notes:
All in all, I hope that I can offer a quality service to you, whether that be consulting, web design, hosting, or anything. I realize that this page lacks in specifics at the moment. I may change the payment scheme or policies in the future, but I do feel that this is reasonable. Let me know what you think or if you need anything, and I'll do my best to help.
Thank you,
Teran McKinney
This is the part of the website where I try to convince you to hire me (Teran). This is where I presumably have just one shot to impress you, and can hopefully earn some money in return for my abilities. I'll be honest and won't overhype myself more than my conscience will allow, but I would certainly like to be hired.
The first prospect for me being hired (or not) is whether you are looking for a service, and if you aren't, if I can convince you that you need my services. If I simply can't be of use to you, I guess I won't be getting very far in this writing. If I can be, you also have to be convinced that I can do what it is you need me to, and that I am the best person for the job. My first policy is honesty, and I won't tell you that you need something I don't truly believe you do, and would do for myself. I also don't want you to go to the hassle of paying me if I end up giving you a one word solution to a problem which takes me a minute to solve. But If I end up saving you money in some way or reasonably benefit you (and it takes more than a few minutes of my time), I would certaintly appreciate payment (thus, my payment is quite flexible).
But let's get to the second question. I would start with what I can do for you, but first I'll say what I can do, and then the services I offer. This is in a nutshell anyways. See this page if you are really curious for more details.
- PHP/MySQL/PostgreSQL web applications (though not much coding experience). Good bit of experience with Drupal 6 multi-site installs.
- Postfix SMTP email servers.
- Dovecot POP3/IMAP email servers.
- Thorough Linux experience, and some Windows experience.
- Linux package building (Pacman PKGBUILD, ZENBUILD, Slackware) and distribution development.
- Limited graphics design experience (don't ask me to design a logo just yet, but I can do some basic work).
- Moderate experience in BASH shell scripting, XHTML, brief HTML5, CSS; moderate-low experience in Lua and x86 Intel-syntax assembly; low experience in C and C++. You can ask about other languages if you are curious, but I only know enough for basic hacking at code in most other languages, if anything at all.
- Linux design and reasonable understanding of everything required for Linux to boot. From the Linux kernel, a possible initramfs, init, to init scripts.
- Wide variety of exposure to different applications and tools. Not necessarily strong in all of them, but I have heard of and used many.
- Good security understanding and practical application. I realize parts of how vulnerable almost every layer of the networking stack is (ARP and NDP poisoning, DNS spoofing, SSL null byte vulnerabilities, CA issues, PEBKACs, BGP issues), but also have a strong security-mindset with application level systems security understanding (webapps, SQL injection, database overgrowth).
- Desktop and server assembly experience, also some experience with laptop repair.
- OSS4
- Understands the usefulness of serial consoles (even at 9600 bit/s) :-).
- Putting everything together into a polished product; I like to keep a strong emphasis on the last 10% of a project and make everything mesh nicely together.
- General systems performance mindset. I am good keeping a memory efficent, yet high-performing and stable mindset through all of my coding.
- HTTP servers, namely lighttpd. Experience with SSL, too.
Alright, so that's what I can. But what can I do for you? Basically, any of the above through mostly consulting, but I would certainly consider longer term jobs fully implementing something, rather than just addressing problems as they come up. With my diverse knowledge set and quick researching ability and my schedule, the service I can best offer is consulting, mostly as a go-to person. If you or someone else in your company is stuck on an IT problem within my knowledge set I would be happy to help. I offer consulting over the phone, email, and instant messaging to help you get on track with an issue, give advice, help fix issues directly, or just about what ever else you need. I offer my services to the technically inclined, and those who are less sure of themselves in that regard. I am not a complete expert in many fields, but I feel that my well-rounded skills and quick learning and adaptiblity make me a good person to turn to. But, if you are in need of full jobs beyond issues just as they come up, I am available for some of those. So, that's what I do. I consult, for the most part.
Here are some more specifics of what I could help with or do fully:
- Drupal installation and diagnostics, including third party modules and themes.
- General Linux troubleshooting and guidance.
- DNS, and domain name registration questions.
- Security advice (and possibly some testing).
- Application of choice advice (what I can best recommend for a particular task).
- Setting up a home or work server, from the ground up (just the basic steps, I am possibly not currently at a state to do all of this work myself due to wanting to use Icadyptes but it not being far enough).
- Odd problems that you have already searched thoroughly and have no answer for.
- Networking support.
- IPv6 integration.
- Possibly high-end jobs, such as distribution design help, package management design, and more advanced (and well paying) opportunities.
- Emergency help in any area; security breaches, emergency backups, almost anything.
- Server reachability and network testing.
- Some programming help, although I'm not currently as strong in this as I would like to be.
- Ideas on just about anything and suggestions with difficult problems.
- And if there is anything not listed, you can ask me about it.
But how does payment work?
In regards to consulting services, I am quite flexible. If I spend 5 or 10 minutes and easily fix the issue, unless I've somehow saved you thousands of dollars, I would rather you not go through the hassle of paying me. Now, if that happens three times in a row, or it takes me 30 minutes and some effort to solve an issue, I would certainly want payment. Overall, with all of my services (especially consulting), I ask for reasonability with payment. My minimum rate is $30 per hour, but it doesn't mean you should only pay me that. If I've just saved you a good bit of money, I would appreciate a larger payment. If I've only helped mariginally, I don't mind receiving only my minimum rate at all. It really depends on the job, but I'd like you to use your judgement. I want to offer the best service I can to you within reasonability; I would appreciate a reasonable (sometimes the mininum, sometimes several times more than the minimum) payment in return for what I have accomplished.
Payment is done through Paypal (using the donation page for now; note that Paypal also supports credit cards), but if you prefered, I could also accept check or cash in person (or through mail). I'm possibly open to payments through other means, such as goods or services.
Personal (possibly work-applicable) notes:
- Understands and uses the Metric system. I also use milimeters where applicable; I try to avoid centimeters to tenth precision.
- Internationally experienced and knows the difference between a milliard and a million.
- Uses ISO 8601 date notation, and is fine with times given not from my own time zone. For example, 2009-09-09 13:37.
- Electronics experience and understanding (albiet, rusty); E=I*R, P=I*E (but no experience with Maxwell's equations).
- Prefers to work over the internet, but can do phone or in person if the situation requires.
- Realizes that this page is probably way too laid back for most potential customers, but hopes to find his niche market with you.
- Knows that the cake is a lie.
All in all, I hope that I can offer a quality service to you, whether that be consulting, web design, hosting, or anything. I realize that this page lacks in specifics at the moment. I may change the payment scheme or policies in the future, but I do feel that this is reasonable. Let me know what you think or if you need anything, and I'll do my best to help.
Thank you,
Teran McKinney