Cedric Cliatt Jr.

Cloud & Network Engineering Student

I build and run real infrastructure while I learn it.

I'm Cedric Cliatt Jr. — studying cloud and network engineering, and putting it into practice on a home lab I actually maintain, small applications I actually use, and operational problems for a real business. Cloud, networking, Linux, automation and the code that ties them together.

See what I've built About me Get in touch

Currently Linux administration

Open to internships and entry-level cloud/IT roles

01 — About

I learn by building things that have to actually work.

I'm working toward a Bachelor of Science in Cloud & Network Engineering at Western Governors University, with an AWS specialization. Most of what I know outside of coursework came from picking a problem I actually had and building something to solve it.

That pattern repeats: a home lab that started as one spare machine and turned into a small set of self-hosted services I depend on daily; a bar that needed a better handle on its inventory, so I built tooling for it; personal apps for budgeting and habits because the off-the-shelf versions never fit. Each one taught me more than a tutorial would have.

My interests sit where infrastructure meets software — cloud platforms, networking, Linux and Windows administration, automation, and writing the code that ties them together. I'm comfortable with programming fundamentals in Java, C++ and C#, and I use those same fundamentals in the Python and web work my own projects need.

I'm early in this career and I'd rather be accurate about that than oversell it. What I can point to is a habit of shipping working systems, running them, and fixing them when they break.

02 — Skills

Technologies I work with

Grouped by area rather than dumped in one list. These are things I've worked with — the depth varies, and I'd rather say that plainly than imply mastery across the board.

Cloud

The focus of my degree and where most of my study time goes.

  • AWS
  • Cloud infrastructure concepts
  • Virtualization
  • Infrastructure fundamentals

Networking

Coursework plus a home network I actually have to keep running.

  • TCP/IP fundamentals
  • Routing & switching concepts
  • DNS
  • VPN / overlay networking
  • Firewall rules

Systems & Infrastructure

Day-to-day environments for both study and personal projects.

  • Linux (Ubuntu Server)
  • Windows
  • Systems administration
  • Self-hosted services
  • Service management
  • Backups

Development

Languages from coursework, and what I reach for when building.

  • Java
  • C++
  • C#
  • Python
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • SQL / SQLite

Web

Front-end work for my own projects and internal tools.

  • Web development
  • Flask
  • Responsive layout
  • Static site tooling

Tools & Workflow

What the work runs through.

  • Git
  • GitHub
  • Microsoft 365
  • AI-assisted development
  • Command line
  • Documentation

03 — Projects

Things I've built

Personal and technical projects. Most of these run on hardware I maintain, which means I also get to deal with them when they break.

Home lab architecture

The home lab is where most of my Linux, networking and service-management practice happens. Everything reaches it over an encrypted private network rather than an open port, and storage is split by purpose so a rebuild never puts the data at risk.

My devices Laptop, phone, desktop Private overlay network Encrypted, device- to-device Host firewall Default deny UBUNTU SERVER Network services Network-wide DNS filtering Self-hosted applications Python web apps, each run as a managed background service Storage OS Apps Media Backups Four volumes, separated by purpose Nothing is exposed directly to the public internet — the overlay network is the only way in.
How the home lab fits together. Conceptual — deployment specifics are deliberately left out.
Infrastructure Maintained

Home Lab & Self-Hosted Infrastructure

A personal Ubuntu server running the services I use every day. It handles storage split across separate drives for the OS, applications, media and backups, network-wide DNS filtering, private remote access, and the small web apps I write for myself. It is where I practice the Linux administration, networking and service management side of my coursework on something I actually depend on.

  • Ubuntu Server
  • Linux
  • systemd
  • Networking
  • DNS filtering
  • Backups

Needs detail Confirm this description and the architecture diagram above are accurate before sharing the site.

Private repo
Personal Tools Maintained

Sage — Expense Tracker

A self-hosted web app for tracking what I spend and seeing it summarised by month. Built to fit how I actually budget rather than how a commercial app assumes I do.

  • Python
  • Flask
  • JSON storage
  • HTML/CSS

Needs detail Add the repo link if you want this one public, plus a screenshot.

Private repo
Personal Tools Building

Cove — Habit & Skill Tracker

A tracker for habits, recurring chores and skills I am working on, backed by a small relational schema so history is queryable rather than just a running list.

  • Python
  • Flask
  • SQLite
  • HTML/CSS

Needs detail Confirm the current status and add a repo link or screenshot.

Private repo
Personal Tools Building

Bruno — Fitness & Grocery Planner

Tracks workouts and nutrition, and turns planned meals into a grocery list. The most data-model-heavy of my personal apps — it is where I have done the most work on schema design.

  • Python
  • Flask
  • SQLite
  • HTML/CSS

Needs detail Confirm the current status and add a repo link or screenshot.

Private repo
Web Building

This Site

A static portfolio built with Astro. All of the content lives in typed data files separate from the components, so updating a project or a skill is a one-file edit rather than a rewrite. Deployed automatically from the main branch.

  • Astro
  • TypeScript
  • CSS
  • GitHub Actions
  • GitHub Pages

Needs detail Add the repo URL for this site once you are happy publishing it.

Private repo

04 — Now

What I'm working on

A running snapshot of what has my attention right now, rather than a finished list. It changes often.

  • AWS services and architecture

    Learning

    Working through the AWS specialization in my degree — core services, how they fit together, and building small things on them rather than only reading about them.

  • Networking fundamentals

    Learning

    Routing, switching, DNS and firewalls, reinforced by keeping my own network segmented and working.

  • Linux administration

    Building

    Running Ubuntu Server day to day — service management, permissions, storage layout and backups.

  • Self-hosted application stack

    Building

    Adding to the set of small Flask apps running on my home lab, and improving how they are deployed and backed up.

  • Automation

    Experimenting

    Replacing the manual steps in my own workflows with scripts — deployments, backups, and routine maintenance.

  • AI-assisted development

    Experimenting

    Using AI coding tools as part of how I build, and learning where they help and where they need to be checked.

  • Web development

    Building

    Front-end work for my own tools, and static site tooling — this site included.

Last updated: September 2026

05 — Applied Work

Technology for real operations

Work where the constraints came from a business rather than from me. Different problem shape than a personal project — the requirements arrive from how people actually work, and the system has to survive a busy shift.

Solar Grove Assistance

My own business — founder and the person doing the work

sg-assistance.com
Building

Practical AI and admin help for small businesses and solo professionals: setting AI tools up around the work a business already does, closing the gaps where information gets retyped between systems, ongoing back-office support, and small custom tools where nothing off the shelf fits. It grew out of the same observation as most of the work below — the hard part is rarely the technology, it is fitting a system to how people already work.

Areas of work

  • AI workflow setup
  • Automation and integrations
  • Admin and back-office support
  • Custom small tools
  • Astro
  • TypeScript
  • Python
  • Flask
  • SQLite
  • Linux

The Library on Carson

Independent technology and process work

Maintained

Worked on technology and process projects for a bar, focused on inventory and the day-to-day operational workflows around it. The problems here were less about interesting technology and more about fitting a system to how people actually work during a shift — which turned out to be the harder part.

Areas of work

  • Inventory management
  • Operational workflows
  • Data organization
  • Process improvement
  • Business tooling

Needs detail Add the technologies you used once you are happy naming them publicly, and check with the business before publishing anything more specific about their operations.

06 — Journey

How I got here, and where it's going

Not a long résumé — a record of how the skills actually accumulated, and what I'm aiming at next.

  1. Early on

    Started programming

    First real exposure to writing code — Java, C++ and C#, and the fundamentals underneath them: variables, control flow, functions, and how a program is actually structured.

  2. Along the way

    Built the first home lab

    A spare machine turned into a server. Learning Linux by having to keep something running rather than by following along with a lesson.

  3. Recently

    Technology work for a local business

    Applied the same skills to a real operation — inventory and workflow problems at The Library on Carson, where the constraints came from how a business actually runs.

  4. In progress

    B.S. Cloud & Network Engineering — WGU

    Currently pursuing the degree with an AWS specialization, covering cloud platforms, networking, systems and security.

  5. Ongoing

    Building and running my own systems

    A growing set of self-hosted services and small applications, maintained rather than abandoned — which is where most of the actual learning happens.

  6. Next

    Cloud and network engineering, professionally

    Working toward a role where I can do this at scale: cloud infrastructure, networking and the automation that holds it together.

07 — Contact

Get in touch

Happy to talk about cloud and networking work, a project, or a role. The quickest way to reach me is below.

  • Email TODO: add the address you want people to use
  • GitHub TODO: add your GitHub profile URL
  • LinkedIn TODO: add your LinkedIn profile URL
  • Résumé TODO: drop a PDF in public/ and link it here