{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jsonresume/resume-schema/v1.0.0/schema.json",
  "basics": {
    "name": "Zach Howard",
    "label": "Systems Administrator | IT Infrastructure & Networking",
    "email": "zachdhoward@proton.me",
    "url": "https://resume.zachtech.ca/it-systems/",
    "summary": "Engineer with experience spanning software quality, automation, developer tooling, IT infrastructure, and backend systems, plus a self-directed Linux, container and networking background. More than a decade of hands-on work across IT, custom development, QA and DevOps for multiple companies and studios (freelance since 2013).",
    "location": {
      "city": "Oshawa",
      "region": "ON",
      "countryCode": "CA"
    },
    "profiles": [
      {
        "network": "GitHub",
        "username": "zdhoward",
        "url": "https://github.com/zdhoward"
      }
    ]
  },
  "work": [
    {
      "name": "ZachTech",
      "position": "Owner / IT Consultant",
      "location": "Oshawa, ON area",
      "period": "March 2026 – present",
      "highlights": [
        "Founded ZachTech, a local IT services business, and am building its client base."
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Eterio Realities",
      "position": "QC Lead",
      "location": "Victoria, BC",
      "period": "March 2025 – March 2026",
      "highlights": [
        "Worked directly with developers to integrate testing and quality practices throughout development.",
        "Developed internal tooling using Claude Code to improve product knowledge access and debugging workflows.",
        "Coordinated QA testing activities with a team of 1-2 testers and assisted with QA hiring and onboarding."
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Electronic Arts",
      "position": "Associate Quality Designer",
      "location": "Vancouver, BC",
      "period": "March 2024 – June 2024",
      "highlights": [
        "Triaged defects, investigated issues with software engineers, and communicated technical findings across teams, including coordinating QA requests with Central QA."
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Keywords Studios",
      "position": "QA Specialist, embedded at Electronic Arts",
      "location": "Vancouver, BC",
      "period": "April 2020 – March 2024",
      "highlights": [
        "Validated changes to internal build systems and developer workflows and created testing strategies for complex engineering systems.",
        "Wrote documentation, pioneered remote (work-from-home) technical support for the team, and helped onboard others while Central QA established official procedures.",
        "Embedded QA on the Frostbite Build Tools team, working directly with software engineers on internal developer tools and workflows used across AAA game projects."
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Mountain West Studios",
      "position": "IT Coordinator",
      "location": "Vancouver, BC",
      "period": "September 2018 – April 2020",
      "highlights": [
        "Managed network planning, maintenance and recovery processes and supported internal technical operations.",
        "Developed backend systems for automated video rendering and delivery, and automation for business workflows."
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Saved By Technology (now Long & McQuade Pro)",
      "position": "Systems Administrator & IT Specialist",
      "location": "Toronto, ON",
      "period": "January 2016 – August 2018",
      "highlights": [
        "Served as the company's computer specialist: repairs and support, including helping people with disabilities obtain computers through the company's ADP program.",
        "Developed internal software tools and utilities for sales and operational workflows.",
        "Fully in charge of the company's Amazon sales channel."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "projects": [
    {
      "description": "Designed and run a self-hosted homelab on two Unraid servers: about 40 Docker Compose-managed services, including Authentik SSO (with Postgres and Redis), Nginx Proxy Manager, Cloudflare tunnel and dynamic DNS, and Grafana and Prometheus monitoring."
    },
    {
      "description": "Home network on UniFi gear connecting two Unraid servers, a Raspberry Pi OS host, and other single-board computers and IoT devices."
    },
    {
      "description": "Built AIUsageMonitor (open source, v1.14.1): an ESP32 touchscreen desktop display with C++/Arduino firmware, fed over USB serial by a Python collector, showing AI subscription quotas and live system telemetry.",
      "url": "https://github.com/zdhoward/AIUsageMonitor"
    },
    {
      "description": "Design and run multi-agent AI development workflows with Claude Code and Codex, assigning models to tasks by strength and managing context to keep output reliable."
    }
  ],
  "skills": [
    {
      "name": "Infrastructure",
      "keywords": [
        "Linux",
        "Docker",
        "Docker Compose",
        "reverse proxies",
        "networking",
        "DNS",
        "VPNs",
        "monitoring with Grafana and Prometheus",
        "Cloudflare",
        "Tailscale",
        "Authentik"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Scripting",
      "keywords": [
        "Bash and PowerShell scripting"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Languages & Tools",
      "keywords": [
        "Python",
        "JavaScript",
        "TypeScript",
        "SQL",
        "REST APIs",
        "Git",
        "GitHub"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Testing & Quality",
      "keywords": [
        "Test automation",
        "end-to-end",
        "regression and integration testing",
        "test planning and strategy",
        "release validation",
        "defect investigation"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "education": [
    {
      "institution": "Seneca College",
      "area": "Computer Programming & Analysis, 2011 – 2014"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "variant": "it-systems",
    "keywords": [
      "systems administration",
      "Linux",
      "Docker",
      "networking",
      "UniFi",
      "DNS",
      "monitoring",
      "Grafana",
      "Prometheus",
      "IT support"
    ],
    "source": "claims verified or confirmed by the candidate"
  }
}