About | Shariq Ilyas

My path into IT began with an A.S. in Information Technology from Northern Virginia Community College, followed by the Merit America IT Career Program in 2019, which is what actually moved me into the field professionally. That led straight into a help desk role at Telos supporting U.S. Census 2020 field staff: federal information-handling procedures, real SLA pressure, and several hundred people who needed their device working now, not after a ticket queue.

In 2020 I started my own online retail business and have run it for the five years since. It turned into an unplanned systems administration apprenticeship. I architected and still administer a multi-node Windows Server environment across seven cloud instances, with automated failover, centralized logging, webhook alerting, and scheduled credential rotation across a 16,000+ endpoint network. Nobody assigned me that work, which is exactly why I learned it properly.

Running that infrastructure pulled me toward security, which is what pushed me to keep going with my education. I'm now completing a B.S. in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance at Western Governors University. In my free time I work on personal projects like txScout, a blockchain forensics tool, and run independent investigations tracing stolen and hacked funds across blockchains.

Experience

Where I've worked

2020 - Present

Owner & Systems Administrator

Self-Employed, Online Retail Business · Remote

Running the business end to end, and building the infrastructure it runs on.

Architected and administer a multi-node Windows Server environment across 7 cloud instances with automated failover and 24/7 uptime requirements
Built centralized logging, monitoring and webhook alerting, with automated health checks across a 16,000+ endpoint network and rotation policies to surface failures early
Engineered secure credential workflows including automated validation and scheduled password rotation to enforce access-control policies
Run operations across multiple sales channels and coordinate a contract developer on automation and operational strategy

Oct 2019 - May 2020 · 8 months

Help Desk Specialist

Telos Corporation (contract) · Ashburn, VA · Hybrid

Tier 1/Tier 2 support for U.S. Census 2020 field staff, in a federal enterprise environment.

Delivered remote technical support to U.S. Census 2020 field staff via phone and remote sessions, prioritizing first-call resolution to reduce repeat tickets and improve end-user satisfaction
Diagnosed and resolved hardware, software and network issues on Windows PCs, fingerprinting devices and routers, documenting steps and resolutions within ServiceNow (ITSM)
Performed Active Directory account management (password resets, account unlocks and re-enablement) following federal IT security and information-handling procedures
Configured and optimized Pepwave MAX cellular routers across field locations and imaged and deployed Windows PCs to the Census domain, partnering with cross-functional teams to triage tickets and meet SLA targets

Education

Where I studied

Aug 2025 - Present

B.S., Cybersecurity & Information Assurance

Western Governors University

Coursework across risk assessment, vulnerability analysis, incident response, access control and security architecture.

2019

IT Career Program

Merit America · Washington, DC

Intensive retraining program that moved me into IT professionally. Skill development covered:

Technical support: installing and configuring computer hardware, software and networks
Computer networking: standard protocols for TCP/IP, and network services such as DNS
Systems administration: server management, and user and information management
IT security: evaluating potential risks, and using encryption algorithms and techniques
Office 365 administration: deployment, troubleshooting, and security and compliance

2017

A.S., Information Technology

Northern Virginia Community College · Loudoun, VA

Core computing, networking and systems fundamentals.

Certifications

What I'm certified in

What I hold, with the dates they're good through.

CompTIA A+ (ce)

Jan 2026

Hardware, operating systems, networking fundamentals, security and troubleshooting methodology.

CompTIA Valid through Jan 2029

Google IT Support Professional Certificate

2019

Foundations in troubleshooting, networking, operating systems, system administration and security.

Coursera No expiry

Toolkit

What I work with

Grouped by how often I reach for them. I'd rather list fewer things I actually know than pad this out.

A bit of background

Where I've worked

Owner & Systems Administrator

Help Desk Specialist

Where I studied

B.S., Cybersecurity & Information Assurance

IT Career Program

A.S., Information Technology

What I'm certified in

CompTIA A+ (ce)

Google IT Support Professional Certificate

What I work with

Operating systems

Networking

Security

Tools & platforms

Blockchain & investigation

Ways of working

Want the short version?