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Introduction

Hello Ubuntu Community, My name is haqking but i go under a few different aliases depending on where i am on the net.

About Me

I am 38 and from the UK. I have lived and worked in the USA for the last 4 years but recently relocated back to the UK. I started with Computers back in 1982 or 83 i think. I cut my teeth on a Sinclair ZX80 which got handed down to me from my brother but then moved swiftly to the dizzy heights of the ZX81 in all its glory. Anyways from there i went the usual route of programming in various BASIC packages and changing machines from Sinclair to Commodore, Acorn, Apple, Amstrad etc etc. Eventually the IBM PC/AT and been with Intel ever since pretty much apart from a short stop off with a AMD Laptop, other than that Intel all the way.

In 1989 i joined the Military as a a member of the Parachute Regiment where as a career i was pretty much dropping IT or any hope of it, but i stuck with it as a hobby and in my very rare free time I frequented various BBS and then when the WWW came about i jumped on the band wagon using CompuServe as my ISP (oh the glorious days of Dial-up and the Hayes AT command set), did the usual stuff, played games, chatted via IRC, usenet etc. Got in the underground a little and experimented in exploring security mechanisms so on and so forth.

In 1995 i was disabled out of the military (nothing major but hindered my career) and went to work for a local college in a IT Support Capacity, at the same time taking a BTEC HND in Business Computing. In 1998 i took my first Microsoft Certified Professional Exam and went on to complete 35 in all over the years giving me MCSE + Security, MCSE + Messaging, MCSA, MCP+i, MCDBA, MCT etc etc. In 1999 i started teaching the Microsoft Courses for budding engineers both in a permanent capacity and contract roles for various Microsoft CTEC's (as it was back then) eventually moving into Training Management and then leaving for a more hands on environment.

In 1999 i also took a vacation which opened up another career avenue for me, whilst vacating in the Florida Everglades i came across an opportunity i carried on fulfilling as a Everglades Wilderness Guide for many years to come (3 months at a time here and there) until 2007 when i moved to the USA permanently to carry out the role. Over the years i juggled IT Contracting and working as a Guide in the Glades giving me a wonderful combination of career choice and life experience. I set up my own little consulting company whilst living in the USA and worked when guiding was quiet in the IT Security arena. Eventually coming back to the UK and retiring from the Guiding earlier this year.

I left Microsoft as an OS a few years ago, before that i was running Linux as dual boots or virtualised switching natively to Linux in about 2008.

As far as certification goes along with the above i am a CISSP, CEH, Comptia (Security +, A+, Net+, Linux+, Server+) LPT, LPIC, CCNA, and a few others. I stick mainly in the Linux world nowadays though i use virtualisation alot for testing or running a specific app.

I was until a few days ago working as a IT Security Manager but now i am back to free time and deciding my next move, which of course gives me more time to hang out in the UF and participate hopefully for the benefit of the community.

Ubuntu

I started looking at Ubuntu back with Dapper Drake and played with it, then again with Feisty Fawn. Eventually i made the switch to a native Karmic Koala install and upgraded to my now stable and happy with 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, i also run Debian 6.0 on my other laptop and run virtualisation on both for anything else. My main Workhorse is a Lenovo R61 Duo Core with 4Gb Ram running as i say Meerkat, and my Debian machine is a Thinkpad T42.

Ubuntu Community & Contributions

With the switch to Ubuntu permanently i started frequenting the UF as a guest and browsing the forums, eventually joining a mere 3 months ago in June 2011. Initially i made a few faux pas with posts etc, not being conversant with the CoC and guidelines and the like, an infraction and a couple of warnings but eventually i settled in and hopefully have become one of the community now. I spend alot of time in the forums and mainly try to assist where i can if i can. I suspect that i post most often in the ABT and GH areas as well as Virtualisation and Security and occasionally i nip into the Cafe for a latte and some light humour if i am bored. I have tailored my posting style hopefully now to fit into the community and be as helpful as i can where i can, alot of the time my posting style can seem very pedantic or sarcastic but i am working on that so as not to offend anyone as i certainly never mean to. I think i have made a substantial number of helpful posts since my membership began and also try to guide others from making mistakes i made or almost made. I consider myself a black-belt in Google-Fu and so if i cant answer directly im pretty sure i can direct someone to a source of inspiration.

I report spam, abusive posts, multiple posts whenever i can so as community effort is not diluted, and try to help whenever i see fit either with definitive answers or links to areas i think may help and i try to remain polite all the time.

I have recently subscribed to the mailing list for the The Ubuntu Beginners Team and the The Ubuntu UK Loco Team and possibly hope to become a member of the teams in the future to aid and assist newcomers to Ubuntu.

I am enjoying the community and will continue to participate and hopefully increase my community portfolio by bug reporting, joining groups, writing tutorials etc.

You can also find me hanging out on irc.freenode.net as haqking, in the following channels:

#ubuntu-beginners-team #ubuntu-beginners

so feel free to ask me any questions if you see me there but remember i am not actually a member of the team, i will try my best to help or even just to chat

Comments

Feel free to leave comments

Haqking's responses are usually some of the best in a thread. His answers are useful, and even funny. I completely support his application for membership, and I wish him good luck.-IWantFroyo

Thanks man i appreciate your comments and support.-haqking

You have posted many helpful things on the forums and I wish you success. -OpenOffice.org

Haqking has been influential to me in a multitude of ways on the Ubuntu forum. His experience in the information security field has made him a great mentor for me and I'm sure countless others. I have several personal successes in my career which can be attributed in part to his knowledge. I fully endorse his request for Ubuntu membership and hope that some day I have the opportunity to work with him on a professional level. -Dangertux