My home NOC setup is where coding, testing, and real-world operations meet. On the left is my desk; on the right is my wife’s. The tablet, laptop, and center server are federated so I can use them as one workstation, and detach the tablet or laptop in seconds when I need to be mobile.
Under the hood: three 48-port gigabit managed switches riding a 10Gb fiber backbone, a pfSense firewall to the internet, and a site-to-site VPN to my cloud VMs. I live in a large historic home, so I pulled a network drop to every room. It’s overkill, sure but delightful overkill.
This room doubles as my development hub. I write code on the main display, then test on the tablet and laptop to mirror real users. The server runs local LLMs/neural nets and soaks up the heavy jobs. That box has been rebuilt 20–30 times; don’t let the faceplate fool you. I also maintain an external connection to safely test firewall changes and security controls, breaking things in the lab so they don’t break in production.
For client meetings I’ve got an executive-style office downstairs (wood paneling, massive desk, awards on the wall). It’s great for formal conversations. But my favorite place is here—at the heart of the network. I built all of this because I love the work. It’s not just a job; it’s a way of life. Yes, I was that dad who read Cisco manuals at bedtime. (Highly effective sleep aid.)
I’m currently exploring IT leadership roles (IT Manager, AI, Infrastructure/DevOps, Security, or SRE). If your team needs someone who can design, secure, and run resilient systems (and enjoys teaching along the way) let’s talk.
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethdoerhoff/
My Resume: https://tectuma.com/Kenneth_Doerhoff_Resume.pdf
P.S. I’d love to see your home office or lab!
