So, I’m Jeremie Daniel, a member of cyberstorm.mu, living on a small island called Mauritius in the Indian Ocean (you can find it on the map below!). Since around 2016, I’ve been using Linux and experimenting with things like Nmap, scanning ports, and even learning how to use vi—LOL.
I began my journey with a project in mind: participating in the Google Code-In (GCI) 2016-2017. I was 17 years old at the time and started using Ubuntu, learning how it worked, and diving into Drupal development for GCI. It was Loganaden Velvindron from cyberstorm.mu who initiated the effort to find students from my school, Collège du Saint-Esprit, to take part in this event. After the competition, I ranked third and received some cool rewards along with a certificate of participation. You can also view it on my old blogpost : HERE.
I joined Nitin and Logan in a group called hackers.mu and worked mainly IETFs and blog posts on blogger. I’ve also written on medium. You can read about my IETFs’ experiences on my old blog pages. Then in 2018, we created the group cyberstorm.mu.
In 2018, I began my first year at the University of Mauritius on Computer Science, diving deeper into the IT world to improve my skills. I learned a wide range of technologies, some of which were outdated at UoM. However, working with cyberstorm.mu allowed me to gain hands-on experience with newer technologies and contribute even more to open-source projects. During this time, we also participated in Google’s Hash Code competition.
I also participated in IETF 102, where I worked on implementing TLS 1.3 in nmap and MinIO. Additionally, I focused on interoperability testing for TLS 1.3 with various libraries, including OpenSSL, BoringSSL, WolfSSL, and TLSlite-ng. This involved testing different types of handshakes such as full handshakes, session resumption, 0-RTT (zero round-trip time), and HelloRetryRequest (HRR). All of this was done in an Airbnb with friends, making it a collaborative and memorable experience.
In 2019, I had the opportunity to attend the Africa Internet Summit (AIS) in Uganda, sponsored by the Internet Society, with Logan. It was an amazing experience where I met many great people, including Charles Eckel and Christer Weinigel.
During my second year at university, the coursework became more challenging, but I continued to support cyberstorm.mu. I also attempted to participate in Google Summer of Code (GSoC) by working on a honeypot project, though I wasn’t accepted. Despite this, I stayed active in the tech community, attending conferences such as DevCon, AfPIF, Infotech, and a talk on BGP leaks by Jérôme Fleury.
In my final year of university, during 2020-2021, I had to choose a final year project. None of the topics offered by the university interested me, so I asked my mentor for a suggestion and was given the title “Congestion Control for QUIC.” Initially, I had to do extensive research to understand QUIC and how it works. I also had to learn Rust, which was challenging at first.
Ultimately, I worked on quiche, which is the implementation of the QUIC transport protocol and HTTP/3. My task was to code various extensions in quiche to enhance its speed while maintaining its security features. All of this work was done under the supervision of Cloudflare and my university supervisor.
After university, I immediately started working as a Linux system administrator at AM Web Solutions, which was connected to GroupeHisi (now known as Easyteam). On my first day, I began training on the tools we use for the job, such as ITSM (which included monitoring and ticketing systems), Veeam, Remote Desktop Manager, MobaXterm, vSphere, vCloud, FortiGate, and Bitdefender.
I made a lot of friends while working at AM Web Solutions, and thanks to them, I grew both professionally and personally. They were incredibly supportive and helped me through everything, allowing me to level up in many aspects of my career and life. I even attended one of my mate’s weddings, which made the experience all the more special.
Years of Linux Mastery: My Journey at work
AM Web Solutions / Easyteam (September 2021 – present):
Over the years, I’ve worn many hats as a Linux System Administrator, overseeing a sprawling fleet of 1,500 servers and ensuring everything runs smoothly. From configuring services like DNS, Apache, and SSL to scripting automation solutions that make life easier, I’ve tackled it all. Managing Fortigate tasks, disk space, and backups is second nature, and I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with teams across multiple time zones. Troubleshooting? That’s just another day at the office. With each challenge, I’ve gained the kind of expertise that only comes with time and dedication.
Of course, I couldn’t include every single detail here, which is why I created my blog at notbignoob.com. It’s my little corner of the web where I share insights, tips, and a bit of everything I’ve learned along the way.
….. [ in progress ]
