About Me
Hey, I’m Jesse 👋
I’ve always been the kind of person who can’t just use something without eventually wanting to know how it works. Buttons invite curiosity. Systems invite experiments. And computers… well, those became the ultimate puzzle box.
Fast-forward to today: I work in IT at a school district, keeping infrastructure running, building automation, solving strange problems, and trying to make technology feel less like chaos and more like something people can trust.
MacAdmins has been a meaningful part of my professional world for years. This photo was taken at the Penn State Creamery during PSU MacAdmins in 2019. I’ve been very lucky to be a regular attentdee at the PSU MacAdmins Conference since 2012!
This blog is my personal notebook. A place where I write things down before I forget them, share experiments, and document whatever I’m learning. Just me being me.
Nothing here is endorsed by or affiliated with my employer.
How I Got Into IT
My path wasn’t planned — it just… happened. Looking back, it’s a pretty good story:
- I started by taking apart electronics as a kid — sometimes putting them back together correctly, sometimes not.
- Got my first “broken” computer from someone who said, “If you can fix it, you can keep it.”
(Challenge accepted.) - Fixing that one computer turned into fixing more, until suddenly I was “the tech person” without realizing it.
- Got pulled into real-world problem-solving, where there are no perfect instructions — only experiments.
- Realized I loved the puzzle of it: the unknown, the troubleshooting, the “oh that’s why it was broken” moment.
- Found myself in IT professionally, doing exactly the kind of work I’d been unintentionally training for my whole life.
I didn’t follow a straight line. But every curiosity-driven detour eventually pointed to the same place.
Major Milestones Along the Way
Some moments stand out — not because they were glamorous, but because they nudged me toward the kind of work I love today.
💡 The moment I realized “IT is my thing.”
Someone handed me a computer that wouldn’t boot and said, “If you figure it out, it’s yours.”
A couple hours of trial-and-error later…
It worked.
And I was hooked.
🖧 Building my first real internal infrastructure
The first time I was handed an actual production system and trusted to design or repair it was a huge milestone. There’s nothing like the “no pressure, but don’t break it” moment to sharpen your skills.
🚀 Designing automation that saved hours (and sanity)
Solving a repetitive process with a clean automation layer hit me with the “okay — this is what I want to keep doing” feeling. That simple win started a much larger journey into scripting, workflows, and internal tools.
🔧 Creating internal tooling (Musky, MOSBasic, etc.)
There was a moment where I realized I wasn’t just fixing systems anymore — I was building them.
That shift changed everything.
📦 Moving big services into cleaner, containerized stacks
Seeing infrastructure become more predictable and maintainable because of design decisions I made — that’s one of those milestones that sticks with you.
🧪 Solving a problem no one had seen before
Every IT person has that one “what on earth…” issue that they manage to solve. My milestone was the first time I cracked one of those — realizing I had leveled up without even noticing.
None of these were flashy achievements. But each one nudged me further into the world I’m in now.
What I Work On
These days, my focus is on:
- infrastructure and systems design
- automation workflows
- Mac management with Mosyle + SwiftDialog
- backend scripting
- Docker-based stacks
- internal tools
- random fires that appear out of nowhere
- making processes smoother and more predictable
I like when things run cleanly. I love when messy processes become neat.
Projects I Tinker With
I enjoy working on projects that make life easier or solve real problems.
🛠 Musky — Device + Workflow Tooling
A custom web-based internal toolset for device lookups, user workflows, automation, and internal admin processes. It started small and grew into a surprisingly capable ecosystem.
🧩 MOSBasic — Script Framework
A shared library of logging, helpers, utilities, and reusable functions that powers many of my automation workflows.
📦 Mosyle Automation Workflows
- SwiftDialog-based workflows
- credential handling
- event-driven scripts
- variable extraction and processing
- MDM setup + user interactions
- repeatable device workflows
🛰 Infra + Network Experiments
DNS, email security, monitoring, containerized rebuilds, modernizing legacy systems — I’m always poking at something new.
🧪 Late-night experiments
The best ideas often start as:
“Okay but what if I just try this real quick…”
Why This Blog Exists
Because future-me forgets things.
Because I enjoy sharing what I learn.
Because writing things down makes them better.
This blog is my:
- notebook
- experiment log
- troubleshooting archive
- idea drawer
- long-form brain space
Some posts will be polished.
Some will be messy.
All will be honest.
Outside of IT
When I’m not in the middle of some technical project, you’ll find me:
- spending time with family
- exploring new ideas
- building things just for fun
- unwinding and recharging
Curiosity doesn’t really turn off, but I’ve learned how to let it wander.
🍽 Our Family Restaurant
Another part of my world — separate from IT, but still important — is our family restaurant. I’m not here to advertise it, but it’s a meaningful chapter of my life, and like everything else with wires or Wi-Fi, I somehow became the unofficial tech support for it.
Every now and then I’ll mention something I did for the cameras, network, or whatever oddball issue decides to show up during the dinner rush. These aren’t business plugs — just real stories and the kind of behind-the-scenes moments that happen when your family runs a place and you’re “the tech person.”
It’s one more corner of life where curiosity (and troubleshooting) always seems to follow me.
Want to Connect?
Find me here:
- GitHub: https://github.com/jsmillie
Always happy to talk shop, share ideas, or see what you’re building.