// systems · cloud · ai

Nicholas
Izzo

Systems Administrator, cloud enthusiast and self-hosting advocate. Building toward Cloud Architect and AI Engineer — one lab at a time.

homelab → about me

currently: L31 Computer Science @ Pegaso · Systems Admin

// 01 — about

Who I am

I'm a Systems Administrator based in Italy, currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science for Digital Business with a specialization in AI at Università Telematica Pegaso.

My passion is infrastructure — from configuring NAS systems and self-hosted services to exploring cloud-native architectures. I believe in learning by doing, which is why I run a full homelab at home.

My goal is to grow into a Cloud Architect and AI Engineer, combining solid infrastructure knowledge with modern AI capabilities. I'm working toward the Microsoft MVP Ambassador program.

AZ-900

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals — certified

L31

Computer Science degree in progress

10+

Self-hosted Docker services running 24/7

MVP

Microsoft Ambassador — target 2026

// 02 — skills

Tech Stack

🖥️

Systems Administration

Linux server management, Windows Server, networking fundamentals and infrastructure configuration.

Linux Ubuntu Server SSH Networking

🐳

Docker & Containers

Deploying and managing containerized services, Docker Compose, reverse proxies and container networking.

Docker Nginx Reverse Proxy

☁️

Cloud — Azure

Azure fundamentals, core services and cloud concepts. AZ-900 certified, working toward AZ-104.

Azure AZ-900 Cloud Architecture

🔒

Security & Networking

VPN mesh networks with Tailscale, SSL certificates, DNS-level filtering with Pihole, VPN tunneling.

Tailscale Pihole SSL/TLS VPN

📊

Monitoring & Observability

Infrastructure monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana, metrics collection and alerting.

Prometheus Grafana Node Exporter

🐍

Python

Scripting, automation and foundational programming. Currently expanding toward data science and AI applications.

Python Scripting Automation

// 03 — learning path

Roadmap

2024

Microsoft AZ-900

Azure Fundamentals certification — cloud concepts, core services, security and compliance.

✓ completed

2024 — 2025

Homelab Infrastructure

Built and documented a full homelab with NAS, media server, self-hosted services, VPN, monitoring and password management.

✓ running

2025 — 2026

L31 Computer Science @ Pegaso

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science for Digital Business with AI specialization. Currently in progress.

→ in progress

2026

Microsoft MVP Ambassador

Building community presence through GitHub documentation, technical guides and open source contributions.

→ in progress

2026

AZ-104 — Azure Administrator

Next certification target: managing Azure resources, virtual machines, storage and networking.

planned

2026 — 2027

Cloud Architect + AI Engineer

Target role combining cloud infrastructure design with AI/ML integration capabilities.

target

// 04 — homelab

Self-Hosted Stack

Running a full homelab on a Ugreen DH4300 Plus NAS + HP ProDesk G400 Mini PC (Ubuntu Server). All services accessible via Tailscale VPN with HTTPS via Nginx Proxy Manager. Full documentation on GitHub →

Vaultwarden

Self-hosted password manager

Jellyfin

Media server with transcoding

Nginx Proxy Manager

Reverse proxy + SSL

Tailscale

VPN mesh network

Pihole

DNS-level ad blocking

Radarr + Sonarr

Automated media management

Prowlarr

Indexer manager

qBittorrent + Gluetun

Torrent client with VPN

Prometheus + Grafana

Monitoring & observability

Flaresolverr

Cloudflare bypass

// 05 — contact

Get in Touch

🐙

github

NicholasIzzo

✉️

nicholas.izzo01@outlook.com

// languages

🇮🇹 Italiano

Madrelingua

🇬🇧 English

Fluent

🇩🇪 Deutsch