Lawton Pittenger

Portfolio & Blog

Resume

Linkedin Github

Education

University of Central Florida - College of Engineering and Computing Science (08/2019 - 05/2023)
  • Bachelor of Science in Information Technology
Relevant Courses
  • Courses in cyber defense analysis, network security, and secure operating system administration have provided me with in-depth knowledge of securing computer systems and protecting data.
  • Courses in computer architecture, operating systems, and system administration, have given  me a solid foundation for managing IT environments.
  • Courses in data structures and algorithms in C, along with advanced Java programming, have enhanced my ability to design efficient software solutions.
  • Courses in discrete mathematics and database systems have equipped me with logical reasoning and data handling skills.
  • Courses in public speaking and documentation have honed my communication skills.
  • For a complete list of all my courses, please refer to the Courses section on my Linkedin.
Industry Certifications

Experience

Amazon Web Services - New York NY, Solutions Architect, 06/2023 - Present
  • Currently enrolled in Specialist Acceleration training program as an aspiring Infrastructure Security specialist.
  • Completed TechU training program – Link to TechU Capstone Project
Planate Management Group - IT Security Officer, 01/2021 - 05/2023
  • Organizational Lead for our CMMC certification process. 
  • Government Community Cloud (GCC) High Office 365 administration.
  • Drafted security policies/practices to ensure NIST / CMMC compliance.
  • Worked closely with the international global compliance team to perform continuous and ongoing local and regulatory assessments to analyze and assess impact to policy from an IT perspective.
Amazon Web Services - New York NY, Solutions Architect Intern, 05/2022 - 08/2022
  • Architected a solution to automate PGP/GPG decryption process for any files uploaded to AWS via the Transfer Family service. 
  • Created a custom Lambda function written in Python 3.8 to automate the decryption process, CloudFormation stack to automate resource deployment for customers wanting to implement my project, and bash script to automate the Lambda layer creation process.
  • Link to public AWS Samples GitHub repository hosting my project: Link to GitHub Repository
  • Link to demo / configuration walk through video I created for my project on the AWS Youtube Channel: Link to YouTube Video
UCF Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Team - AWS Security Engineer, 04/2020 - 05/2022
  • AWS Administration and Security, threat hunted within misconfigured AWS infrastructure. 
  • Managed enterprise infrastructure environments consisting of various different Linux servers, performed service upkeep while defending against red team attacks.
  • Administered and defended the infrastructure’s web applications, consisting of various LAMP stack web applications.
  • Responded to business injects requiring common Linux system administration tasks to be completed and reported to upper-level management.
Innovative Electronics - Orlando FL, System Administrator, 05/2019 - 01/2021
  • Administered and maintained the store’s IT infrastructure.
  • Performed various PC, laptop, and general electronic repairs involving soldering.
  • Assisted customers with any technical issues and provide solutions.
  • Performed in-home wireless network / general tech installations.
iBoss Cloud Network Security - Orlando FL, NOC Linux System Administrator 08/2020 - 10/2020
  • Remotely managed and maintained iboss critical infrastructure cloud servers.
  • Responded to system and/or network faults to ensure internal and external SLAs were met, followed escalation procedures to engage key resources to respond to critical events.  
  • Provisioned new cloud nodes within existing and new points of presence.
  • Supported internal stakeholders (DevOps, support, sales) to schedule maintenance.
  • Created and maintained documentation related to global points of presence and procedures and migrating and restoring iboss nodes and VNS clusters.

Honors & Awards

UCF Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Team
  • 2022 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition – 1st Place – Link to Article
  • 2022 South East Regional Cyber Defense Competition – 1st Place – Link to Article
  • 2022 Department of Energy Cyber Force Competition – 2nd Place – Link to Article

Programming Projects from UCF Courses

Three-Tier Distributed Web-Based Application - Programming Language: Java
  • Link to Project
  • This assignment challenged me to develop a distributed three-tier web-based application using servlets and JSP technology, with a Tomcat server and MySQL database. The application involved creating a front-end interface for user authentication, SQL command execution, and data entry forms. I learned to integrate various techniques learned throughout the semester, including working with servlets, JSP, JDBC, and database management. Additionally, I gained experience in enforcing referential integrity, handling user privileges, and implementing server-side business logic. This assignment provided valuable hands-on experience in building a complex web application with a persistent database backend.
Text Prediction Program - Programming Language: C
  • Link to Project
  • This assignment required me to develop a program that mimics word completion functionality found in cellphones. The program receives a list of commands, either to add words and their frequencies to a dictionary or to query the most likely next letter(s) given a prefix. To accomplish this, I had to analyze the frequency of words and determine the probabilities of different letters being the next in line. If the prefix provided in a query does not match any previously added words, the program should indicate that it is an “unknown word.” By completing this assignment, I gained a deeper understanding of text prediction algorithms and their practical applications in improving user experience.
Binary Search Trees - Programming Language: C
  • Link to Project
  • This assignment required me to build multiple binary search trees (BSTs) with unique names and maintain a binary search tree for the names of all the trees. I learned how to implement BSTs and manage the insertion of items into the trees. The assignment also involved performing various operations and queries on the trees. Additionally, I had to read input from a file and handle the insertion of tree names into the name tree. Through this assignment, I gained experience in working with data structures, file input/output, and algorithmic operations on BSTs.
Operating System Simulation and Multi-threading - Programming Language: C
  • Link to Project
  • In this assignment, I simulated an operating system’s behaviors, including memory allocation, file management, and multi-threaded programming using POSIX threads. I learned about mutual exclusion in multi-threading and utilized the pthreads library. The tasks involved updating the source code, creating threads with mutual exclusion, and referencing relevant resources. It provided valuable hands-on experience in simulating operating system functionalities and implementing multi-threading in C programming.