tk.dev - About

About Me

Current Professional Experience

My name is Taylor Kerber and I am an avid technology enthusiast and lifelong learner with over 15 years of experience in technical roles. I currently manage and drive operations for a team of high performing Cloud Network Security Engineers at one of the largest organizations in the world. I initially started in this particular role as a Team Lead / Principal Information Security Engineer and have recently stepped into the world of being a people leader. Outside of this role I am part-time Adjunct Faculty member for Hennepin Technical College and am studying part-time to obtain a Master of Education in Instructional Technology from UMGC.

My Journey

I'd like to believe my career started when I was around 13 and I tried building my first gaming desktop computer. I forgot to use grounding screws, and it made the motherboard short out and smoke. This ultimately destroyed the entire computer and was my first lesson.

Sometime later around my Sophomore year of high school I found that some of the only classes that truly caught my attention were tech classes. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to take A+, CCNA, and HTML/Web Dev courses as part of my day Sophomore, Junior, and Senior year of high school. I obtained the CompTIA A+ Certification when I was 17 and obtaining that cert fueled my curiosity to pursue Network Administration at Hennepin Technical College. The A+ however, was just the beginning for me and it left me with even more questions.

After high school I attended night classes at Hennepin Technical College and at 18 a fellow Hennepin Tech Student took a chance on me and I got my first tech job as a Desktop Support Analyst Contractor for a large insurance provider. From here my journey in tech led me to all sorts of unique and interesting places and roles. I stayed curious by complimenting my growing experience with more certifications such as the CISSP and CRISC, and a Bachelor of IT degree. These experiences included being a General Support Analyst for some smaller local Managed Service Providers to a Sr. Storage Support Analyst for Dell, A Network Security Engineer for Optum, a Cyber Security Advisor for FedEx, and to my current roles.

I've been incredibly grateful to have the opportunities I've had, and I would not be where I am without the wonderful mentors and people who gave me a chance. When possible, I use my experiences and knowledge to help elevate others to similar opportunities and fulfillment. To quote a late Senator from my home state of Minnesota "We all do better when we all do better". ~ Paul Wellstone (1944-2002)

2014

Hennepin Technical College
Associate of Applied Science Degree
Network Administrator / Analyst

2018

Western Governors University
Bachelor of Science Degree
Information Technology

2025 - Present

University of Maryland Global Campus
Master of Education
Instructional Technology

Curriculum Taught

A+ Hardware Support
CCNA 2 - Network Administration
Linux Administration 1 & 2 (RHCSA)
Cyber Defense 3 (PCNSA Curriculum)
(CCDC) Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Preparation & Coaching

Virtual Trophy Case

"Another one" ~ DJ Khaled, 2015

Okay so admittedly I have a lot of certifications. I often times get asked by people, why? Why so many? Aren't they expensive? Are they worth it? It is not a yes or no answer. To me it is both exhilarating and exhausting to keep up with technology. Technology evolves and grows every day. As someone who works in a technical field it is understood that you will always be learning and it is a journey, not a destination. I personally use certifications as a goal post for learning new and different skills so that I don't lose focus. Beyond just certifications I enjoy reading technical books, taking courses on udemy or Coursera, and good old fashioned tinkering with tech hands-on.

Therefore, in lieu of killing trees and putting holes in my office wall, I've decided to dedicate this virtual space to my certifications. I limited this to certifications that required a proctored exam and a monetary value. Many of these certifications may seem rather useless or no longer relevant and that is true for many. However, they were all earned with hard work and countless hours of studying. No matter their topic or relevance I am still proud of what I've learned over my career and these are just one small piece of it.

2011 - Retired

The very first exam I ever took. This was taken during my Junior year of high school and I still credit this certification to this day as the reason why I went into this field.

2013 - Retired

I took this certification as a requirement by a previous employer. This exam was good at giving a very foundational level of knowledge in Networking Administration.

2015 - Retired

This exam was part of a course at WGU and I achieved the certification as part of it.

2015 Never Expires

This exam was part of a Project Management course I took for WGU and I achieved the Project+ certification as part of it.

2015 - Never Expires

I took this training while working for Dell Compellent Storage. This certification was designed by SNIA and considered to be the de-facto training for all of the Storage Analysts.

2016 - Never Expires

I believe I achieved this certification as part of another WGU course. It's on my credly account so I'll include it.

2017 - Never Expires

I took two exams to achieve Linux+ as it was required by my curriculum while attending WGU.

2020 - Retired

This exam was part of a course at WGU and I achieved the certification as part of it.

2012 - Retired

Earned this certificate while taking a college level Windows Server 2012 Administration course.

2016 - Never Expires

Took this test as part of a pilot program for Palo Alto Networks ACE training. At the time the current PanOS code version was 6.1. The ACE is no longer offered.

2017 - Never Expires

This was taken as part of my degree and validated a basic understanding of web design concepts.

2018 - Never Expires

This was taken as part of my degree and validated a basic understanding of JavaScript.

2020 - Never Expires

This was an incredibly fun hands-on certification I took to further my knowledge of basic penetration testing techniques. I highly recommend this for anyone curious.

2020 - Never Expires

I took this exam and training to further my understanding of Python and how I can use it to automate and optimize tasks.

2021 - Never Expires

I took a free course to learn the basics of Splunk while employed as a Security Engineer. I used this knowledge to build out some custom Splunk dashboards and queries to make better use of traffic log data.

2022 - Never Expires

I achieved this certificate after completing some instructor-led training to learn more about Akamai's security product, Kona Site Defender.

2017 - Retired

This exam was part of a course at WGU and I achieved the certification as part of it.

2019 - Retired

I gained this certificate and training to further my knowledge of the Palo Alto Networks platform while being a SME in one of my roles as a Sr. Security Engineer. This was taken for the PanOS 9.0 and 9.1 code.

2022 - Retired

I achieved the illumio Certified Policy Management Specialist while working on a Zero Trust Network deployment as a Security Engineer.

2023 - Never Expires

Zscaler Zero Trust Architect - I gained this certificate as part of some employer provided training to learn about Zero Trust Architecture.

2020 - Retired

A previous employer wanted all employees to familiarize themselves with AWS. I took this training and achieved this certificate to further my overall cloud and AWS knowledge.

2020 - Retired

A previous employer wanted all employees to familiarize themselves with AWS. I took this training and achieved this certificate to further my overall cloud and AWS knowledge.

2023 - Retired

This certification tests fundamental understanding of (IaC) and Terraform. This test also requires the ability to read, write, and understand the HCL language from a high level.

2024 - Active

This exam was offered as free training through an employer to familiarize with basic GitHub and Git foundations.

2019 - Active

I achieved the Certified Information Systems Security Professional after utilizing an official study guide and uCertify. This was the hardest exam I've taken in my entire career.

2023 - Active

I achieved the Certified in Risk and Information Controls certification after taking a 3-day boot camp and reading the official study guide. This was a very challenging certificate and was almost entirely about Risk Management.

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