Open to new opportunities — IT/Systems & Industrial

// career.johnckeener.com Network & Systems Engineer.
Industrial Automation & AI.

I understand both sides of the wire — IT and OT. With 10+ years of hands-on technical field service, infrastructure work, and systems troubleshooting, plus a foundation in PLC/SCADA and self-built AI systems, I bring practical depth that's hard to find in one person.

Pursuing Network+ and CCNA. Targeting mid-tier IT/systems and IT/OT roles. Comfortable on the network, in the server room, on the plant floor, or all three.

View Portfolio Get In Touch GitHub ↗
12proj
Portfolio — 1 deployed
2x
Disciplines — Controls + AI
1goal
Make automation intelligent
// 01 What I Bring

I come in from two directions — and the overlap is where I'm most valuable.

🖧
For IT / Systems Roles

Over a decade of hands-on technical field service — running cable, building infrastructure, troubleshooting systems under pressure. I self-host production services on Linux with Docker, manage VPNs and networking, and know my way around a server room as well as a factory floor. Actively pursuing Network+ and CCNA.

Networking / TCP-IP Linux Administration Docker / Containers VPN / Firewall Cabling & Infrastructure Systems Troubleshooting Network+ / CCNA (in progress)
⚙️
For IT/OT & Industrial Roles

I understand both sides of the IT/OT boundary — not just conceptually, but practically. PLC programming, SCADA systems, HMI design, industrial networking (Modbus, OPC-UA), and the kind of field troubleshooting where downtime has a real dollar cost. I can bridge the gap between the network team and the plant floor.

PLC / Ladder Logic SCADA / HMI Modbus / OPC-UA / MQTT Industrial Networking Motor Controls / VFDs Process Automation MHE / Conveyor Systems
// 02 12-Project Portfolio

Building end-to-end — from self-hosted AI knowledge bases to industrial predictive maintenance systems.

02
Scale Tech Knowledge Base — Self-Hosted RAG

Production RAG chatbot for industrial scale and controls documentation. Ollama + Chroma vector DB + Open WebUI. Answers equipment-specific questions by retrieving from actual manuals.

Python Ollama Chroma RAG Docker
Active
03
IT Help Desk AI Triage System

Multi-channel AI triage for support tickets — SMS, email, and web. LLM classifies, prioritizes, and routes issues. Integrates with Twilio and the knowledge base.

FastAPI LangChain Twilio PostgreSQL Redis
Planned
04
AI-Powered Service Dispatch System

Customer-facing portal with AI dispatch logic — auto-assigns technicians based on issue type, location, and expertise. Customer NLP → scheduling engine → tech notification.

React FastAPI LLM routing Twilio
Planned
06
AI Form Automation — Multi-Modal CV + NLP

Computer vision pipeline that reads paper forms, extracts fields via OCR + LLM parsing, and auto-fills digital systems. Targets industrial inspection and compliance paperwork.

Computer Vision OCR LLM extraction Python
Planned
07
Controls Hardware Bridge — IoT + AI

Hardware-in-the-loop bridge connecting real PLC/sensor hardware to AI pipelines via MQTT and HTTP. Raspberry Pi + Arduino sensor simulator feeding live data to ML models.

MQTT Raspberry Pi Modbus Arduino IoT
Planned
08
Predictive Maintenance AI — Industrial Equipment

ML pipeline ingesting load cell readings, temperature, drift, and service history to predict equipment failure 7–30 days out. InfluxDB time-series + Isolation Forest + failure regression. Auto-triggers service dispatch.

scikit-learn InfluxDB Anomaly Detection OPC-UA Grafana
Planned
09
Computer Vision Quality Control System

Real-time vision inspection for manufacturing lines. Camera feed → CV model → pass/fail decision → PLC output signal to reject mechanism. Bridges AI inference and hard real-time control.

OpenCV PyTorch Real-time inference PLC integration
Planned
10–12
PLC Projects — Pure Controls Engineering

Three dedicated controls projects demonstrating PLC programming, HMI design, and industrial commissioning — the domain expertise beneath the AI work.

PLC / Ladder Logic Structured Text HMI SCADA
Planned
// 03 Technical Stack

What I actually use — not a keyword list, a working toolbox. Networking leads, industrial depth follows, AI rounds it out.

Networking & Systems
TCP/IP Fundamentals
Network+ / CCNA (in progress)
Linux Administration
Docker / Containerization
VPN / Firewall / Reverse Proxy
Cabling & Physical Infrastructure
Systems Troubleshooting
Systemd / Server Management
Industrial / OT
PLC Programming (Ladder / ST / FBD)
SCADA System Design
HMI Development
Modbus / OPC-UA / MQTT
Motor Controls & VFDs
Process Instrumentation
MHE / Conveyor Systems
Electrical Troubleshooting
AI & Software
Python (primary language)
LangChain / RAG Pipelines
Ollama / Local LLMs
FastAPI / REST APIs
scikit-learn / ML
PostgreSQL / InfluxDB
Git / Version Control
Raspberry Pi / IoT Hardware
// 04 Background

I've spent over a decade doing technical field service work — the kind where you're on-site, under pressure, and the answer has to be right. That background gave me strong fundamentals in cabling, infrastructure, systems troubleshooting, and working across teams where clear communication matters as much as the technical fix.

On the industrial side, I hold a PLC programming certificate and have hands-on HMI experience. I understand how IT and OT systems interact — and where they don't, which is often where problems live. That IT/OT bridge perspective is increasingly what organizations need as plant floors get more connected.

Beyond that, I build. My self-hosted infrastructure runs Docker, Linux servers, VPNs, and reverse proxies — and I've built production AI systems on top of it. That self-directed technical depth is what separates me from candidates who have the cert but not the hands. Currently pursuing Network+ and CCNA to formalize what I already know.

Quick Facts

  • Background 10+ yrs technical field service & industrial systems
  • Certs PLC programming cert · Network+ / CCNA in progress
  • Targeting IT/systems roles · IT/OT technician roles
  • Stack Linux, Docker, networking, Python, PLC/SCADA
  • Location Cincinnati, OH area
  • Email johnckeener@gmail.com
  • GitHub github.com/johnckeener
// 05 Let's Talk

Open to opportunities

Whether you're hiring for an IT/systems role, an IT/OT technician, or something that needs someone who understands both the network and the plant floor — I'm interested. Reach out and let's see if there's a fit.