Before U Vote
Civic tech · live at beforeuvote.com
A neutral election-information site for Marion County, FL — upcoming races, candidate backgrounds and platforms, without the partisan spin. Built on Cloudflare with an email-alert signup backend.
Ocala, Florida
Jacob Burton
System & Network Engineer, moving into GRC / IT audit.
Nine years keeping real-world networks running across 50+ client environments — now studying for the CISA and writing about security, controls, and the road from break-fix to audit.
About
I'm a System/Network Engineer at Verteks Consulting, an MSP in Ocala, Florida, where I've worked since 2018. My day-to-day spans the full stack of small-and-midsize business IT: networks, servers, firewalls, wireless, and the 2 a.m. phone calls when any of it breaks.
Over the years I kept finding myself drawn to the same questions: are the controls actually working? would this pass an audit? what happens when this fails? That curiosity led me to do a NIST-aligned security assessment of a WatchGuard firewall deployment — findings, recommendations, the whole thing — and it was the most satisfying work I'd done in years.
So I'm making it official: I'm studying for the CISA (target: December 2026) and transitioning into GRC and IT audit work — ideally remote, ideally with financial institutions. This site is where I'm documenting the journey.
Experience
2018 — Present
System / Network Engineer — Verteks Consulting
Managed service provider · Ocala, FL
- Support 50+ client environments across networking, systems, and security.
- Firewall administration and security assessments, including a NIST-aligned WatchGuard firewall review with documented findings and remediation recommendations.
- Wireless design, survey, and troubleshooting — Ruckus, Ekahau, and CWNA background.
- On-call engineering — which is exactly why I'm moving toward work with predictable hours.
2017 — 2018
IT Support / Early Career
Building the foundation
- Earned CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ while working hands-on across desktops, networks, and servers.
Certifications
CISA In progressISACA — exam Dec 2026
Security+CompTIA — 2017
Network+CompTIA — 2017
A+CompTIA — 2017
RCWARuckus — Wi-Fi administration
Ekahau ImplementerEkahau — Wi-Fi site surveys & design
WatchGuardNetwork Security certifications — 2022
CWNA ExpiredCertified Wireless Network Administrator — 2024
Projects
NIST-Aligned Firewall Security Assessment
Security assessment
A full assessment of a WatchGuard firewall deployment mapped against NIST guidance: findings, risk ratings, and prioritized remediation recommendations. The project that convinced me audit work is where I belong.
This Website (Speedrun Edition)
Web · archived here
The original version of this site: a racing-themed gag page about how fast a website can go from idea to live. Idea to deploy in one evening. It earned its retirement.
Homelab
Self-hosted infrastructure
Pi-hole for network-wide ad-blocking and DNS, a Flightradar24 ADS-B feeder tracking overhead air traffic, and Plex for home media. A production network in miniature — the sandbox where I break things so nobody else's network has to be the lesson.
Latest from the blog
Sep 30, 2026
Why I'm pursuing the CISA
Nine years of 2 a.m. pages, and the assessment that changed my trajectory.
Sep 28, 2026
What building Before U Vote taught me
Neutral civic tech is harder than it looks — mostly for non-technical reasons.
Sep 24, 2026
Nine years of break-fix taught me how controls fail in real life
The gap between the policy binder and the server room is where auditors earn their keep.
Contact
The best way to reach me about GRC/audit roles, collaborations, or questions about anything I've written here:
- GitHub (link coming soon)
- Email (link coming soon)