Gurveer Arora Contact

Degree Apprentice · FDM Group

Building toward devops, platform & security engineering - from the service desk out

I'm Gurveer - a 1st Line Support Analyst and degree apprentice at FDM Group, reading Digital & Technology Solutions at Northeastern University London. I work on real production problems by day - consolidating Apple business tenants, automating account management, refreshing the knowledge base ahead of an AI rollout - and extend that with a home lab, industry certifications, and the writing I publish on the journal.

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02 / About

A short introduction

I sit at the junction of operational IT and engineering - running first-line support at FDM while building the kind of technical depth that platform and devops roles call for

My day-to-day is deliberately cross-cutting. I run first-line support, but I also lead initiatives that extend well beyond the ticket queue: a licensing audit that returned over £20,000 in annual savings, a five-person IT asset audit, Python-driven analysis across five years of ticket history, and cross-functional support for a UK-wide Windows 11 rollout. Right now I'm driving a multi-phase Apple estate consolidation, leading the move to federated identity for Apple accounts, and preparing the knowledge corpus for an AI-agent rollout in Freshservice - the kind of work that sits squarely in platform-engineering territory.

Alongside the day job I'm reading Digital & Technology Solutions at Northeastern University London, backed up by ServiceNow CSA, ISC2 CC, SSCP (pending endorsement), and Harvard's CS50 series. Outside of that I run a home lab - this site is hosted on a Raspberry Pi under my desk, served via Cloudflare Tunnel to work around CGNAT, with Nginx, UFW, and a growing set of subdomains all configured by hand. Every decision gets documented on the journal.

I'm happy where I am and committed to finishing the apprenticeship and the degree. This site exists as a record of the work - a public trace of the technical ground I cover, the problems I solve, and the direction I'm heading.

03 / In flight

What I'm working on right now

Platform consolidation Active

Apple Business Manager & Mac MDM programme

Leading a technical-debt reduction initiative that consolidates several Apple Business instances into a single tenant for centralised device management across the organisation. Phase two introduces Apple Account Management with federated identity - bringing all company Apple accounts under our domain - followed by an MDM rollout to bring every corporate Mac under managed control. End state: consistent device posture, faster provisioning, and a single source of truth for Apple estate.

Apple Business Manager Federated Identity Mac MDM Asset management
Knowledge & AI Active

Knowledge-base refresh for the Freshservice AI agent

Authoring new articles and overhauling existing ones so the corpus is current, compliant, and detailed enough to serve as training material for an incoming AI agent rollout in Freshservice. The goal is to build a knowledge foundation that both humans and AI can lean on without introducing noise or misinformation into the pipeline.

Freshservice Technical writing ITIL knowledge mgmt
Process design Active

Designing service-desk flows with senior leadership

Partnering with senior management to shape high-level flows that satisfy business, security, and IT requirements simultaneously - then translating those flows into concrete procedures the service desk can execute. Work spans requirements-gathering, stakeholder alignment, and detailed procedure authoring.

Process design Stakeholder mgmt Compliance
£20k+ Annual M365 licensing savings identified
5yr Ticket history analysed in Python
05 Consultants led on an IT asset audit
UK Windows 11 rollout supported end-to-end
04 / Selected work

A glimpse of what I'm building

Full portfolio
Home lab 2026

This website - self-hosted on a Pi, CGNAT-bypassed

A personal site running on a Raspberry Pi 4B, served securely via Cloudflare Tunnel to work around residential carrier-grade NAT. Every layer chosen deliberately - Nginx, UFW, DNS, TLS, tunnel configuration - and every decision documented on the journal.

Nginx Cloudflare Linux UFW
Scripting 2026

Ticket-data analysis across five years of history

Python-based cleansing and analysis on five years of IT ticket data at FDM, surfacing recurring problem patterns to inform strategic decisions. A small codebase, a lot of cleaning, and a genuinely useful result.

Python pandas SQL
In progress 2026

Next up on the bench

Terraform-managed cloud sandbox, a monitoring stack with Prometheus & Grafana, and experiments with containerisation. New projects and write-ups land in the full portfolio first.

Terraform Prometheus Docker
05 / From the journal

Writing about what I'm learning.

Visit blog.gurveerarora.com
Apr 2026 Networking

Bypassing CGNAT with Cloudflare Tunnel

A step-by-step walkthrough of getting a home server online when your ISP puts you behind carrier-grade NAT, without paying for a public IP.

Read - 12 min
Mar 2026 Certifications

Notes from passing ISC2 CC

What worked, what didn't, and what I'd do differently. For anyone weighing up ISC2 CC as a first security certification.

Read - 6 min
Feb 2026 Self-hosting

Why I run my own DNS

A short piece on why I moved from my ISP's resolver to a self-hosted setup at home, and what I picked up along the way.

Read - 5 min
06 / Capability

What I work with - and what's next

Drawn from daily service-desk work at FDM, the FDM Skills Lab training programme, a BSc in Digital & Technology Solutions, industry certifications, and the home-lab projects I run in my own time. Levels reflect genuine comfort, not aspiration

01

Platform & Systems

  • Microsoft 365 & Entra IDDaily driver
  • Windows administrationDaily driver
  • Linux (Debian / RHEL-family)Comfortable
  • Apple Business Manager / MDMActive project
  • Networking (TCP/IP, DNS, NAT)Working knowledge
  • Nginx & reverse proxiesComfortable
  • Cloudflare (DNS, Tunnel, WAF)Comfortable
02

Security

  • Access control & IAMComfortable
  • Federated identityActive project
  • Licensing & account auditingDelivered
  • Cryptography fundamentalsComfortable
  • Network securityComfortable
  • GRC / risk engagementWorking knowledge
  • OWASP Top 10Familiar
03

ITSM & Operations

  • FreshserviceDaily driver
  • ServiceNow (certified CSA)Comfortable
  • ITIL v4 practicesWorking knowledge
  • Incident & change managementDaily driver
  • Knowledge-base authoringActive project
  • Device imaging & provisioningComfortable
  • Asset managementDelivered
04

Software, Data & AI

  • PythonComfortable
  • SQL & relational databasesComfortable
  • Bash / shell scriptingComfortable
  • JavaScriptFamiliar
  • C (CS50)Familiar
  • HTML & CSSComfortable
  • Git & version controlDaily driver
  • Azure AI Document IntelligenceCertified skill
05

Leadership & Delivery

  • Stakeholder engagement (CISO → exec)Demonstrated
  • Cross-functional collaborationDaily driver
  • Small-team leadershipDemonstrated
  • Requirements gatheringComfortable
  • Process & flow designActive project
  • Project coordinationComfortable
  • Technical writing & documentationDaily driver
  • Proposal & solution designDemonstrated
06

Soft skills

  • Problem-solving & algorithmic thinkingCore strength
  • Clear communication across levelsCore strength
  • Adaptability under pressureDemonstrated
  • Teaching & explaining technical topicsDemonstrated
  • Time managementComfortable
  • Leadership mindsetDeveloping
Currently focused on

Delivering the Apple Business Manager consolidation and MDM programme, refreshing the Freshservice KB ahead of the AI-agent rollout, and studying toward further platform- and security-aligned certifications.

07 / Experience

Selected experience & achievements

Sept 2024 - Present

1st Line Support Analyst

FDM Group · London · Degree Apprenticeship

First-line IT support and platform-adjacent delivery for an in-house IT function - balancing BAU ticket work with strategic initiatives across infrastructure, security, and asset management.

  • Collaborating with the CISO on a BYOD security initiative - proposal, planning, and solution design.
  • Audited Microsoft 365 user accounts and licensing; strategic downgrades and revocations delivered savings exceeding £20,000 annually.
  • Led a team of five consultants through a full IT asset audit to validate inventory ahead of an asset-management system migration.
  • Supported a UK-wide Windows 11 rollout - user outreach, device validation, blocker identification, driven through security-audit deadlines.
  • Python-based cleansing and analysis of five years of IT ticket history, surfacing recurring patterns to inform strategic decision-making.
  • Identified a recurring executive-support issue, proposed a practical solution, and coordinated implementation with infrastructure.
  • Built a comprehensive cross-team systems register through stakeholder engagement and data collection.
  • Re-imaged and provisioned devices for employees and consultants - imaging, configuration, verification, and shipping logistics.
Sept 2024 - Feb 2025

IT Operations Trainee (Skills Lab)

FDM Group · Skills Lab Programme

Intensive pre-placement training across the core disciplines FDM places consultants into - APM / ITSM, Linux, Python & AI, networking & Windows, SQL & Azure, SecOps.

Dec 2022 - May 2024

Magazine Distributor

Sheengate Publishing Ltd.

Responsible for delivering upwards of 1,000 magazines per day to residential addresses across predefined regions - collaborating with colleagues to divide and optimise routes, and adapting to adverse conditions to hit delivery targets reliably.

Jul 2022 - May 2023

Voluntary Maths Tutor (GCSE)

EasyA

Delivered one-to-one GCSE-level tutoring through the EasyA platform. Built tailored lesson plans, broke complex topics into digestible steps, and adapted teaching style to individual learners to improve comprehension and retention.

08 / Education

Studying while working

Oct 2024 - 2027 In progress

BSc (Hons) Digital & Technology Solutions

Northeastern University London

Delivered as part of the Digital & Technology Solutions Professional degree apprenticeship. Modules include Intensive Foundations of Computer Science & Programming 1 & 2, Mathematical Structures and Methods, Data Management Systems, Database Design and Management 1 & 2, and Digital Fluency in the AI-Enabled Enterprise - with systems & networks, cyber security, and applied AI still to come.

Sept 2022 - Jul 2024 Complete

A-Levels

Tiffin School

Mathematics (A) · Further Mathematics (B) · Economics (B) · Physics (C). Strong quantitative foundation that continues to support the computer-science-heavy modules of the apprenticeship.

09 / Credentials

Certifications & qualifications

View all Certifications
2026

AZ-104

Azure Administrator Associate

The AZ-104 is Microsoft's core certification for Azure Administrators. It validates an engineer's hands-on ability to implement, monitor, and maintain Microsoft Azure cloud environments—including compute, storage, networking, and security.

Verify
2026

SSCP

Systems Security Certified Practitioner

ISC2's intermediate hands-on security credential, covering access controls, cryptography, network & communications security, incident response, systems & application security, and risk identification.

Verify
2026

CSA

Certified System Administrator

The foundational administrator credential for the ServiceNow platform - covering workflows, data schema, UI configuration, and ITIL-aligned service management. Proves operational fluency on the world's largest ITSM platform.

Verify
2026

CC

Certified in Cybersecurity

ISC2's entry-level certification into the global cybersecurity workforce. Covers security principles, incident response & BCDR, access controls, network security, and security operations.

Verify
2023

CS50x

Introduction to Computer Science

Harvard's flagship computer science course - a rigorous grounding in C, Python, SQL, algorithms, memory, and the mental models that underpin all software. The course that has started more careers than any other in recent memory.

Verify
2025

CS50 AI

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python

Harvard's follow-on programme covering the ideas behind modern AI - search, knowledge representation, optimisation, neural networks, and natural language. Practical Python implementations paired with the underlying theory.

Verify
10 / Get in touch

Let's talk shop

Happy to swap notes on home labs, self-hosting, certifications, the degree-apprentice route, or the work of turning chaotic IT estates into something coherent. Most emails get a reply inside a day or two.

Home lab DevOps Platform Security Self-hosting
Email [email protected] Usually replies within 48 hours
GitHub @Gurveer-Arora LinkedIn Gurveer Arora Journal blog.gurveerarora.com Portfolio gurveerarora.com/portfolio