Stuart G.Private profile: Upwork shows its earnings only to signed-in members, so we check it every few weeks, not daily. MRR here is a rough estimate (Upwork's six-month earnings ÷ months active). Last read Nov 5, 2026.

My name is Stuart Gray. I am a 39 year old network security engineer. Cutting my teeth with IBM's X-Force Advanced Research and Development at 19, I have almost 20 years of experience, as a professional, in the industry. Around 10 or 11 years old, my grandfather introduced me to Microsoft's Visual Basic IDE (he's had an extremely successful career as a business consultant (finding creative solutions for complex business problems). I was immediately hooked. At 16 years old, I launched a small hosting company. A short while later, I was hired by Internet Security Systems (Creators of BlackICE Defender), to work in their X-Force Advanced Research and Development team. Two years later, they were acquired by IBM. where I continued to work for 6 more years as a software developer (supporting their Proventia IDS/IPS product line *Intrusion Detections/Prevention System*, Internet/Enterprise Scanner product line and Managed Security Services). I left the traditional office for the freedom of independent contracting because it compliments my strengths much more easily. As someone who was drafted into accelerated learning in Kindergarten, I've favored research-based, challenge-based and project-based learning models since 3rd grade. Being independent allows me to continue to grow my knowledge base on my own terms, which in turn keeps me motivated and engaged in self-improvement. I do also appreciate traditional education methods. In my older age, I'm quick to defer to peer-based, mentor-based and teacher-student-based learning methods any time I realize I've hit any kind of speed bump, be it struggling with a concept or simply being lost and wondering how to improve from my grip on the information. It's never been enough for me to know "what it does and how it does it." My thirst for knowledge always pushes me to learn "why it does it that way" and "can I make it better?" My current career objectives are to maintain and advance my knowledge of POSIX-compliant systems. To maintain and advance my knowledge of “cloud” and virtual environments, with a heavy focus on their security, management and automation. To maintain and advance my knowledge of POSIX systems integration with non-compliant environments (Microsoft, etc..). To maintain and advance my knowledge of network security and the network security climate, especially in relation to “real world” scenarios. Some of my strengths are: Managing virtual and cloud-based environments (VMWare, Oracle VirtualBox, KVM, libvirt, Azure, Amazon AWS, Digital Ocean, Linode, Google Cloud Platform), Linux Systems Administration, Unix Systems Administration, Solaris Systems Administration, Advanced knowledge of TCP/IP, Advanced knowledge of network security, Windows Systems Administration, OSX Systems Administration, Python scripting/programming, shell scripts (BASH, ZSH), Linux Kernel Optimization (rebuild from scratch), “Linux From Scratch”, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, HP/UX, AIX. Proprietary firewall environments (IBM Proventia, SonicWall, Fortinet, Palo Alto, Cisco), All Office Productivity Suites (MS Office, IBM Lotus Notes, etc..), Data Center Resource Optimization (airflow, power usage, climate control systems), Malware Prevention/Detection/Analysis/Removal (Strong focus on “malware behavioral characteristics,” detecting malware that’s never been seen before through behavioral techniques and heuristics), Search Engine Optimization strategies, web development, Server Migration, Disaster Prevention and Recovery, Encryption best practices, management and theories, Wake-on-LAN systems and management, this list is far from exhaustive, it really keeps going and going. The important part to note is that I am an engineer. I find solutions. I seek to understand and fix things, and my thirst is unquenchable. :)