Technology & operations
Using a private Cybersecurity Academy to strengthen systems, networking, defensive security, troubleshooting, and documentation through structured retrieval, labs, and review.
Zachary Day / Oregon
I care about how things work—and whether they work for people.
I'm Zachary Day, an Oregon Army IT veteran with experience across technology, operations, product creation, and customer-facing work. This site is where I share what I'm building, how I approach problems, and the experiences that shaped me.
- Background
- Army IT & operations
- Current work
- Products & practical experiments
- Approach
- Clear decisions & verified handoffs
- Personal work
- Essays & memoir in progress
01 / About
The work has changed. The pattern has not.
I've worked in Army IT, manufacturing, production, logistics, customer service, and independent product development. The environments are different, but the work I care about is consistent: understand the problem, make the next step clearer, communicate before surprises, and leave the handoff better than I found it.
I am most useful where technology, operations, and people meet. I like turning incomplete ideas into something concrete, testing whether it actually works, and being honest about what is finished and what still needs work.
View professional experience02 / Now
What I'm working on now.
Right now I'm building independent digital products, strengthening my IT and cybersecurity foundation, exploring practical uses of new technology, and continuing my personal writing.
Products & experiments
Turning that learning into testable tools, including Incident Shift, a browser game for practicing evidence-based IT and cyber troubleshooting.
Writing & reflection
Publishing personal essays and continuing Fat Loser, a memoir about losing physical weight and the habits, excuses, addictions, and approval-seeking that made the title feel true.
03 / Selected work
What I'm building.
These projects show how I take an idea, define its boundaries, and turn it into something people can examine and use.
Learning system / Active personal project
Learning should lead to better decisions—not just more notes.
I built a private Cybersecurity Academy to organize what I study, then created Incident Shift to turn that learning into realistic IT and cybersecurity decisions. Together they help me practice, find weak areas, and choose what to work on next.
- Study
- Practice
- Review
- Adapt
Private learning system
Cybersecurity Academy
A private, mastery-based learning environment that combines retrieval practice, guided labs, explain-backs, practical assessments, spaced review, and progress tracking.
Private learning system in active development.
Public browser game
Incident Shift
A realistic browser game where I work synthetic IT and defensive-cybersecurity cases—inspect the evidence, choose a safe next test, resolve or escalate, verify the result, and leave a clear handoff.
Public prototype in active development.
ClaimNCO / Preparation prototype
A clearer path before accredited help.
ClaimNCO helps a veteran organize questions, evidence gaps, and documents before meeting with an accredited Veterans Service Officer.
Problem & intended user
Important information can be scattered before a VSO conversation, making preparation harder than it needs to be.
What exists now
A structured public preparation flow, reviewer guidance, and a live progressive web prototype.
My role
Product direction, requirements, research, review, testing, repository decisions, and release approval.
Important decisions
Keep the product in a preparation lane, store no sensitive records, and make limitations visible before use.
Current status
Public prototype available for review and feedback.
Trust boundary: No recommendations, predictions, submissions, sensitive-document storage, or replacement of accredited help.
Implementation was AI-assisted. I remained responsible for product direction, requirements, research, boundaries, review, testing, repository decisions, and release approval.
LumaDate / Portland prototype
Turn two people's constraints into a usable plan.
LumaDate combines preferences, area, timing, and budget into independently actionable public-place plans.
Problem & intended user
Planning becomes difficult when two people's constraints have to fit real places, real timing, and a shared budget.
What exists now
A guest-first planning flow, public prototype, source repository, and deterministic fallback behavior.
My role
Product direction, requirements, research, review, testing, repository decisions, and release approval.
Important decisions
Avoid precise-address collection, label demonstration data, and keep every plan usable without background tracking.
Current status
Public prototype prepared for limited usability feedback.
Trust boundary: No matching, reservations, purchases, payments, real messages, or guarantees of live provider facts.
Implementation was AI-assisted. I remained responsible for product direction, requirements, research, boundaries, review, testing, repository decisions, and release approval.
04 / Experience
Technical work is also communication work.
My background spans Army IT, production, logistics, quality, and direct customer service. Across those environments, the recurring work is the same: diagnose clearly, protect the handoff, and keep people informed.
View public résumé PDF ↗2023–2025
Information Technology Specialist (25B)
United States Army
Supported computer systems and networks in a high-accountability operational environment. Assisted end users, documented issues, and coordinated troubleshooting.
2021–2023
Upholstery Technician
Adventure Wagon
Combined hands-on production with customer updates as projects moved through the shop. Translated changing specifications into clear expectations and dependable team handoffs.
2020–2021
Process Technician
JAE Oregon
Set up and adjusted production equipment and partnered with maintenance technicians on equipment issues. Performed measurements and inspections to protect part quality.
Earlier experience
Earlier work across logistics, hospitality, retail, maintenance, and outdoor leadership built the practical customer-service and operations foundation behind how I work today.
05 / How I work
Trust is operational.
- 01
- Clarify ownership.
Define the decision, the responsible person, and the handoff before ambiguity becomes delay.
- 02
- Communicate before surprises.
Give customers and teammates a clear view of what is known, what is blocked, and what happens next.
- 03
- Verify the handoff.
Test the artifact, document the boundary, and confirm that the next person has what they need.
- 04
- Be honest about the boundary.
Say what is finished, what is still a prototype, what was AI-assisted, and what needs another person's approval.
More range. One accountable owner.
I work independently, but not in isolation. I use AI as an on-demand support layer for research, analysis, drafting, prototyping, and review. It helps me explore more options, learn unfamiliar domains quickly, and move ideas toward testable results faster than I could alone.
The tools can expand my range, but they do not replace judgment. I set the direction, evaluate sources, define requirements, test the work, make the decisions, and take responsibility for what ships.
06 / Writing
The work I make sense of through writing.
My writing is where I work through responsibility, identity, belonging, and change. It lives in its own section so readers can choose when they want the professional work and when they want the more personal story.
Visit my writingContact
If something here connects with you, say hello.
I'm open to thoughtful conversations about technology, products, operations, writing, and work worth building. The easiest way to reach me is by email.