James Mark Lapido, standing with his arms crossed, who moves to sit down and work at his desk as the page scrolls.

Senior System Administrator · IT Manager

James Mark Lapido

One person. Entire stack. Ten years.

End-to-end infrastructure across cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments — as the sole IT decision-maker for a multi-department organization in the UAE.

Ajman, United Arab Emirates MCP & MTA certified
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01 — About

The whole stack, one pair of hands.

Senior IT professional with more than ten years of end-to-end infrastructure management experience across cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments. A proven track record managing Microsoft 365, Active Directory, Azure, AWS and enterprise networking as a sole IT decision-maker — delivering high availability, security and operational efficiency.

Adept at L2/L3 support, server administration, backup strategy and cross-platform systems management in fast-paced business environments.

0+
Years running
infrastructure
0+
Years on one
M365 tenant
0+
Technologies
in production
0
Countries
worked in

02 — Journey

From a diploma in Koronadal
to a whole stack in Ajman.

Nineteen years, two countries, and a fairly stubborn habit of learning whatever the job turned out to need.

  1. 2007 — 2009

    Where it started

    Diploma in Information Technology at STI Marbel, Koronadal City. First proper exposure to systems, networks and the idea that this could be a career.

    STI Marbel · D.I.T.

  2. 2009

    Champion, first time out

    Won the Web Design & Development Contest at E-Business Week, then started a BS in Information Technology at Mindanao Polytechnic College, General Santos City.

    E-Business Week · Mindanao Polytechnic College

  3. February 2010

    Looking outward

    National Youth Conference for IT at UP Diliman — the first sense of how big the field actually was outside the province.

    UP Diliman

  4. 2011

    Learning the network

    CCNA Special Course, Modules 1–4, at Synnex Concentrix Institute in Davao City. Routing and switching fundamentals that still underpin everything built since.

    Synnex Concentrix Institute

  5. 2012 — 2014

    First real support desk

    Google Map Maker Summit in June, then joined Six Eleven Global Services in August as IT Support Engineer — L1/L2 for a large BPO, and a Windows domain to look after.

    Six Eleven Global Services

  6. April 2014 — November 2015

    Out on my own

    Freelance web design and server work — WordPress and Shopify builds, cPanel and web server management, performance optimization and graphics. The e-commerce instincts that later ran a company's storefronts started here.

    Independent · WordPress · Shopify · cPanel

  7. November 2015

    A one-way ticket to the UAE

    Joined Silentnight UAE LLC in Ajman. New country, new stack, and before long the only person responsible for all of it.

    Silentnight UAE LLC · Ajman

  8. 2019

    Off legacy mail, onto Microsoft 365

    Led the full migration from legacy webmail to Microsoft 365 — the tenant that's been under management ever since, now past its seventh year.

    Exchange Online · Teams · SharePoint · OneDrive

  9. 2026 — present

    Ten years in

    Hybrid cloud across AWS and Azure, multi-site networking, virtualization, monitoring, disaster recovery and the company's e-commerce operations. Same obsession, considerably bigger stack.

    Still here, still building

Stylized three-dimensional render of James Mark Lapido working at an open server rack.

03 — Experience

Where the hours went.

Three roles, two countries, one continuously growing stack.

IT Manager

Silentnight UAE LLC · Ajman, UAE

Current Nov 2015 — Present · 10 yrs

Sole IT decision-maker overseeing the entire technology stack — infrastructure, cloud, security, networking and end-user support for a multi-department organization.

  • Administered the Active Directory environment: user provisioning, group policies, organizational units and role-based access controls.
  • Managed the Microsoft 365 tenant for 7+ years — Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and license administration; led the full migration from legacy webmail.
  • Architected and maintained hybrid cloud infrastructure across AWS and Azure, provisioning, monitoring and optimizing workloads for uptime and cost efficiency.
  • Designed and maintained enterprise network infrastructure — Mikrotik routers, UniFi WiFi, Peplink SD-WAN, WireGuard VPN and multi-site WAN connectivity.
  • Implemented a cloud backup strategy on Backblaze with defined retention policies, backup level management and periodic recovery validation.
  • Deployed and maintained Proxmox and VMware virtualization for server consolidation and business continuity.
  • Managed endpoint security, DNS, DHCP, SSL certificates, CDN and SSO across all platforms; deployed Tailscale and RustDesk for secure remote access.
  • Set up centralized monitoring and alerting with Grafana, Netdata, Prometheus and InfluxDB for proactive infrastructure visibility.
  • Oversaw e-commerce operations on Shopify and marketplace storefronts — Amazon.ae, Noon.com, Carrefour and Google Shopping — including SEO, Google Ads and analytics.
  • Active Directory
  • Microsoft 365
  • Exchange Online
  • Azure
  • AWS
  • Cloudflare
  • Mikrotik
  • UniFi
  • Peplink SD-WAN
  • WireGuard
  • Tailscale
  • Proxmox
  • VMware
  • Backblaze
  • Synology
  • Grafana
  • Prometheus
  • InfluxDB
  • PowerShell
  • Shopify

Freelance Web Designer & Server Administrator

Independent · Philippines

Apr 2014 — Nov 2015 · 1 yr 8 mos

Client work spanning design, build and the servers underneath — the period that seeded the e-commerce and web capability later put to use running a company's storefronts.

  • Designed and built client websites on WordPress, from theme work through to launch.
  • Set up and customized Shopify storefronts for retail clients.
  • Handled web server management and cPanel administration — domains, mail, databases and SSL.
  • Optimized site performance and page speed, and produced the accompanying graphics and visual assets.
  • WordPress
  • Shopify
  • cPanel
  • Web Server Management
  • Performance Optimization
  • Graphic Design

IT Support Engineer

Six Eleven Global Services · General Santos City, Philippines

Aug 2012 — Apr 2014 · 1 yr 9 mos

L1/L2 desktop and infrastructure support for a large BPO organization.

  • Managed the Windows domain environment — user account creation, domain join and AD administration.
  • Handled hardware and software installations, PC diagnostics, network troubleshooting and helpdesk ticketing.
  • Performed data backup, migration, and printer and peripheral configuration.
  • Windows Server
  • Active Directory
  • Helpdesk / Ticketing
  • Hardware Diagnostics
  • Data Migration

04 — Capabilities

Core competencies.

The twelve areas the job actually lives in.

Stylized three-dimensional render of James Mark Lapido reviewing a wall of monitoring dashboards.

05 — Stack

Everything I've had
my hands on.

Grouped the way the infrastructure is actually organised.

01 Microsoft Stack

  • Windows Server
  • Active Directory
  • Group Policy
  • Exchange Online
  • Microsoft 365
  • Azure AD / Entra
  • Intune
  • Teams
  • SharePoint

02 Cloud Platforms

  • AWS · EC2 / S3 / Route 53
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Cloudflare
  • Workers
  • Zero Trust

03 Networking

  • Mikrotik
  • UniFi
  • Peplink SD-WAN
  • WireGuard
  • Tailscale
  • DNS / DHCP
  • VLAN / Radius

04 Virtualization

  • Proxmox
  • VMware
  • Docker
  • LXC Containers

05 Monitoring

  • Grafana
  • Prometheus
  • InfluxDB
  • Netdata
  • CollectD

06 Backup & DR

  • Backblaze
  • Synology NAS
  • Recovery Planning

07 Scripting & Tools

  • PowerShell
  • Bash
  • Git
  • GitHub
  • Linux

08 Security

  • SSL / TLS
  • Cloudflare WAF
  • VPN Tunneling
  • SSO
  • 2FA

09 Web & Commerce

  • Shopify
  • WordPress
  • cPanel
  • Amazon.ae
  • Google Ads

06 — Credentials

Certified, schooled,
and occasionally decorated.

Certifications

  • Microsoft Certified Professional

    MCP · Certification #E791-4836

  • Microsoft Technology Associate

    MTA · Windows OS Fundamentals 098-349 · Certification #E791-4837

  • CCNA Special Course, Modules 1–4

    Synnex Concentrix Institute, Davao City · 2011

Education

  • BS Information Technology (undergraduate)

    Mindanao Polytechnic College, General Santos City · 2009–2011

  • Diploma in Information Technology

    STI Marbel, Koronadal City · 2007–2009

Achievements & Training

  • Champion — Web Design & Development Contest

    E-Business Week · 2009

  • Google Map Maker Summit

    STI College · June 2012

  • National Youth Conference for IT

    UP Diliman · February 2010

Stylized three-dimensional render of James Mark Lapido in a relaxed, welcoming stance.

07 — Contact

Let's talk.

Based in Ajman and open to conversations about infrastructure, cloud and systems work.

Download the full CV (PDF)