Network engineer · builder · Chicago

Dustin Alleman

Over a decade in networking and IT. Off the clock I build AI tools, automation, and a homelab that runs like production.

Live builds

Currently running

  • MindMap — AI workspace
  • Homelab + hybrid cloud
  • MadeForMeAI — SaaS
  • CCNP study bot + CML lab
About

Who's behind this

I'm Dustin. I've spent over a decade in IT: support, help desk, networking, engineering, infrastructure. It started long before the paycheck. I was the kid taking computers apart, downloading games and music, breaking things and figuring out how to fix them. Too many years of World of Warcraft, still a PC gamer. That curiosity turned into the career.

I did IT in the Marine Corps, carried it through a few companies after that, and these days I work on Cisco networking in a FedRAMP environment. I came up on the hands-on side: packet captures, escalations, enterprise gear. The goal was always to architect networks, not just support them, and to build the tools I wished I had along the way.

So I build. Dashboards, AI agents, automation, a homelab that grew from scavenged gear into something that runs like production. A lot of it points at one goal: moving into a sales engineer role, which is why so many of these projects are about proving a thing out and explaining it clearly. I also teach CCNA-level networking at colleges around Chicago, which is some of the most rewarding work I do.

Off the clock Chicago lakefront skates, biking, anything outdoors, a Jeep with a permanent project list, and whatever the lab breaks that week.

Credentials

Based inChicago, IL
Experience10+ yrs networking & IT
CertificationsCCNA · CWNA · Meraki Solutions Specialist
EducationB.S. IT, Western Governors University
TeachingInstructor, Cisco Networking Academy
ServiceU.S. Marine Corps veteran
Projects

Featured builds

The projects doing the most work, live and in progress.

MindMap

Live

A self-hosted, white-label AI workspace. Every tool the agent touches becomes a node on a visual canvas, so you can see what it is doing and why. Plugin-based, fully tenant-isolated, with one connector for thousands of apps.

AIAutomationSelf-hosted

Homelab + Hybrid Cloud

Live

A production-grade homelab bridged to the cloud. Proxmox and two-site Cisco Meraki, full observability, automated backups, and a private overlay to Hetzner.

InfrastructureNetworkingObservability

MadeForMeAI

Live

A multi-tenant AI workspace SaaS. Every customer gets their own isolated OpenClaw agent on its own Kubernetes pod, with single sign-on and billing wired end to end.

SaaSKubernetesAI

QuickIT Sales Automation

Live

Inbound calls and chat to booked meetings, automatically. A phone number routes to an AI voice agent, into a CRM, onto a calendar, with no human in the loop for intake.

AutomationAICRM

Solar Demo (TrueNorth)

Demo

A full vertical demo for a solar installer: branded site, CRM, documentation, and a team of role-scoped AI agents handling intake, questions, and follow-up, end to end.

AICRMVertical demo

AI Agent Ecosystem

Live

A tiered team of AI agents that monitors and troubleshoots my cloud and local infrastructure, escalating from read-only log analysis to SSH to me, with a shared memory brain (Cognee) so they coordinate instead of duplicating work.

AIAgentsObservability
More

Other projects & services

CCNP Study Bot + CML Lab

In Progress

A self-hosted study engine that drills me on the CCNP Automation blueprint, paired with a Cisco Modeling Labs environment where the labs actually run.

Network Design & Architecture

Service

Secure, segmented, well-documented network design, a homelab that mirrors the enterprise, and a dedicated Cisco Modeling Labs environment for the heavy scenarios.

Web Design & Development

Service

Landing pages, docs portals, dashboards, customer portals, and marketing sites, built across plain HTML through React and Astro.

Media Stack

Live

A self-hosted media platform: Plex plus the full *arr automation stack and a request portal, so the whole library runs hands-off.

MerakiNOC

Live

A network operations dashboard for Cisco Meraki: live device health, alerts, and client visibility in one view, driven through the API.

netadmintoolbox.com

Live

A toolbox of network-admin utilities for engineers and students: subnetting, lookups, quick references, and guided troubleshooting.

Design

Sites I've designed

A few looks, a few different jobs, all built by hand.

almnjoy.dev

Retro Windows 98 desktop Visit

quickitprojects.com

Clean corporate / consulting Visit

madeformeai.com

Modern SaaS product Visit

netadmintoolbox.com

Engineer utility site Visit
Content

Follow the build

Homelab, AI agents, networking, and automation.

Say hello

Want to talk shop or hire me?

Call my AI line for a fun AI game to sign up. Just say "sign up" if you don't want to play. :)