Craig M
IAM · Identity Governance · Cloud Security
“My best skill was that I was coachable. I was a sponge and aggressive to learn.” (Michael Jordan)
Changed careers into tech in 2021 with no technical background and no degree. Earned a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity from Grand Canyon University in 2024, Summa Cum Laude. Now building hands-on Azure and Microsoft Entra ID labs to land a role in IAM and Cloud Security.
$ status --projects
[1] active-directory-lab.... complete
[2] entra-id-lab............ in progress
[3] enterprise-sso.......... complete
[4] okta-sso................ complete
[5] zendesk-provisioning.... complete
[6] okta-provisioning....... complete
[7] wise-api-integration.... complete
[8] risk-based-conditional-access complete
[9] terraform-drift-detection complete
$ status --certs
[x] CAMS: identity management institute
[x] SC-900: microsoft
[x] AWS Cloud Practitioner: aws
$ Background
The short version
Before tech, I spent about five years as a lead technician installing and servicing fire alarm life safety systems in commercial buildings. That field does not forgive shortcuts. A wiring mistake or a skipped test can cost someone their exit route in a fire. I held industry-relevant certifications from that work, including a NICET Level II certification and FAL and FELB licenses.
In 2021, I changed careers into tech with no technical background and no degree. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity from Grand Canyon University in 2024, graduating with honors. IAM and Identity Governance turned out to be a natural fit. Both come down to controlling who has access to what and catching a misconfiguration before it becomes an incident, the same kind of care I already knew from fire alarm work.
Since then, I have been building hands-on Microsoft Entra ID and Active Directory labs from the ground up. That means domain controllers, Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management, and Identity Governance workflows, documented the way I would document them on the job, including what went wrong along the way.
I am looking for IAM, Identity Governance, and Cloud Security roles that put this degree and this hands-on work to use.
Open to opportunities in the United States and globally
Recent work
A few of the labs
[project] 1 · Complete
Active Directory Lab
Built a production-style on-premises Active Directory environment from bare metal: domain controller, six-department OU structure, fifteen user accounts, and DNS, designed to sync cleanly into Microsoft Entra ID.
[project] 2 · In progress
Entra ID Lab
Extends the on-premises AD environment into a full hybrid identity setup: Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management, and Identity Governance, mapped to Microsoft's SC-300 objectives.
[project] 3 · Complete
Enterprise SSO with Conditional Access
Connected Zendesk to Microsoft Entra ID over SAML and enforced MFA through Conditional Access, so authentication is centralized and access can be revoked in one place.