... . . . ...: Intro

This blog is (i.e. 'was' quite sometime ago 😀) intended to "fill in some blanks" and expand on detail within SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor : Deployment and Administration.

Now it's just a convenient place to keep the following bio. 🍻

Career Biography

Justin (Twitter, LinkedIn) entered the IT industry in the late 1990's at Datel Systems building systems for the San Diego Community College District. Around that time, he and his brother Gregory Brant formed Blue Sun Design, a Managed Service Provider in support of small businesses.

In 2004 he accepted a position as a Network Administrator for BioMed IRB, where he managed their HIPAA compliant infrastructure.

In 2009 he moved on to become the Network Systems Manager for IDSolutions, a subsidiary of McCarthy & Holthus LLP, where he managed a team of Systems Engineers, Network Engineers, and Help Desk Technicians.

To kick off the 2014 new year he moved back into a technical hands on role as a Systems Engineer for SpotLink, where he became the Regional Account Manager for North County San Diego.

He decided to move from San Diego to Denver, which proved to be the right move, because he met his wife Lauren and later their two amazing children Rachel and Ian. A pre-requisite to the move was accepting a position with Optiv in Q4 2014 as a Sr. Systems Engineer.

In Q1 2019 he decided to make a change to a role with Nelnet as the Cybersecurity Manager over the Vulnerability Operations team with eight direct reports consisting of Cybersecurity Engineers and Architects. One major focal point being tasked to spearhead a project to replace CIS compliance with DISA-STIG, to meet US Department of Education (FSA) security requirements. This position required a 6c Public Trust Security Clearance.

March 2022 Justin defected and moved to sales as a Solution Engineer for SentinelOne, he cleared his quota for a few years, got to take a President's Club trip in 2024, and September 2025 he moved over to Zero Networks also as a Solution Engineer.

In 2024 the Brant family packed up their house in Colorado to move down to the desert in Arizona. Rachel (7 at the time) was officially traded from the Arapahoe Lady Warriors to the Arizona Kachinas. Ian (4 at the time) started his hockey career in learn to skate classes with an objective of becoming a goalie and making several post to post backdoor kick saves per week. As of September 2025 Rachel is playing with the boys on Jr Sun Devils 8u Elite and Ian was drafted to the San Jose (aka Chandler) Sharks.