IT & Automation Consultant · Gold Coast, Australia

Shane Grados

I keep IT running, then automate the manual work out of people's days.

Nineteen years across education and business IT: endpoint and fleet management, Active Directory, Jamf and Microsoft 365. I have run 1,000+ device estates, built and run my own Mac-focused consultancy, and consistently turned repetitive manual work into scripts, workflows and, lately, AI-driven automation that saves real hours.

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An operator-technologist rather than a platform engineer: my instinct is to find the hours a real person hates, and delete them. I build small, sharp tools that people actually adopt, and I keep them honest, monitored, and retired the moment they stop earning their keep.

Experience

Where I have done the work

Hardware & Assets Administrator

2015 – 2026
University of Sydney — ICT Learning Environment
  • Managed the deployment, organisation and lifecycle of a 1,000+ computer fleet across multiple campuses, keeping IT resources highly available for staff and students.
  • Administered Active Directory end to end: accounts, profiles and access controls for secure, seamless access to the University's systems.
  • Built custom scripts to automate routine maintenance, updates and asset tracking, cutting time spent on manual processes and improving accuracy.
  • Led fault detection and maintenance across AV systems, Zoom Rooms, digital signage and student labs; automated fault detection cut downtime by ~30%.
  • Coordinated AV replacement cycles and vendor procurement within institutional policy and budget.

Founder & IT Consultant

2015 – Present
CTRLTECH — independent IT consultancy
  • Run an independent, embedded IT consultancy delivering Mac and Apple-device management and automation for education and business clients, per engagement.
  • Built and manage full Jamf environments from scratch, streamlining deployment of iPads, iPhones and Macs across client organisations.
  • Automate recurring client tasks with scripts and bots, cutting manual effort across Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra and cloud services.
  • Deliver onsite and remote support: server maintenance, LAN/WAN configuration and hardware/software troubleshooting.
  • Increasingly build AI-driven automations that run daily and report their own usage, so nothing rots unused.

IT Support Officer

2007 – 2015
SAE Institute (Navitas)
  • Provided 1st and 2nd level help desk support for 800+ students and 100+ staff across multimedia studios.
  • Developed automation scripts for routine tasks, improving system performance and reducing downtime.
  • Built a universal machine image that cut IT setup time by ~30% for hardware deployments.
  • Led an IT infrastructure rebuild, improving network stability and security across campuses.
Selected automation

What I build now

Self-monitored automation estate

Around 15 scheduled Python and Claude agents doing real jobs every day: receipt intake, expense splitting, inventory, reporting. Each reports usage telemetry, so a tool that stops being used gets retired, not left to rot.

Client Jamf & Microsoft 365

Full Apple-device estates stood up from scratch and kept running, with recurring administration scripted away so client teams get their time back.

Inventory & AI systems

Self-hosted tooling that reads live data and produces action: an inventory system that turns what you own into a shopping list and meal plan, built to be used daily.

Reliability by design

Every automation ships with a heartbeat and a review date. If it goes quiet, I know before anyone else does. A tool that fails loudly is a tool you can trust.

Capabilities

What I work with

Automation & Scripting

Workflow automation, scripting and bots, Python, AI and Claude-driven automation, telemetry and monitoring.

Endpoint & Device Management

Jamf (Mac, iPad, iPhone), fleet deployment at 1,000+ scale, imaging, asset and inventory management.

Identity & Cloud

Active Directory, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra, cloud services, IT security.

Infrastructure & AV

Server maintenance, LAN/WAN, Zoom Rooms, digital signage, AV fault detection.

Service Delivery

1st and 2nd level help desk, onsite and remote support, advanced diagnostics.

Vendor & Stakeholder

ICT procurement, vendor management, service agreements, stakeholder communication.

Certifications

Credentials