Builder in progress

Christian "Kit" Applegate

Coast Guard vet. AI builder. Hardware hacker. Vibe coding into bliss. Still figuring out the next chapter out loud.

20

Years of U.S. Coast Guard service
500+

Students trained across 7 classes at Yorktown
$15M

In contracts managed after Hurricane Michael
180+

Regulated maritime facilities in the compliance portfolio

About

After twenty years in the U.S. Coast Guard, I'm in the messy, exciting middle of building what comes next. I tinker with hardware, networks, data, automation, and AI; I learn in public; and I make practical things to understand how they work. The through-line is the same one I relied on in uniform: stay curious, document the work, and keep calm when the plan meets reality.

Technology has been the thread through all of it. I started on a Zenith with no hard drive, taught myself HTML, and built web pages for Oklahoma State's College of Business. During COVID, I returned to data work, taught myself R, and built a Raspberry Pi cluster to understand clustering firsthand.

Today, after completing NexGenT's Full Stack Network Associate program and Full Stack Network Projects, I'm working toward the CCNA and building practical tools that combine networking, automation, data, and AI. I'm looking for network engineering, systems, or AI-adjacent roles where curiosity, documentation, and calm problem-solving matter.

Selected work

Outcomes from pressure environments: cyber, logistics, environmental response, and decision support.

Maritime cyber TTX dashboard

Built an ArcGIS Online dashboard for the USCG Maritime Cybersecurity 2023 Tabletop Exercise, framing Port NY-NJ context so operators could see posture and injects without digging through slides.

Container risk targeting

Served as SME for shipping-container risk targeting, supporting models that reached roughly 75-80% accuracy and translating operational judgment into usable screening logic.

Small-vessel pilot → go/no-go

Used R to analyze a small-vessel pilot so leadership could make a clear go/no-go call—analysis as decision support, not a report that sits on a shelf.

Hurricane Michael contracts

Managed roughly $15M in contracts after Hurricane Michael, caught a $30k overcharge, and supported two congressional reviews with documentation that held up under scrutiny.

Ohio River GIS access map

Produced a 75-mile Ohio River GIS access map with EPA and Kentucky partners, making access points clear and actionable for responders.

CSX Mount Carbon & major responses

Deputy Planning for CSX Mount Carbon (19 cars, 600k+ gal Bakken); FOSC Rep for Katrina vessel removal in Bayou La Batre (28 vessels); Assistant Sit Unit Leader, Deepwater Horizon Mobile (40 days, two briefs/day).

Experience

Senior Equipment Loss Consultant

YA Group

Jan 2025 – Aug 2026

Conducted fire and water equipment-loss assessments at the Novelis Scriba facility, documenting complex industrial damage for insurance clients at a site critical to U.S. automotive aluminum-sheet production.

U.S. Coast Guard

Active duty / operational leadership

2004 – Sep 1, 2024

ArcGIS Online dashboard for the USCG Maritime Cybersecurity 2023 Tabletop Exercise.
R analysis of a small-vessel pilot informing leadership go/no-go decisions.
SME for shipping-container risk targeting (~75-80% accuracy).
Hurricane Michael: ~$15M contracts; caught $30k overcharge; supported two congressional reviews.
Ohio River GIS access map (75 mi) with EPA/Kentucky partners, making access points actionable for responders.
Deputy Planning, CSX Mount Carbon (19 cars, 600k+ gal Bakken crude).
FOSC Representative, Katrina vessel removal, Bayou La Batre (28 vessels).
Assistant Situation Unit Leader, Deepwater Horizon Mobile (40 days; two briefs/day).
Yorktown instructor: 500+ students across 7 classes.
180+ regulated facilities, Sector NY FRPs and exercises.

Skills

Networking (TCP/IP, subnetting, switching, routing, VLANs, troubleshooting)
ArcGIS / ArcGIS Online
R
Power BI
Data analysis
ICS / NIMS
Environmental & regulatory compliance
AI tools & agents
AWS / cloud networking (learning)
Documentation & handoffs
Problem solving under pressure

Beyond the résumé

Personal

The things I build for fun, family, and everyday life—and the people I keep learning from.

Things I build

Godot
GDScript
Android

My Daughter's Dress-Up Studio

Designed and built a private, offline Android dress-up game for my daughter. It has three original characters, drag-and-drop wardrobes, poses and backgrounds, undo and reset controls, plus a saved-look gallery with thumbnails and backup recovery.

Private build

FastAPI
Next.js
Postgres

The Dumpster Fire All-Stars

Built and self-hosted a fantasy football platform for a real ten-person keeper league. It runs the live snake draft, rosters, lineups, matchups, and scoring—and its draft state is designed to survive a server restart with every pick intact.

Visit the live site View the code

Python
Termux
GPS

Geocache Finder

Turned an old Android phone into a kid-friendly geocaching gadget. It reads local GPX files, gets live GPS fixes through Termux, and serves a big-button interface entirely on the device—no accounts, cloud service, or location tracking.