# Matt Simmons

> Matt Simmons is a Columbus-based systems engineer, technical writer, and founder who moved from small-network administration and community organizing to reliability work at SpaceX, Starlink, and Varda Space Industries. He now serves as president of Local Weather News Network, a venture prompted by a March 2024 severe-weather night when he could not find sustained local coverage. The through line is practical: make critical information dependable, understandable, and available before people have to ask for it.

- **Role:** President and founder, Local Weather News Network
- **Organizations:** Local Weather News Network, Varda Space Industries, SpaceX, Starlink, Northeastern University, USENIX, LOPSA, Simple Talk
- **Education:** Computer Science studies; degree not publicly specified, West Virginia University, Computer Information Technology studies; degree not publicly specified, DeVry University
- **Known for:** Founded the site reliability team for Starlink, according to his current company biography., Built and operated critical infrastructure during more than nine years across SpaceX and Varda Space Industries., Served the USENIX LISA community as a blogger, program committee member, tutorial and invited-talk coordinator, and 2016 conference co-chair.

## Career timeline

- **1998-2000** — Worked as a customer support specialist at Calltech Communications.
- **2001-2004** — Worked as a network administrator at Fibernet Communications; he later described 2001 as the start of his sysadmin career.
- **2005-2011** — Served as IT administrator at Investor Analytics while developing his public voice as the Standalone SysAdmin.
- **2009-2010** — Wrote a systems-administration column for Red Gate's Simple Talk, including essays on change management and disaster recovery.
- **2009** — First attended the USENIX LISA conference, beginning a long run as blogger, organizer, program contributor, and eventual conference co-chair.
- **2012-2015** — Managed network, virtualization, and research-cluster infrastructure at Northeastern University's College of Computer and Information Science.
- **2015-2021** — Worked as a lead IT systems engineer at SpaceX.
- **2021-2023** — Worked as a senior site reliability engineer at SpaceX and helped establish the site reliability team for Starlink.
- **2023-2026** — Worked in site reliability engineering at Varda Space Industries, progressing from senior to principal responsibilities.
- **2024** — A March tornado outbreak and the scarcity of sustained late-night local coverage prompted the idea that became Local Weather News Network.
- **2026** — Public profiles identify him as founder and president of Local Weather News Network in the Columbus area.

## Achievements

- Founded the site reliability team for Starlink, according to his current company biography.
- Built and operated critical infrastructure during more than nine years across SpaceX and Varda Space Industries.
- Served the USENIX LISA community as a blogger, program committee member, tutorial and invited-talk coordinator, and 2016 conference co-chair.
- Published systems-administration essays in USENIX ;login: and Simple Talk.
- Built a Server Fault contribution record exceeding 500 answers and reaching millions of readers.
- Founded Local Weather News Network to deliver localized weather presentations from authoritative data.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Current public profiles list Simmons as founder and president of Local Weather News Network and describe Varda Space Industries as a former role.
- **2025-02** — Advanced from senior to principal site reliability engineering responsibilities at Varda Space Industries, according to a public career listing.
- **2024-03** — A Midwest tornado outbreak and the lack of sustained late-night local coverage supplied the originating problem for Local Weather News Network.

## Links

- Website: https://lwnn.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattsimmonssysadmin
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/standaloneSA
- GitHub: https://github.com/standaloneSA
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/standalonesa.bsky.social

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/matt-simmons
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-28