Hi, I’m Khaled Adad, a technologist working across software and systems engineering, cybersecurity, and applied R&D.

My path into technology hasn’t been a straight line. I started in business and analytics, moved into software engineering and DevOps, spent time designing building systems in the AEC industry, and built a drone mapping business along the way. Those threads are now converging on one question: how do interconnected technologies actually work, and how do we make them secure?

I’m driven by a simple philosophy:

Learn by building. Improve by measuring. Scale through systems.

Everything I do falls under two names:

  Project Khaled Overwatch Technologies
What it is Me, learning in public My software, cyber, and engineering lab
The idea Watch me learn tech, one certification at a time Here’s what I build with what I learn
Where it lives YouTube, Instagram, Threads, this blog, and my newsletter Instagram, Overwatch OS, and the lab posts on this blog

This website is home base for both: part portfolio, part study journal, and part lab notebook.

🎥 Project Khaled

Learning Tech in Public

Project Khaled is me, documenting the path from IT fundamentals to security research in the open: what I’m studying, my real practice-test scores (including the bad ones), and the AI prompts and tools I use to learn faster.

Current roadmap:

  • CompTIA A+, one exam at a time: Core 1 in late November, Core 2 by the end of 2026
  • CompTIA Network+ by the end of February 2027
  • CompTIA Security+ after that

Each certification is a season of Road to A+ on YouTube, with a weekly episode, short clips, and a write-up here on the blog.

Free study tools

  • A+ Port & Protocol Trainer: a quiz with five practice modes that brings back the ports you miss
  • A+ Study Planner + 50 AI Study Prompts: my week-by-week plan for both A+ exams, free by email on the trainer page

If you’re studying too, study with me. Say hi at hello@projectkhaled.com.

⚙️ Overwatch Technologies

The Lab

Overwatch Technologies is my technology development lab: software, AI, and cybersecurity, built, tested, and documented. It’s where the skills I pick up through Project Khaled turn into real tools, systems, and experiments. It grew out of Overwatch Drone Mapping, my original aerial-data business.

Overwatch OS: a probabilistic decision operating system

Overwatch OS is a systems-engineering framework centered on probabilistic analysis, data tracking, risk management, and operational workflows.

It treats decision-making like an engineering system:

  • Inputs
  • Verification layers
  • Risk constraints
  • Calibration
  • Feedback loops
  • Long-term optimization

Rather than relying on emotion or isolated outcomes, it focuses on process integrity, statistical reasoning, data-driven iteration, and continuous refinement.

Overwatch Engineering Lab: independent R&D

The Engineering Lab is my ongoing, self-directed practice of learning by building.

Current areas of focus:

  • Mechanical design in Fusion 360 and Tinkercad
  • Circuits and electronics fundamentals
  • Hands-on electronics & embedded systems
  • Systems integration and technical prototyping

The lab is where software, hardware, and security start to meet. Over time, more of its projects will include security from the ground up: designing a device, testing it in a controlled environment, and documenting how to harden it. Start with Day 1: Learning Fusion on No Sleep.

Cybersecurity research: from software to silicon

My longer-term goal is to specialize in hardware and IoT penetration testing, focusing on:

  • Embedded devices & firmware
  • Drones & ground-control systems
  • Embedded Linux
  • Cyber-physical systems

The appeal is understanding a system all the way down, from the application to the operating system, firmware, and circuit board, and using that understanding to find and fix weaknesses. Alongside certification study, I practice on hands-on platforms like TryHackMe and LetsDefend. All of my testing is done on devices I own, in authorized engagements, or in isolated lab environments.

I wrote about this roadmap in From Software to Silicon: My Roadmap to Hardware Hacking, IoT Security, and Cybersecurity Research.

I’m also evaluating doctoral study in Cybersecurity, particularly programs that support applied research into embedded and cyber-physical systems security. For now, my priority is hands-on experience and practical skill.

🛰️ Overwatch Drone Mapping: aerial data

Overwatch Drone Mapping is where Overwatch started: bringing modern spatial technology into real-world applications through drone operations, photogrammetry, orthomosaic mapping, 3D modeling, and digital twin workflows.

It explores how unmanned aerial systems can become intelligent data collection tools for construction progress tracking, site documentation, property inspections, mapping and visualization, and infrastructure analysis.

Transform aerial visuals into measurable, actionable information.

🚐 Overwatch Mobility Solutions: an exploratory concept

An early-stage idea, not an operating business: a future mobility and rental platform focused on modular adventure and mobile-workspace vehicles, combining remote work infrastructure, off-grid capability, smart storage, and connectivity and automation.

Background

My experience spans:

  • Software engineering & DevOps
  • Data analytics
  • Fire alarm systems design
  • CAD workflows & low-voltage systems
  • Drone mapping & aerial imaging
  • Technical operations

💻 Software, DevOps & Analytics

I’ve worked professionally in software engineering and DevOps, where I learned how software is built, deployed, and kept running, and how systems fail in production. Before that, data analytics and data science gave me a foundation in Python, statistics, and turning raw data into decisions. Much of that work is documented in older posts on this blog.

🏗️ Fire Protection & AEC Systems

I’ve also worked in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry, designing fire alarm systems and supporting construction documentation workflows: fire alarm layout design, device placement and coordination, voltage drop and battery calculations, construction documentation, code compliance, and CAD-based systems integration.

It strengthened my interest in how buildings function as interconnected systems, and in how data, low-voltage infrastructure, and connected devices shape the way we design, monitor, and maintain the built environment.

🎓 Education

  • BBA in Economics, Loyola University Chicago
  • MS in Business Analytics (Finance concentration), Lewis University
  • Data Science program, Lambda School / BloomTech

Mission

My mission is to design, build, understand, and secure the interconnected technologies that increasingly run the physical world, bridging the gap between software and physical systems, data and infrastructure, engineering and security, and analytics and field operations.

Over the long term, I plan to keep expanding into embedded systems and firmware security, IoT and cyber-physical systems security, digital twins, BIM/VDC workflows, automation systems, AI-assisted engineering, geospatial intelligence, and systems architecture.

Technology becomes most powerful when it helps us better understand, model, improve, and protect the real world.

Get in Touch