Posted in Covid, Hiatus, Informational

The Condensed Version of Why I was MIA

It’s been a while. I kept trying to say that I would be back blogging, but there were so many compounding things.

Covid-19: I wanted to be one of those people who was super productive during Covid not realizing how changes might effect mood. I’m an introvert by nature and it felt like ‘no big deal’….til it was. I ossicilated between being feeling like nothing was changing and I was stuck to making a lot of headway last year. I made all this progress, but felt isolated…it’s not a good headspace to write from.

Changing Jobs: When I first went on radio silence I had just left a position, my first real infosec position and there was a period of like 3 weeks where I technically had a job, but wasn’t working. I did not know how panicky not having a steady income would be (even with savings), but it was….when you’re money is funny you are not in a place to blog.

Contracting is for the Birds: This came later, there was a period where I transitioned from subcontracting to contracting and thay was stressful. There was poor communication and a back and forth on whether I needed to find a new job, so basically I was back to panicking and stressing about what comes next. It worked out, but it also made me realize I didn’t want to stay a contractor for much longer.

2021: I turned a corner in 2021, if anything this was a great year because all I accomplished. I racked up certs, worked and felt in my niche. I mean by the end of 2021 I felt like I had really made a little establishment in my new career. On my team my name was synonymous with great work and I knew it, but I also was burning myself out trying to prove that I belong (burnout is real. Imposter syndrome is real. And I will discuss in a later post). I was moving so much I couldn’t even think about slowing down to commit to blogging.

Now: Here we are.

  • I’ve got an awesome mentor
  • Have been motivated to think about branding (which is exciting)
  • I think about where I want to fit into and give back to the infosec community as a whole
  • I got to do a CTF that made me more secure and what type of infosec path I want to be on (more on this later)

All in all I’m ready to commit to this again, but with caveats. This will only be a weekly blog, the calendar I wanted was too much to busy and hectic. This is manageable and it’s good to set boundaries (even with yourself).

In the coming weeks I will also be changing the look of this blog. Thanks to anyone who still reading this and sorry that I left you in the lurch.

Posted in Uncategorized

Cloud+

Comptia just announced a cloud+ beta. Think I might take it just to feel out the material, it’s $50 and I’m interested in cloud security aspects in the future, so why not. Next few posts will be about the road to studying this, linux and cysa…because why not I’ve got time.

Posted in Uncategorized

2019 – A Quick Reflection

It is the end of 2019 and like most I want to take a moment to reflect on all the things that I actually have accomplished this year. Sometimes we can think too much about where we aren’t that we don’t focus on where we actually are and how far we have come. At the beginning of this year I had just changed careers and I was a little unsure of where or if I actually fit in. Now, I’m more self-assured and confident in my ability to learn and retain new things and the “rightness” of this course .

Accomplishments

  • Passed Network+
  • Passed Security+
  • Participated in First CTF (Individual and Group)
  • Started a Blog
  • Delved more into Cryptography
  • Cracked a Password
  • Finished my First Year in a Cybersecurity Position
  • Attended my first Cybersecurity Conference (Hacker Halted in Atlanta)
  • Finished Undergrad work (Only have my Capstone left)

But, it’s also good to look back at how we might have failed because epic-ly failing is how we level-up epic-ly.

Failures

  • My First CTF was a Bull in a China Shop Scenario
  • The Group work was worse; most of my group work across categories was kind of a bust (Pen-testing Methodology for a Class was the 1 exception)
  • Really buckling down and learning Linux…

 ”Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes.”

Lawrence Bossidy

Upcoming….

  • CYSA+ (Taking the Beta in a few days…[crossed fingers])
  • Linux+ (Voucher has already been purchased)
  • Finish Undergrad and move directly onto Graduate Coursework
  • Build out Security Lab
  • Put a Dent in My InfoSec Book Collection
  • Get Better at Networking…

“The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on. “

Barack Obama