The Blog That Nearly Never Happened
I thought, what better way to kick off this blog, by explaining why - for the longest time - I was extremely hesitant to start a tech blog.
I'm not afraid of death. I'm an old physicist. I'm afraid of time.
Interstellar (2014)
Rewind
I have always had an affinity for STEM and computers. From a young age, I had a fascination with science - probably from my dad. Always thought I was going into aerospace or medicine.
When I was in high school, I stumbled into front-end web development. Playing around with drawing up my own artistic graphics and trying to animate these designs interactively on a website. It was then that I believed I would become a front-end web creator.
Fast-forward to my high school graduation. I was travelling Europe, soaking in the world, when I get a phone call one night. It was my mum. University enrollments were due the next day.
“What are you doing for uni Dazz?”
“Ummmm I don’t know? What do you think?”
”It’s your career. What do you like?”
“I mean I don’t really know. Science or something?”
“Yeah you always loved science. Maybe engineering, a more applicable science?”
“Sure.”
“Which one?”
“What do you reckon?”
“Dazz!? Mechatronics sounded cool.”
“Yeah that sounds cool.”
(At least how I remember it all going)
And so began my short-lived degree in Mechatronic Engineering. What sounded like the perfect combo of Maths, Science, Design and… Robots doing stuff (I think), didn’t end up feeling like a fit. In the end, I didn’t really care about a lot of the actual applications of the skills - designing industrial machines and stuff like that. Never really enjoyed it.
So I switched - being a musician, with a prior love of visual art and coding, I went into IT with Interactive Media. I loved delving into 3D modelling, full-stack dev and other creative projects. However, I felt like I missed the sense of scientific thought that I cherished throughout my undertaking of science in high school and my programming units in Engineering. While I will always need creative outlets, I realized that I wanted a career with more methodology, plunging head-first into the complexities and problem-solving of a less “creative” path. At least, less creative in the traditional sense.
So once again - I switched. Majors, that is. Out of pure chance, one of my peers I worked with in a web unit actually did the unit as an elective; his major was really Computer Networks and Security (cybersecurity). I had never heard of that before. He mentioned cryptography, hacking, forensics… all sounded so cool. I craved a more academic career. Was it too late?
With exactly the right number of units left, I switched majors to cybersecurity. And while I’m still figuring stuff out, and still want to explore Data Science and ML/AI, I love cybersecurity.
Fast Forward
What does my villain-origin-story have to do with starting a little cybersecurity blog?
As you hopefully gathered, my career path has been swinging on a pendulum of needing more creativity, to needing more problem-solving. And while I love cybersecurity and am addicted to learning and upskilling, I couldn’t help but feel like that career choice has made my creative and social pursuits more challenging to maintain. It can be isolating at times. It can be less collaborative at times. It can feel like I conceded my creative talents in music and design.
The last thing I wanted to do was jeopardize my creative and social outlets by spending all of my spare time doing cybersecurity stuff. I love studying and tinkering for sure. But a blog sounded like the nail in the coffin for my music production, guitar, hanging out with friends and so much other stuff. My greatest fear isn’t failure - it’s time.
But eventually, I made the call to just try it out. Like anything in life, my philosophy is - you don’t know if you don’t try. If it takes too much effort or time investment, I’ll cut my losses and pull the plug. So here we are. Welcome to my cyber blog! Hope you enjoy.
Hello World!
