I have lots of ideas and not enough time to make them happen. I live to share and collaborate with others so please do not hesitate to reach out!
How I Got to Where I Am
So i was in a really good high school https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poolesville_High_School and so there would be some ridiculously smart people who would work on things and because the program was so close knit, information would disseminate between the grades and so the younger group of kids would only get that much better. I got involved in cyber security because the older kids competed in a competition that was for hacking and they did very well....
I hacked your site
It isn’t your fault, you were just doing your job. Even if you wanted to try to stop it, there isn’t much you, as an individual, could do about it. Either I or someone else who vaguely understands how to code was going to hack you like this. Business requirements for shipping that feature out at lighting speed for your largest customer last quarter made this all too easy. const asdf = () => {} Your company’s site uses javascript....
NYU Dropped the Ball
How it went wrong I have a pretty bad taste in my mouth with NYU after what they have done with CSAW over time. The fact that HSF became a CTF, quality went downhill, and then now non-existent is something that really bothers me. It had felt to me that there was a complete disregard for the exceptional talent pipeline that Nasir/Poly had established for continuing to build out cyber security at NYU....
Start with a Static Site
Ok, there is just simply way too much shit that you have to learn to host a freaking website . Let’s make that easier. Start with Markdown and hugo. Markdown is trivial to learn and making a website is instant. Hugo is a single binary you download, run and boom there is your website. A number of themes are available for you to check out and play with, but they aren’t necessary to start out....
We need Legos for Code
Playing with Legos Legos are fun, they are composable. Code is not composable, not at least in the way we learn to code Different environments come with different constraints which end up with different code. Different ecosystems have different standards and ways to solve a problem. Legos have been designed to have an incredibly rigid specification that has been upheld for many years. It is trivial to determine impostor bricks (I am looking at you Mega Blocks) from an actual Lego....
A Sustainable Thinker Always Wins
You can think about a lot of different things all the time. Think about too many things and this becomes a serious problem, especially for those who have ADD. If you have a problem focusing on which idea to pursue, it is easy to experience the feeling of being lost. Life is happening, ideas come and go, but there is nothing for you to bring to show and tell. I am not an expert in this field of study, but I do pay attention to what constitutes a “great thinker”....
What holds us back
I don’t know if I personally would say that my life has been “hard”. I hear people use this to describe their life; “I have fallen on hard times”. But I don’t know, it doesn’t seem to be a relatable feeling. I have had to solve “hard” problems. Whether it is a math problem with seemingly random symbols or trying to comprehend why my parents won’t get along with each other....