this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2025
135 points (96.6% liked)

Asklemmy

45214 readers
1749 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

My profession is in programming. Initially, my dad tried to teach me Javascript. It was a struggle and couldn't get it.

A few years later, I took up computer science in college and that's where it all clicked: I can imagine the end result. It's a matter of being curious and finding (or I daresay... hacking) my way to that conclusion. Programming languages have a very funny way of allowing you to do just that. In studying computer science, I discovered the art of engineering all kinds of software-based solutions.

Because my way of solving problems is more deductive than inductive, I have to consciously build foundational knowledge and routines. Constant learning and insatiable curiosity is required for me to identify when my hunches are wrong and discard them accordingly.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Long time IT/cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity is all about curiosity and learning. I got there via the military.

E: too soon.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Wow it's really cool someone from a military background went into the field of cybersecurity!

Is this common at all in cybersecurity?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago

There's a lot of IT jobs in the military, and that includes cybersecurity.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

It is now. When I got into it, I was doing communications, mainly radio and satellite. I had no idea what I was going to do, and as it turned out, computers and learning really struck a chord with me.

I used military grade cryptography in the Navy, but I learned a lot about cybersecurity on my own. All the “puzzles”, and learning new things everyday like new technology, new vulnerabilities, etc.

Now they have specialists in the military and other government agencies that teach it. Although, given the current political climate, I wouldn’t want to be part of that with that.

As much as people learn it in school and the military now, I feel to be really good at it, you have to know at least a little of everything. I like to look at it like a technical jack of all trades.

You’d be surprised how many people there are from all sorts of backgrounds and interests, that had no idea they would be making a living out of hacking.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Any tips on how to break into the field as a SWE?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Learn everything you can, about everything you can,
and check out places you can practice your learning like Hack the Box or one of the other platforms.

And go from there!