September 14th, 2024, marks the first year of my blog. Since this website’s inception, I have made four (4) posts. That is one post every 3 months, which is pretty terrible.

My idea for this blog has changed slightly since last year. Originally, I wanted to post anything that interested me, from computer science and cybersecurity topics to movie and music reviews. If you have not noticed, I only have the former on this website. I’ve decided to focus solely on computer science/cybersecurity topics on this blog, using this space as a complement to my resume, to showcase my skills, experience, and interests.

Just because I haven’t posted anything does not mean I was dormant this past year; some of my largest accomplishments were:

• Graduated from university in the Fall 2023 semester
• Hired as a programmer/systems analyst for my county’s Sheriff’s Office
• Completed the CompTIA Security+ certification

I didn’t post these on my blog because I was not sure how I wanted to present myself here. Staying (partly) pseudonymous was my original goal to stay private, but I think connecting my LinkedIn to this blog and creating my public image would help me in my future career. Having an anonymous or pseudonymous account to post one’s accomplishments may not be useful if you cannot show your blog/account to a future employer. Some cybersecurity personalities that inspired me to make this change were Troy Hunt and John Hammond. I will still be shy in showing my face or location, but it is not too hard to find me.

As a sort of one year anniversary resolution, I want to challenge myself to post once every two weeks at the least. Some of my posts will be better than others; some will be more cybersecurity focused or computer science focused than others; and some will be more complex or interesting than others. James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, writes about the mantra “Don’t break the chain.” In my context, writing a perfect or great post is not as important as just making a post for the two weeks. Just writing a post affirms that I am the type of person who consistently reflects on what I am learning, writes about it, and posts it online.

If this goal is consistently met by next year, I may switch to one post every week.

Here’s to a more productive year,

Evan