At 13, I built elaborate Excel spreadsheets of car modifications I couldn't afford. Now I'm doing it again with aircraft - researching every possible STC for a 1977 A36 Bonanza. Unlike cars, certified aircraft modifications require FAA approval, but that just makes the research more interesting.
After a decade of accidentally falling into security and building teams across multiple domains, I've learned that the most successful security professionals share three crucial soft skills: genuine passion for the work, empathy for the teams they impact, and understanding of business context over absolute security.
2021 was a year of major transitions - from shifting into leadership roles to earning my private pilot's license to becoming a father again. Despite missing my health goals (again), I discovered the value of taking extended parental leave and dove deep into reading, while navigating significant career and family changes.
After 14 years of domain ownership and multiple redesigns, I finally found the perfect solution: a Jekyll static site on GitHub Pages. No more worrying about AppPools, NGINX configs, or hosting costs - just markdown files and content focus.
How I built an integration with Google Analytics with ASP.NET
I wanted a quick and easy way to get a short URL for my blog posts, so I used the bit.ly API and created a simple function in C# to handle it. With this function, you can easily shorten any URL by passing it as an argument.
I recently encountered an issue with our secure site not rendering in Internet Explorer on Windows XP machines, resulting in 4,000 Schannel errors a day. After trying various troubleshooting steps, including modifying registry keys and certificate settings, the problem was eventually solved by requesting a new SSL certificate with a reduced key length.
SNOWFROC 2010 was well worth it again.
As a Computer Science major, I've often heard that CIS majors are not as technically proficient, but after interacting with them, I realized they have a strong business-oriented perspective and are capable of making good IT decisions. This experience made me appreciate the complementary nature of CS and CIS majors, realizing that they will likely work together to ensure efficient systems.
As someone who's worked in IT for several years, I've encountered numerous misconceptions about my role - from being expected to fix problems on demand to not being valued as a critical part of an organization. In reality, my job is diverse and demanding, requiring technical skills, management abilities, and problem-solving expertise.