──[ VOL.0 :: scenic route ]─────────────────────────────────────────────────//──
─
:..........................................................................:
My major is not that related to CS, unfortunately.
But that was never an issue for me.
I needed money to get through college comfortably.
Even though I was staying in a government provided dormitory,
I still needed money for, well, life.
I did a couple of odd jobs here and there for cash at first,
but I still carried that flame inside me.
That flame being Computer Science.
──[ 0x00 time ]─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────//──
─
I am generally wellliked and skilled at socializing,
but I don't always prefer it.
I much prefer my own company.
So by synthetically cutting back on how much
I hung out with friends,
I managed to reduce my spending by a considerable amount.
Now, even though I had less money in my pocket,
I had free time.
And I believe I utilized that free time
as efficiently as I could for those years.
One might ask:
"So, you had free time, but what sparked that fire again?"
The truth is that the fire was never snuffed out.
It just got weaker for a while.
And my new situation allowed it to
reach heights it had never reached before.
Luckily, my classes started early and ended early.
I also had a lot of free days in my curriculum.
The dorm closed at 23:00 every night,
so I would walk back in at around 22:50.
All my free time was spent in the library
(excluding the occasional hospital visit, shopping, and life stuff).
──[ 0x01 certificates ]─────────────────────────────────────────────────────//──
─
At first, I earned these certificates through Coursera:
[+] Google IT Support Specialization:
[>] https://www.coursera.org/account/accomplishments/specialization/7B68XQ84
GV8U
From this certificate, I filled the knowledge gaps
I carried over from my childhood regarding:
|-- Technical Support
|-- Hardware
|-- Operating Systems
|-- Software
|-- Programming
|-- Databases
|-- Networking
|-- Storage
|-- Cybersecurity Essentials
|-- Cloud Computing
`-- General DevOps
[+] IBM IT Support Specialization:
[>] https://www.coursera.org/account/accomplishments/specialization/7HNXQ5KB
QULK
Taking the IBM IT support track allowed me to practice more
and fill the remaining gaps from Google IT support.
[+] Google Project Management Certificate:
[>] https://www.coursera.org/account/accomplishments/specialization/7B68XQ84
GV8U
Knowing how to build something and knowing how to work in a group
or actually function in a corporate environment are two very different things.
This certificate gave me insight into
how the software world works on an institutional level.
I also got introduced to Agile Project Management here.
Throughout these certificates, I noticed something about myself:
I really, really enjoyed Networking and Software Development.
I enjoyed all of it, but those two stood out.
──[ 0x02 wrong turn ]───────────────────────────────────────────────────────//──
─
Then I went through a thought process that was
fundamentally wrong, but outputted the correct result.
I looked at the IT world and my current level of understanding.
I realized I still had a lot of missing pieces.
So I asked myself:
"What is a specialization that deals with nearly every area of IT?"
The result was, of course, Cybersecurity.
This is where things got interesting.
I thought that by learning a good amount of Cybersecurity,
I would be more attuned to the skillset needed for Software Development,
and maybe discover what I actually wanted to do in CS.
The flaw in my logic was assuming
I could get good at Cybersecurity before getting good at general IT.
That was very wrong.
Still, I finished half of the paths on TryHackMe:
|-- Pre Security
|-- Cyber Security 101
|-- Security Engineer
|-- Web Fundamentals
|-- DevSecOps
|-- Jr. Penetration Tester
`-- (and half of Offensive Pentesting)
While grinding through those, I noticed a few things:
I still loved Networking and OS concepts.
I really enjoyed the core concepts of Web Development.
And I was definitely not equipped with the right skillset
to continue down this pure cybersecurity path yet.
I needed to get better.
──[ 0x03 pickle rick ]──────────────────────────────────────────────────────//──
─
The way I realized I wasn't ready was actually kind of interesting.
I was working through the Pickle Rick CTF box.
I noticed I was just blindly executing tasks
I had memorized from previous lessons.
I didn't actually understand, on a deep level,
what my commands were doing under the hood.
So I started questioning myself during the CTF.
Because the attack vector sat right on top of a web application,
I realized I needed to learn how a website worked DEEPLY
before I had any right moving forward.
For me, doing something without understanding
the underlying logic is just tasteless.
And that is how my web development journey actually started.
──[ 0x04 first sites ]──────────────────────────────────────────────────────//──
─
I followed a couple of tutorials and experimented heavily.
I remember my very first "website":
an `index.html`, tied to a `style.css` and a `script.js`.
It was a Lebron James Fan Page :)
and it had a functional calculator built into `script.js`.
I felt so damn cool building that. It was awesome.
I made about 50 static websites just like it.
It became pure art for me for a while—
something I did to get my mind off things.
I even remember making a mock "dark web"
scary cannibal cafe website :)
Then I noticed another wall:
I was really, really good at standard CSS,
but there was a massive gap called "CSS Grid."
It just made my head hurt.
──[ 0x05 vue ]──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────//──
─
I searched for a way to generate grids easier
and stumbled onto this tool by Sarah Drasner:
https://cssgrid-generator.netlify.com/
(It's down now, unfortunately).
It was so cool I couldn't believe it.
So I did something I had never done before:
I inspected the source code of the site.
It didn't have any of the visible HTML content in the raw markup.
It looked like magic—just:
`<div id="app"></div>`
wrapped in headers and scripts.
I was mindblown.
I opened up Inspect Element, dug around, and found `main.js`.
That was the exact moment I discovered Vue.js.
Before that night, I thought websites were strictly built by
writing raw HTML/CSS/JS and plugging in MongoDB for data.
Suddenly, the entire world of modern frameworks opened up to me.
I stayed up inspecting a ton of websites that night.
Some had way more initial HTML than others
(CSR vs. SSR/SSG, though I didn't know the terms yet).
I genuinely thought Sarah's site was superior
simply because the raw HTML file was smaller.
I knew nothing about SSR, SSG, obfuscation, minification,
or SEO back then. I just assumed less code meant faster and safer.
Anyway, I opened up a Vue.js tutorial.
At the start, the instructor said:
"Prerequisites for this course are HTML/CSS/JS
and a solid understanding of the DOM structure."
"A solid understanding of the DOM structure?" I thought.
I knew what the DOM was, but not in deep detail.
And I had only built basic scripts with JS up to that point.
So I paused, watched a bunch of deepdive explanations,
read documentation, and experimented heavily.
I learned the DOM structure mainly from reading the docs.
In fact, finishing that last Vue.js video tutorial marked a turning point:
I never followed another video tutorial again.
To this day, I learn infinitely better by reading manuals,
building hands on projects, and using https://exercism.org/ for syntax.
I finished the entire JavaScript track on Exercism
and experimented relentlessly.
──[ 0x06 metal / CS50 ]─────────────────────────────────────────────────────//──
─
While doing all of this, another realization hit me:
I knew IT fundamentals pretty well.
I knew how a website worked under the hood.
But I didn't know how things ACTUALLY worked at the metal.
There were too many abstractions and axioms clouding reality.
I needed to dig deeper.
So I thought:
"Is there a better place than Harvard to learn foundational theory?"
I enrolled in Harvard's CS50.
I took pages of notes, loved every second of it,
and finished it.
An incredible course, honestly.
──[ 0x07 money ]────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────//──
─
At that point, all I wanted to do was experiment
and study cool computer science theory forever.
But we don't live in a isolated container.
Life hits, and reality sets in.
I needed money.
So I started taking freelance client contracts.
The rest of the case studies section
consists of those real world builds.
Even though it was stressful and chaotic,
it ended up being the single best way to learn:
building actual production level software for real people.
The rest is history.
:..........................................................................:
──[ EOF :: vol.0 / scenic route ]───────────────────────────────────────────//──
─