Where it started
I have been interested in systems, controls, and how things break for as long as I can remember.
When I was a kid, I used to take apart the family computer because I wanted to understand what was inside and how it all fit together. We did not always have reliable internet access, so when I could not get online, I spent time learning Windows, software, hardware, settings, and basic computer concepts on my own.
But I was not just interested in using computers. I was interested in making them do things, testing limits, bypassing restrictions, and figuring out why something failed.
My stepdad had a screen-time control device connected to the TV that limited when I could watch TV or play video games. He kept changing the PIN because I kept figuring it out. What I was really doing was listening. I would pretend to be asleep while he entered the PIN, memorize the keypad tones, map the sounds back to the numbers, and use that to unlock it later.
At the time, I just wanted more video game time. Looking back, that was one of my first lessons in how controls can fail when the process around them is predictable. I was observing behavior, recognizing patterns, testing assumptions, and learning that security is not just the device or the rule. It is the whole system around it.
Later, I started writing batch scripts on the family computer to automate small things and experiment with what I could control. I broke that computer plenty of times by taking it apart, changing settings, working around admin controls, and trying things I barely understood yet. That was how I learned: touch the system, break it, fix it, and try again.
By the time I was around 12, I knew technology was what I wanted to do. Penetration testing and cybersecurity made sense to me because they gave structure to the thing I was already drawn to: understanding weak points, testing assumptions, and figuring out how to make systems safer after you understand how they fail.
Today, that same instinct still drives how I work. I like understanding how systems behave, where controls break down, how risk becomes real, and how to turn that into practical fixes people can use.
Age 6–10
Took apart computers. Learned Windows, hardware, and software on my own. Broke things, fixed them, tried again.
Early lesson
Controls fail when the surrounding process is predictable. The weakness was never the device. It was the behavior around it.
Age 12
Knew technology was the direction. Penetration testing gave structure to the curiosity about how things fail.
Today
Security engineering, public-safe tools, engineering patterns, and practical fixes through DeepDream Security and a full-time engineering role.
