The Story I want to tell

... or how I entered the InfoSec field

My name is Veronica and I am a security analyst. I am very excited and proud of what I do. My job is my hobby and my passion. My IT-education has mostly been a self-study ever since I got my first PC somewhere in 2008 or 2009. Those days I thought that ICQ was a PC number (like phone number) printed on the desktop. That PC was assembled by some IT enthusiasts on out local IT market and was just a disaster! Every month or so it did something outrageous thus extending the limits of my notion regarding what the worst PC might be. I could expect any abject from its part: it could suddenly turn off kicking me back to the very beginning of my work and forcing to start all over again; or it could freeze to death leaving me freezing to death as well but rather from desperation; or it could suddenly go "blue screen". Everyday was a "surprise". Soon after this "treasure" I bought my first router (like the first one wasn't enough) and that was one worthy of my PC: awakening the same amount of annoyance. Soon after purchase it started demanding daily reset and re-configuration (almost every day), and neither IPS nor router's tech support were of any help. They both (I mean the PC and router, por su puesto :-) ) ended up on our entryway several years after that and apparently were picked up by some unsuspecting poor neighbor. I used to complain much about these two precious "guys", but now I understand how valuable these two devices have actually become: they have both forced me to delve into IT world and established a fundamentals of my IT-mindset that have later led me to becoming who I am right now.

Being a freshman I took mandatory philosophy classes and, at first, I considered them to be nothing more than just a part of educational program: boring and unavoidable. However one sunny (or not that sunny...) day our professor told us about a theory - pragmatism - that mainly states that things we know and learn should have practical application. I studied at Moscow State University on a Historical Department and one could guess which career path could be less compliant with that theory. Needless to say, that theory has changed my attitude drastically, because I had never considered my life from that angle before. It struck me like a lightning-ball! Upon considering my life I had realized that my previous and future potential experience couldn't help me make my own worthy practical contribution to this rapidly changing and developing world. That was a turning point of my life. From that day forward I started looking for a professional field where I could make the world a better place, and finally have found one: information security.

I have been fond of solving puzzles and riddles since I was a little kid. All my career and study choices were driven by that passion: law - to solve crimes; history - to solve historical puzzles; medicine - to solve human diseases puzzles. I remember reading children books about being a detective and a spy with lots of puzzles and tricks described. I also used to create my first ciphers at school to share notes with a friend without our teacher knowing the contents. And then during the last two years of high school and first years of University I got crazy about PC games from "Sherlock Holmes vs XXXXX" series where I had to (among other brainteasers) decipher some encrypted messages. Those times I didn't read any books on cryptography, but nevertheless managed to intuitively solve such puzzles in English and that was a fantastic feeling! So, I can tell, I am a dopamine addict. 

As a conclusion, I'd like to share one wise quote. Long-long time ago, there lived a very wise man Kong Qiu, better known as Confucius. He once said: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life". So, I am a very happy person, because I have found one! I am crazy and proud of my work, it has become my hobby and my passion, because it can help us make this world a better place :)