A Personal Cybersecurity Story
When I first encountered the world of cybersecurity, I wasn’t sure where I fit in. My background was in accounting and finance, and I was initially focused on pursuing an MSc in Finance or Fintech. However, my older brother encouraged me to explore cybersecurity and was instrumental in guiding me toward this field. I had experience with spreadsheets, audits, and numbers, yet something about the digital world continually drew me in. I was fascinated by its complexity, the inherent risks, and, most importantly, its potential to protect or cause harm, depending on how we choose to use it.
I didn’t grow up surrounded by ethical hackers or cyber labs. I had to find my own way in. It didn’t start with curiosity, but with counsel and that led to questions:
What do cybersecurity professionals actually do?
Why and how should I protect my system?
Where can I learn more without burning out or feeling overwhelmed?
And why are some systems so easy to break into, while others seem untouchable?
Those questions became hours of late-night research. Research became passion. And passion led to action.
Eventually, I committed to earning my Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification — not just as a career move, but as a way to formalize a path I was slowly growing into. I didn’t have a tech background or all the tools at first. I had to build my own home cybersecurity lab, learn to troubleshoot, and understand how attackers think so I could defend better. It was overwhelming at times — but it also deepened my respect for cyber defense and the people quietly working behind the scenes to keep systems secure.
I remember when I first registered as a cybersecurity student — I didn’t even know how to speak the technical “lingo.” I spent hours researching just to keep up. We started with networking, and nothing tested me more than subnetting. That course nearly broke me. But with sheer determination — and encouragement from family — I pulled through
Getting certified wasn’t just about passing an exam — it was about seeing information security differently. Now, I no longer view cybersecurity as just a technical field. I see it as a social responsibility. A form of care. Especially in communities where digital literacy is still developing, the gap between access and safety is wide.
That’s part of why I started BloomTech, a digital ecosystem to make sure young people and communities don’t just use technology, but understand it, protect themselves, and build something meaningful with it.
If you’re reading this and wondering if cybersecurity is for beginners, it is.
Whether you’re coming from a non-tech background like I did or just starting, sometimes all it takes is the right counsel and a spark of curiosity to ask the questions that lead you forward. There’s room for all kinds of thinkers in this space. And the more diverse our defenders, the stronger our digital world becomes.