DEV Community: Philip

It's been a while - Hello Cyber Security!

Philip — Thu, 07 May 2020 23:44:28 +0000

I realized it's been a long time since I last posted on here, and a lot has happened.

Last time I posted I was starting a new role as a tech support specialist with a startup in St. Pete Florida, and it was a great experience! I loved the company, the people, and the product especially, and it was so much fun troubleshooting and supporting its users. However, like all good things, they must come to an end (sometimes).

While there, I got an offer to attend the Air Traffic Controller Academy with the FAA, which was an opportunity not given to most people, (especially since I took various tests and had to pass a rigorous background check), and decided to take the plunge and give it a shot. So, my time with the company ended in November of 2019.

The academy was a great experience. I never knew what a process it took for aircrafts to efficiently and quickly land and takeoff, making the flight schedule as seamless as possible for its passengers. It truly was amazing and the backend of the aviation industry as a whole, is mind blowing. I learned a ton about the safety of aviation, about certain aircrafts and how they were built to fly and what to do and not do in the rare (very rare) case a plane crashed. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, and I truly tip my hat to the FAA and ALL of the behind the scene workers making the aviation industry function.

However, after spending a few months in the academy and passing the first phase of training, I realized that this profession wasn't for me. I couldn't see myself in this role/career long-term, and I missed tech too much. So, I put in my notice at the academy and left. But I have nothing but GREAT things to say about the FAA academy and the teachers there. They were absolutely fantastic and encouraging, and you could clearly see their passion for aviation.

But what am I going to do now? This was a question I asked myself when making the decision to leave the academy.

While in Florida and at the academy, I had developed a deep passion and love for Cyber Security. I think the field is absolutely fascinating, and I realized that is where I want to move my career to. With my background in Tech and my experience supporting web-based SaaS platforms, I made the decision that I am going to pursue a career that involved Cyber Security and Tech support. I was looking at all the paths someone could take in Cyber (and there are a lot!), but what kept calling me back to and peaked my interest the most was Web Application Security, and with my experience, I think this is a great fit for me.

So now, I am currently brushing up on past programming languages I had an interest in, (mainly speaking to you python), and learning about the OWASP best practices, and tools that will effectively help me towards this new goal, such as Burp Suite.

To further myself in this field, I have also started studying for the Security+ certification, which I hope will help me and I literally can't get enough of what entails in cyber security. It's awesome.

I am going to try to keep up with my blogs on Dev.to more often as I work towards this goal and hope to one day say "I'm officially in Cyber Security!", but until.... then back to studying.

Missing my family.

Philip — Mon, 27 May 2019 19:43:35 +0000

So. I’m a quadruplet. Yes, gasp! We exist!

It’s hard for me. My family lives in NY, and I recently moved to Florida for my new tech job. Besides going away to college, my siblings and I have never been apart more then 30 minutes from each other (living in our apartments etc). These last two months have been hard, being away from them all. Missing going out to dinners, hanging out at one of our apartments or our parents, or even just going to the bars together.

But although it’s hard to be away from my best friends, they’ve supported me in my move and my decision to join my new company and to keep excelling on what I aim to do.

So here’s to everyone and their siblings.

First Step To Learn Python

Philip — Mon, 27 May 2019 15:47:14 +0000

This is a very short post.

I just wanted to document the start of "teaching myself" Python. I know there are people who criticize Team Treehouse and their learning style (at least I think?), but I decided that in order for me to actually learn how to develop in Python, I needed a structured course. It's the best way I know how to learn. So this post is to just announce that I started the journey on learning Python with Team Treehouse, and I am excited and nervous to see where this takes me for my future.

My First Month At My New Tech Startup Job

Philip — Fri, 17 May 2019 19:13:46 +0000

So last month, I started a new role at a tech startup. I've been admiring this company for quite sometime so I'm pumped! that I was given the opportunity to help support the company, product and overall team. I love it so far!
My past involved Media Production: Animation but I've always had a passion for tech and startups. It's why I minored in Computer Science in College, along with my Major: Media Production - Animation.
Although, like the millions of other students, my life went a little differently. After college I was given the opportunity to join a family real estate firm which I took (I needed a job after all). Although, this was a blessing. I say this because it enabled me to learn more about how businesses run, how they operate and taught me the value of customer service. In addition, it allowed me to further develop my love for technology by becoming a master of the CRM platform the company utilized.
However, during this time I still felt that itch to learn to code and to join a tech startup. So in the Summer of 2018, that's what I did.
I gave my notice in June, and headed to General Assembly, where I learned the in's and out's of HTML/CSS and a little bit of JavaScript. It was awesome! It was everything I could have asked for, and it taught me so much and enlightened me on the way's of a developer.
After my time with GA I spent a few months looking for a role within a tech startup. It took a while, but I finally found where I feel like I can belong, and the company I am with now is simply fascinating. No other words can describe my love for the people, the culture and the product. Although I have only been here a month, I truly feel like I'm home with this company. My opinions are valued, my idea's are valued, my prior skillset and experiences are valued.They even encourage career and skillset improvement. They want their employee's to learn. Because in the end, if an employee learns a new skillset, it can only help the company scale right?
I can't thank this company enough to entrusting me with their product and working with their clients in a tech support role. I simply love it.
My next adventure is to learn Python, which I am pumped for and I can only hope it will help the company scale even further.

My First Dev Post

Philip — Wed, 15 May 2019 01:14:54 +0000

Hey all, I'm a semi-new web developer. Attended General Assembly during the summer of 2018, to further develop my front-end web knowledge which helped me land a role as a Support Specialist at a Tech Startup. However, I am looking to dive into learning Python and wanted some advise on the best course of action to start learning.