Hello
As graduation quickly approaches, I am granted the opportunity to reflect back on my time at ODU and my educational journey as a whole. I graduated from Southside Virginia Community College in around 2014, with an Associated in Applied Science in Information Technology, General Studies, and a General Education's Certificate.
It was always my goal and dream to attend a four year university to obtain my bachelors degree. But, due to unforeseen circumstances, my education was placed on hold for many years. However, that didn't stop me. I was determined to achieve this goal. I continued to pray and seek guidance and knowledge on how to re-enter school. In 2021, God opened a door. I applied to ODU, was accepted, and now I'm graduating. I am forever grateful for the determination and prayers that have been answered.
Because there was such a huge gap from 2014 to 2021, I had to be reacclimated to school, coursework, and online courses. Lord knows (and my family, and likely some of my professors too lol) that I struggled with some of the coursework. It was difficult, challenging, overwhelming, but all in all rewarding. I realized the courses that I struggled in the most, are the ones I learned the most in. I am a hands-on learner and doing the labs and projects myself caused the information to stick.
My favorite hands-on projects are those working with virtual machines, learning about Linux, conducting penetration testing, hacking into windows XP from Kali Linux, and uploading documents to the attacked system. I desire to either work as a penetration tester or in digital forensics as an analyst. So, the course work provided in the School of Cybersecurity at ODU has been very beneficial and rewarding to not only my career goals but also expanding my skillset.
I am overjoyed, excited, grateful, and nervous for my journey ahead. But, I know if I keep faith, determination, and persistence things will work in my favor.
After graduation I am planning to return Spain to perfect the Spanish language. It is my goal to be fluent in the language and I'm also looking forward to being a part of the culture again. It is ideal to work remote in the tech field while perfecting the language. I have my work cut out for me, but I am hopeful, and I am excited for the adventure.