My Journey
My journey into IT and cybersecurity was atypical, but not unheard of based on my conversations with other professionals. I was a political science major, but struggled to find work in my field. I took some advice and started studying for the CompTIA A+ and had an employer that was gracious enough to let me pivot internally to their help desk.
I quickly excelled in skills and seniority in different IT roles including systems and network administration and engineering, and finally into my first cybersecurity role as a security engineer and threat hunter.
Why this Site
A lot of the information and notes found on my domain resided in various platforms — Google Docs, OneNote, Obsidian, and more. As I participated more in the community — mentoring and sharing knowledge, projects, and notes — I decided it would be more efficient to have a central place to keep the information. Thus, this blog and my notes repository were made.
Recommended Reading
Home Lab
This blog has grown bigger than I had ever imagined it would. I've cataloged various guides on building your home lab:
- How to Start Your Home Lab
- Building a Cybersecurity Home Lab with Proxmox
- Building a Cybersecurity Home Lab with VMware Workstation
- Building a Cybersecurity Home Lab with VirtualBox
- Infrastructure-as-Code with Proxmox and GitLab CI/CD
Learning Paths
I've also cataloged multiple guides for beginners to IT and Cybersecurity that are looking for suggested learning paths.
- IT and Cybersecurity Learning Path
- Ethical Hacking Learning Path
- Free Resources for IT and Cybersecurity
- My CTF Methodology
Coffee Roasting and Brewing
Another passion of mine is finding ethically sourced coffee and roasting and brewing it at home.
Resume
I actively mentor in the IT and cybersecurity community — particularly on Discord and at local events and meetups. I also stay on top of the latest IT and cybersecurity trends by participating in CTFs and other cyber challenges, as well as monitoring various technology and security news feeds.
I maintain a multi-node Proxmox virtualization cluster where I study anything from ethical hacking and detection techniques, networking, coding, DevSecOps, and much more.
A copy of my resume can be found here: https://benheater.com/resume/
I Hope to See You Again!
Thank you for taking the time to learn a little more about me and thank you for visiting my blog! I hope you learn something while you are here, and hope that you will continue to come back and check out other resources on my site.