Why I'm Studying for Security+

I get asked why a high school student working at Starbucks is spending his evenings memorizing port numbers. Fair question.

The short answer: I want to work in cybersecurity, and Security+ is the most concrete first step I can take right now — before university, before internships, before anyone gives me permission.

The longer answer

I was born in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. If you've followed the news at all since 2022, you know why that shapes how I think about security. Watching cyber attacks become part of an actual war — power grids, communications, propaganda — made it impossible for me to see this field as just a job. It matters.

The Security+ syllabus itself is honestly a grind. Acronyms on acronyms. But every few pages something clicks and connects to the real world: why the café Wi-Fi is a terrible place to check your bank account, why phishing works on smart people, why password123! satisfies the policy and protects nothing.

How I'm studying

• One domain at a time, notes in my own words
• Practice questions every day, even just ten on a break
• The TIL section of this site doubles as my flashcard deck

Exam target: before the end of summer. I'll write about how it goes — pass or fail.