How I Started Training to Become a PenTester and Beekeeper at 48

First and foremost, this wasn't written with AI, but my Agent helped with image generation. While I appreciate my new digital based colleagues (ChatGPT which we built a persona for, Gemini lurking in Google, and Claude for when I get stuck on code) I also appreciate the human mind's ability to create and turn abstract into reality. It is a brave new world, not different from the early days of every home having a computer. Only now the tool has a personality…a story for a later date

I have always been a hacker. Growing up in the beginnings of the Digital Age we were always trying to see what we could do with our home computers. We traded our time trying to get into places on college servers at the invite of the admins for free shell accounts so we could play games online with each other. Whether it was questing on the Multi-User Dimensions (MUDs) like 3-Kingdoms, pwning each other on the original Doom 2, or strategically dominating bots on StarCraft we were all living a mixed existence both on and offline (ITRW — In the Real World).

This mindset helped me through initial phases in a career as a Medical Technologist (now known as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist) and a 20+ year career in the US Army as a Lab Officer/Blood Banker. Perpetual curiosity and willingness to learn new things. It helped with overcoming obstacles through further learning. And now, has brought me back to my roots which were in hacking and agriculture (I know right, complete opposite ends of the spectrum).

This blog will be dedicated to my journey into my past in both with hopes of inspiring others as a 49 year old. I intend to provide updates on my journey as a new beekeeper as well as my journey to becoming a professional PenTester. I have an apiary that I work with my mentor/friend Doug Havemann of Mesquite Field Farms who is an absolute pillar in the Regenerative Agriculture community. I have earned a few certs from CompTia (A+ and Security+) and most recently TCM-Security's PJPT taught by Heath Adams. I aspire to learn enough to earn the OSCP+ as I work through labs and courses by Tyler Ramsbey on his HackSmarter program. As a shameless plug, you should check out all of these folks' pages. They all have accomplished so much in their respective fields. They humbly and selflessly give to their respective communities persistently.

This will probably start with a bunch of walk-throughs of the labs and courses I have been doing on HackSmarter. I feel like this helps document my progress as well as showcases my note taking skills…which if you haven't learned in your courses on PenTesting or Beekeeping yet, that is the biggest part. Having the step by step proof of concept for your attack chains and the ability to put that into a understandable format is key. Remember what you did on your hives last time and what you need to do this time, also a big part of beekeeping.

Anyway, apologies for the initial entry post which doesn't say a lot and is focused on me. For those reading, never stop learning, never stop growing, never stop having fun. Remember, Biology teaches us one thing that seems to be the only constant in the subject. We are either growing or dying, which one are you doing?

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Original curiosity detected.
Resuming session.
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