Sometimes you’ve got to sit down and write something from the bottom of you heart. Otherwise you lose the rare opportunity to inspire shy people who hesitate to do the things they secretly wish they had permission to do without realizing they’re the only ones authorized to give such permission.
Speaking straight from the gut gives you an opportunity to touch people at completely different level increasing the chance of your message resonating with readers.
Ego is an evil creature that’s holding us back because we fear so much of exposing ourselves. But isn’t it all about going all in and becoming vulnerable so that you can experience the life and impact lives of others? Isn’t it the biggest achievement of all that we should strive for?
The moment that you feel that, just possibly, you’re walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself. That’s the moment you may be starting to get it right. ~ Neil Gaiman
Together with my friend — Zbigniew Tenerowicz (@naugtur) — we’re leading a “Web Application Security Class” , where we teach Computer Science students how to write secure code and how to test it against common software vulnerabilities, such as those outlined in OWASP TOP 10.
It’s happening in Poznań, Poland and this is very new thing in Poland to teach practical Application Security at the University. This is so novel and innovative field that not many taken upon a challenge to teach it as a regular class in the college.
Sharing is caring and us — industry veterans — are supposed to give back to the youths and help them learn the skillswhich will make them hire-able.
And being a security-savvy software engineer is a tremendous advantage in the job market.
The path we’ve taken is teaching CS students how to write and notice insecure code, how to test & exploit it and then how to fix their code so the products they ship are stable and safe.
Yes, I am proud of both of us, because we haven’t had anyone give us such support when we wre younger Software Engineering noobs.
I’ve initially shared this on Peerlyst in hope it’ll inspire some of my colleagues there to rethink what they can give to the community and help other troubled people find their job, let alone career and meaning.
Everyone of us has something to offer, it’s just that too often we’re undervaluing our experience and knowledge, forgetting the path we went thru.
If you remind your path and acknowledge how tough it was to scape high quality content from the Internet , you’ll understand how much you’ve got to offer now. Even if you have 2 weeks of experience you’ve got something to share for people who’ve got 1 week or none at all.
Peerlyst Community to me has an incredible power as a medium which helps other people. I’m seeing there generous people who’re sharing their wisdom and experience so others can have a better life and career, learning from the mistakes of elders and standing on the shoulders of giants.
There are so many great people sharing their content that I’m not even attempting to list them because I don’t want to hurt feelings of all the hustlers I may miss to write down.
So I’ll just end up saying — please think what you can do in your local community, in your local social circle to help others shape their future thanks to your generosity. I know you’re always busy on schedule, but there is a plenty of people who can benefit from your content, even if you spend a couple of hours a year.
If you transform a life of one human being — this is already amazing. Now think what you can do with your lecture or presentation in local community high school/college or a free meetup for [aspiring] software engineers. It can also benefit you in various ways, because it gives you a feeling of mission/purpose, it gives you public exposure and allows to network with people you wouldn’t meet otherwise.
I wouldn’t be in the place I’m now if it werent for two security professionals who found my blogpost — on penetration testing — valuable and shared it on Peerlyst. They had impacted the trajectory of my life by being so generous to share my content here under their usernames and risking their reputation.
The only reason why I’m here with you for the past 18 months and why I keep contributing more and more is because I’ve taken the first step — I’ve published my article on the Internet to share my knowledge with others. It just clicked.
I know there is a plenty of great professionals sitting here and shying away from publishing they content. Go for it! Do it for the common good! 🙂
Stay strong Gals and Guys and let’s push this civilization for the better.
Cheers!
PS. I’ve meant to post here only a note about our university classes. Something clicked and I’ve found myself nobly ranting out of the blue. But I think it’s a worthwhile to share even tho the whole article may sound corny to some.
Dawid Bałut 