How i overcame my hesitancy to open up online & started blogging

How i overcame my hesitancy to open up online & started blogging

 📎 I wrote my first hashnode article after i joined the platform four months ago; just about the time i started the #100DaysOfCode challenge.

📌 A tweet followed. 👇

📌 The article 👇

 📎 I was thrilled to have finally published something, on my own blog! Still, i remained sceptical of growing my online presence. Which seemed extremely foolish and detrimental to my future career in tech, if i seriously wanted to pursue the line. But i had my reasons; the foremost being paranoia. 🤯 😨

 📎 To say that i was paranoid about my online privacy and security would be an understatement. I got worked up every time i came across news articles/posts/rants/comments online that mentioned mass surveillance being carried out by authoritarian nation states against their own citizens.

Also, what with the ongoing pandemic having provided the perfect cover for governments to further "clamp down" on our digital rights; it didn't help with frequent internet shutdowns becoming routine. All this led me to not even remotely think about surfacing online (social media, of course).

However, i continued to explore CyberSec/InfoSec/OSINT/DFIR; and of course, GNU-Linux/FOSS! 💓 This might seem laughable or unhinged to most, but it was my reality. The situation wasn't sustainable and i had to do something, otherwise i'd be done for. I decided to go all out with whatever i knew/resources i had, to start building an online presence. Indeed!

 📎 I bought a domain and went on to self-host a mail server. I started building my home lab using

✅ @OpenWRT
✅ @pfSense

I then made a @Github account and embarked on the #100DaysOfCode challenge. Which meant that i had to be on @Twitter. That was it. Finally, i publicly committed to the challenge after going through their official website: 100daysofcode.com & put out the tweet. I felt a huge & unnecessary weight lift off my chest; and the jinx broke. 🙌

 📎 I used to write a lot of lame poetry and a few articles while in college, so i was naturally drawn to awesome platforms like @Hashnode, @Dev.to. I've made a lot of progress since that day, but it took time & cost me my mental health. I, however, refuse to look back. 💪

Be that as it may, I got to know this wonderful community & a chance to attend the fabulous #HashnodeBootcamp! 😃

I plan on starting a series focusing on Privacy/Security/OSINT & a couple more things further down the line as i continue to hone my web development skills! 😎

🍻 Till next time. 🍻