I did it. After all these years, I’ve leveled up high enough to unlock the “Real World” zone. Today I don my +4 INT cap and +5 WIS gown armor set and walk across into a new phase of life. What’s next for me?
The Tutorial
Fall of 2020, Freshman year, I move in to the Moen Hall apartment not knowing anybody in my apartment. Going in to my first main quest: Intro to Engineering with Professor Humes. I was excited to be here in college, even though things were still in a weird state due to the worldwide Covid debuff. Slowly, I got to know my roommates, some classmates, and the ultimately the people that would be my party for the next few years.
Grinding Levels
As time went on, the classes only got harder and harder. I had mastered the online classes just in time for them to rip that away from me. The first wall was with Thermodynamics and Solid Mechanics. These weren’t just any classes, they were my first real boss fights. I felt like I had just skipped the tutorial, there was no mercy, and game mechanics that I didn’t understand. Failing these classes would be a first for me. In high school I was always a straight A student, what happened to me? Have I become washed? I had to step back and relearn the game, one class at a time. Burnout hit hard, first thermo, then solids, then fluids, then vibrations. Every morning felt like I had just repawned after getting TPKO’d. I often stared at empty homework pages on my 3rd all-nigher in a row, convinced that I wasn’t cut out for this, but I knew I had to keep logging back in.
My DLC
In Spring of 2024, I came across a table set up for HackUSU, and talked to the guy sitting at the table. He told me about the cybersecurity club, and since I was in a pretty rough spot of classes, I was looking for something that could give me some sort of escape from just grinding out assignments all day and night. I went to that first club meeting and fell in love with the cybersecurity program. There were good people, and I enjoyed the idea of being a “hacker”. It felt like discovering a secret skill tree that I wanted to max out. Being so close to finishing my degree, I decided against switching majors, but decided to teach myself, as it would allow me to have a good fallback and also I could teach myself exactly the things that I want to learn. Somehow, the thing that I was doing for fun turned into something bigger. Cybersecurity became one of the most important parts of my college experience.
Sidequests
Some of the most important things that I learned weren’t in the classroom. They were in late-night hacking competitions, learning password cracking, cryptography, networking, Wi-Fi hacking, and more. It was the missed notes in band practice, performing in front of audiences, and figuring out how to balance all of these things without dropping it all. College wasn’t just about maxxing out one or two stats, it was about the exploration, the open world, the advanced combat systems, and talking meeting the other players along the way.
The Final Boss
As I finish up my final senior year, I am reminded of what one of my good friends told me in my second year: “Don’t let anyone talk you out of that 4 year degree, those 5 years are the best 6 years of your life.” At that time, I thought it was just a joke, but it was my character’s prophecy. I came in to college thinking that I would just be getting a degree, but as I leave, I think about all the connections I made, the e-sports I played, the bands I joined, the competitions I did, the beautiful woman I married, and every other step along the way. Walking into this “Real World” zone, I know I’m still underleveled, but this time I’m not going in solo.
Epilogue
So what’s next? I plan to get a job in cybersecurity doing threat hunting and pivot into penetration testing. After being the cybersecurity club president and a TA for cybersecurity classes, I’m actually starting to like the idea of teaching someday. Eventually I want to go get my Masters in Cybersecurity, but that’s a battle for a slightly higher level.
A Huge Thank You To These Professors For Always Supporting Me:
- Dr. Ryan Berke
- Dr. Thomas Fronk
- Dr. Ludger Scherliess
- Dr. Cassandra McCall
- Professor Jackson Graham
- Professor Shelly Halling
- Professor Zac Humes
- Professor Corinda Krebs
Thank You To My Amazing Academic Advisor For Believing In Me
- Robin Reid