.:Computer Defense:.

I remember one day in elementary school when we were dressing up for our future careers. I don't remember why they had us perform this ridiculous act, but I do remember it happening. I got up that morning, got ready for school, dressed up in nice clothes and picked up my "brief case", in reality it was a cassette carrying case with the dividers removed but it served it's purpose. I was going to be a teacher. Then when I was old enough to see the looks in my teachers faces in high school... the face palms, the head shakes and the rolling of the eyes as they dealt with student after student, I quickly changed my mind. After about 20 other options, I settled on IT and then narrowed the field and ended up in IS.

I can't say that I've never looked back and had a "what if" moment. In fact, I had many "what if" moments over the years and I always told myself I'd make a great teacher. Unfortunately, no matter how many letters I sent to the Ontario College of Teachers, they were convinced that computers were not a "technology" course but rather general education... which meant a university degree (something I don't have) is required to teach computers. So teaching was always put on the back burner, something I would do as soon as I went back to school to turn my three year diploma into a degree.

In the end though, it turns out I can teach... I just can't teach high school. Where do you put someone you don't feel is educated enough to teach teenagers? In college . Earlier this year I was contacted to develop a new course on computer security, and after the course was submitted I was asked if I was interested in teaching it. I jumped on the opportunity and I'm now a teacher.

So now I'm sharing it with all of you... why? Because my students are required, as one of their assignments, to blog on the course and what the learn... I figure I should be subject to the same requirements (and it's another excuse to find time to blog).

I have to admit that on that first day, I was scared shitless... still am really but I'm having a lot of fun. So far it's been pretty basic stuff, setting up VMs, installing some tools, talking about malware and playing with python but it's been really good. There's something great about watching someone figure out the next line of code in a small python script or getting back thoughtful discussion comments to questions you pose. I'm really looking forward to seeing where the rest of the semester goes.

There are a few things to get used to though. One of those is that not everyone is at the same level, some people need more help and some people don't want help. I should have remembered this from when I was in college, but somehow it had slipped my mind. The really odd thing is being called 'sir'. I'm sure the last time I was called sir, it was followed by, "Would you please leave, you're making a scene." I'm from the same generation as a lot of my students, so hearing 'sir' actually feels rather awkward. That being said, it's a small price to pay to do something I've always wanted to do.

So, that's my story... I teach 6 hours a week, and probably spend another 20 hours working on class related material (sending emails, reading labs and thinking about what we're doing next). And on that note, this Friday we cover reverse engineering and I've got some prep to do.