This year will be the first year I attend a hackathon! I will be attending Fishackathon in February. In the past, I’ve always shied away from hackathons due to me being a noob at computers, and not wanting to make a fool out of myself. Lately, I’ve been trying to take every opportunity life gives me, because… well, why not?

In addition to that hackathon in February, I will be attending BSides SF. BSides is a free, volunteer driven security meetup, usually alongside major security conferences, such as RSA and Black Hat/DEFCON. Unfortunately for me, RSA was too expensive for me, even with the student discount so it looks like I won’t be attending this year. Maybe next year I’ll go!

I am really looking forward to August, which is when I will be going to DEFCON for the second year in a row! DEFCON is a hacker convention hosted in Las Vegas dedicated to hacking.  I didn’t do much last year still being new to security (and I haven’t been to Vegas in a while.) This year, I hope to attend the workshops and try to introduce myself to everyone there. I found people at DEFCON to be very welcoming and friendly, and I am excited to meet more and more people.

One day, I’d like to be able to attend Black Hat. Black Hat is a security conference aimed at professionals (and therefore is expensive – most people who attend Black Hat get their work to pay for it) and is considered one of the leading conferences in computer security. It is hosted every year in Las Vegas, usually a few days before DEFCON starts. The difference between Black Hat and DEFCON is that Black Hat is more of a corporate event, whereas DEFCON is less corporate-y, more informal.

It looks like 2018 will be a very eventful year and I look forward to learning new skills and meeting new people!