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cover of episode #169 From fast food worker to cybersecurity engineer with Tae'lur Alexis

#169 From fast food worker to cybersecurity engineer with Tae'lur Alexis

2025/4/21
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freeCodeCamp Podcast

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Quincy Larson
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Tae'lur Alexis
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Tae'lur Alexis: 我高中时学习成绩不好,毕业后做过快餐店和零售店的工作。后来我通过自学编程,利用FreeCodeCamp和100DaysOfCode挑战赛等资源,学习了Python和JavaScript。我做了五年的软件工程师,之后才专注于安全工程。现在我的工作是从事安全分析师,为科技初创公司提供各种安全服务,包括漏洞评估、渗透测试和合规性工作。我的日常工作内容多样化,例如进行风险评估,或为客户提供关于漏洞扫描工具的建议。在学习编程的过程中,我遇到了很多困难,但是我通过建立线上社区,获得他人的支持和鼓励,最终坚持了下来。我学习编程的初衷并非为了高薪,而是为了创造价值并帮助他人。在学习编程的过程中,我一边做零售工作,一边自学编程,每天工作时间很长,睡眠时间很少。学习编程更像是一场意志力的挑战,而不是技术挑战。我自学编程大约七到八个月后,收到了来自西雅图一家小型咨询公司CEO的招聘邮件。我之前开发的应用程序包括一个啤酒和巧克力配送服务的登录页面、一个美容电商应用程序的登录页面和一个类似Zillow的房地产列表应用程序。我的GitHub和简历上展示了这些项目。面试过程包括与CEO的电话沟通和与工程师的技术面试。技术面试比较轻松,主要考察我的沟通能力和解决问题的能力。面试官还询问了我关于软件开发流程、可访问性和响应式设计等方面的问题。面试的关键在于考察沟通能力、解决问题能力以及团队合作能力。我第一次乘坐头等舱前往西雅图,开始了我的第一份软件工程师工作。我刚开始工作时感觉不太真实,并且得到了很多支持。我需要适应新的团队文化和不同成员的个性。我的团队中有一些成员没有大学学位,他们非常聪明。我的老板也没有大学学位,他是一名CISO。我曾经有一位非常严格的项目经理,她会在晚上11点布置第二天早上9点前需要完成的10项任务。这位项目经理的要求不合理,让我感到非常糟糕。我通过建立线上社区,获得他人的支持和鼓励,最终坚持了下来。我学习编程的初衷并非为了高薪,而是为了创造价值并帮助他人。我学习编程的过程中,我一边做零售工作,一边自学编程,每天工作时间很长,睡眠时间很少。学习编程更像是一场意志力的挑战,而不是技术挑战。我自学编程大约七到八个月后,收到了来自西雅图一家小型咨询公司CEO的招聘邮件。我之前开发的应用程序包括一个啤酒和巧克力配送服务的登录页面、一个美容电商应用程序的登录页面和一个类似Zillow的房地产列表应用程序。我的GitHub和简历上展示了这些项目。面试过程包括与CEO的电话沟通和与工程师的技术面试。技术面试比较轻松,主要考察我的沟通能力和解决问题的能力。面试官还询问了我关于软件开发流程、可访问性和响应式设计等方面的问题。面试的关键在于考察沟通能力、解决问题能力以及团队合作能力。我第一次乘坐头等舱前往西雅图,开始了我的第一份软件工程师工作。我刚开始工作时感觉不太真实,并且得到了很多支持。我需要适应新的团队文化和不同成员的个性。我的团队中有一些成员没有大学学位,他们非常聪明。我的老板也没有大学学位,他是一名CISO。我曾经有一位非常严格的项目经理,她会在晚上11点布置第二天早上9点前需要完成的10项任务。这位项目经理的要求不合理,让我感到非常糟糕。我被公司裁员后,开始做自由职业者,并通过Twitter等平台获得客户。我学习安全工程的经历,我通过TryHackMe和TCM Security等资源学习安全知识。学习安全工程的过程中,我学习了Linux、网络和Active Directory等知识,并学习了如何构建和破坏系统。我专注于Web应用程序安全,因为我了解如何构建Web应用程序。我通过学习OWASP Top 10等资源,学习了各种常见的Web漏洞攻击方式。我目前的工作是安全分析师,为科技初创公司提供各种安全服务,包括漏洞评估、渗透测试和合规性工作。我目前正在努力学习OSCP认证。我通过设定每日学习目标、记录学习过程以及阅读相关资料来保持学习动力。我搬到泰国居住,并获得了数字游牧签证。我选择搬到泰国居住,是因为我喜欢泰国的文化和生活方式。我建议想要搬到海外居住的人,应该提前做好充分的准备,包括储蓄足够的资金、了解当地的签证政策以及学习当地的文化和习俗。 Quincy Larson: 我了解到Tae'lur的开发者成长历程,以及她从快餐店员工到软件工程师的转变。我想了解Tae'lur是如何自学编程的。学习编程更像是一场意志力的挑战,而不是技术挑战。我想了解Tae'lur在自学编程期间是否还在做零售工作。我想了解Tae'lur在收到招聘邮件后的反应,以及她之前开发的一些应用程序。我想了解Tae'lur在西雅图的第一份工作中是否参与了冲刺、每日站会等活动。我想了解Tae'lur在西雅图第一份工作期间的睡眠、饮食和压力情况。我想了解Tae'lur在西雅图的第一份工作中,团队成员是否有非传统背景。我想确认CISO的含义。我想了解Tae'lur在西雅图工作期间,是否有特别困难的经历。我想了解Tae'lur是如何从软件工程师转型到安全工程师的。我想了解Tae'lur在泰国的生活,以及她为什么选择搬到泰国居住。 supporting_evidences Tae'lur Alexis: 'Honestly, diverse for my resources and everything. At that point in 2017, the main resources that were out was Free Code Camp and Code Academy.' Tae'lur Alexis: 'Yeah, like at one point I was working at both like Walmart and Boston Market and I would work like especially at Boston Market. I'd be working like eight to ten hour shifts, sometimes without a break.' Tae'lur Alexis: 'Honestly, it was, like, the least technical interview I've had since then.' Tae'lur Alexis: 'For me, like how I developed ideas for like landing pages, since I wanted to be a front end developer, I thought of like startup ideas.' Tae'lur Alexis: 'Yeah, daily stand-ups and everything like that, for sure.' Tae'lur Alexis: 'It was a very, it's a very surreal feeling. Like it didn't really feel real.' Tae'lur Alexis: 'I had a project manager. And she was really hard on me.' Tae'lur Alexis: 'I started learning it through like try hack me.' Tae'lur Alexis: 'And Bangkok was like what spoke to me like the most.'

Deep Dive

Chapters
Security engineering is a vast field with various specializations such as incident response, compliance, and application security. Tae'lur Alexis's work involves a mix of these, providing services like vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, and compliance assistance to tech startups. Her daily tasks vary depending on client needs, ranging from risk assessments to advice on implementing automated vulnerability scanners.
  • Security is a vast field with specializations like incident response and application security.
  • Application security is a good entry point for web developers.
  • Tae'lur's work involves vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, and compliance assistance for tech startups.

Shownotes Transcript

On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Tae'lur Alexis. She's a developer and security analyst. Instead of going to college, Tae'lur spent years working various fast food and retail jobs.

Tae'lur taught herself Python and JavaScript using freeCodeCamp and worked as a software engineer for 5 years before specializing in security engineering. Now instead of building applications, she breaks them.

We talk about: - Making ends meet working McDonalds in Florida - How she taught herself programming using freeCodeCamp and the #100DaysOfCode challenge - Leveraging local meetups to make developer friends - Moving to Thailand and working remotely

Support for this podcast comes from a grant from Wix Studio. Wix Studio provides developers tools to rapidly build websites with everything out-of-the-box, then extend, replace, and break boundaries with code. Learn more at https://wixstudio.com.

Support also comes from the 11,384 kind folks who support freeCodeCamp through a monthly donation. You can join these chill human beings and help our charity's mission by going to donate.freecodecamp.org

Links we talk about during our conversation: - Tae'lur's website and blog articles: https://taeluralexis.com - Tae'lur's YouTube channel about working remotely in Bangkok: https://www.youtube.com/@TaelurAlexis - Tae'lur on Twitter: https://x.com/TaelurAlexis