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Process Tampa Bay What I’m Up To

Joey’s Bizarre Adventure (or: I’m in The Undercroft’s “UC Baseline” cybersecurity education program!)

Remember that scholarship to the “UC Baseline” cybersecurity program that I wrote about last week? In that post, I also wrote:

(I’ll admit it: Although I’m not likely to qualify, I applied.)

Well, I applied, and I qualified. The combination of a promotional bonus and an I-got-laid-off scholarship gave me a deep discount on the standard $6,500 price tag for the inaugural cohort of the UC Baseline course, which starts tomorrow and runs until Wednesday, August 19th. Class starts at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Based in a gorgeous building in Tampa’s historic Ybor City neighborhood, The Undercroft could be described as a security startup incubator and coworking space, but they prefer to be described as a security guild and guild hall.

Here’s what Undercroft CEO Adam Sheffield has to say:

What we offer here is secure workspace for startups and medium-sized businesses in the security field that either want to start their businesses here in Tampa or make Tampa their home.

They’re also the home of a lot of interesting presentations, as this gallery of graphics for previous ones shows:

This isn’t my first exposure to information security culture, but it’s been a while, and I’m overdue for a refresher.

The first week of the program is Hardware 101, where we’ll spend five days covering the background and basics of the components that comprise modern systems. This should be fun.

To be continued!

For the next five weeks, I’ll be at The Undercroft (masked up, in a small cohort), learning. I’ll write about my experiences as I progress through the program.

Categories
What I’m Up To

Change of plans!

Photo: Harry Potter pointing his wand at his patronus, except Harry’s face has been crudely photoshopped with Joey deVilla’s, the patronus is wearing a tie, and the caption reads “EXPECTO PWNZORUS!”

All of a sudden, the next few weeks will be busy ones for me. I’ll post details soon, but if you read one of my posts from the past week, you just might be able to guess what I’ll be up to.

Categories
Current Events Tampa Bay

What’s happening in the Tampa Bay tech/entrepreneur/nerd scene (Week of Monday, July 20, 2020)

Photo: Lake Roberta in Seminole Heights — Tampa Bay tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events / Monday, July 20 - Sunday, July 26, 2020 * GlobalNerdy.com

Hello, Tampa Bay techies, entrepreneurs, and nerds! Welcome to the weekly list of online-only events for techies, entrepreneurs, and nerds based in an around the Tampa Bay area.

Keep an eye on this post; I update it when I hear about new events, it’s always changing. Stay safe, stay connected, and #MakeItTampaBay!

Monday, July 20

Tuesday, July 21

Wednesday, July 22

Thursday, July 23

Friday, July 24

Saturday, July 25

Sunday, July 26

There aren’t any online tech, entrepreneur, or nerd events in the Tampa Bay area scheduled…yet!

Do you have an upcoming event that you’d like to see on this list?

If you know of an upcoming event that you think should appear on this list, please let me know!

Join the mailing list!

If you’d like to get this list in your email inbox every week, enter your email address below. You’ll only be emailed once a week, and the email will contain this list, plus links to any interesting news, upcoming events, and tech articles.

Join the Tampa Bay Tech Events list and always be informed of what’s coming up in Tampa Bay!


Categories
Humor Process

How you deploy a container on Kubernetes

Photo: Tour guide pointing at insanely complex panel in insanely complex control room: “And this is how you deploy a container on Kubernetes”
Tap to see at full size.

It’s funny because it’s true.

[ Thanks to Guy Barrette for the find! ]

Categories
Career Players Tampa Bay

You have hours to sign up for a chance at a free scholarship to The Undercroft’s “Baseline” cybersecurity program!

Photo: The Undercroft sign, featuring the Undercroft’s “mascot” — a stag standing upright in a suit, leaning jauntily against an umbrella, walking stick-style.

The Undercroft, Tampa Bay’s cybersecurity guild/collaboration space, is offering scholarships to members and non-members for the July 20th cohort of their UC Baseline cybersecurity skills program. Simply put, it’s a chance to learn essential cybersecurity skills from the area’s experts for free!

Logo: UC Baseline

The UC Baseline program comprises the following courses:

  • Hardware 101: Gain a thorough understanding about the devices on which all our software runs and through which all our information flows.
  • Networking 101: Learn how our systems are connected and the ways in which they communicate through these connections.
  • Linux 101: Covers the foundations of security in Linux environments, the OS on which the internet runs.
  • Windows 101: Here’s a big challenge — learn the foundations of security for Windows environments.
  • Information Security 101: Covers everything from core IT concepts, to cybersecurity principles, methods, and practices.
  • Python 101: If you’re doing security, you should have some coding skills to automate your work and build tooling, and Python’s an excellent language for that task.

Here’s The Undercroft’s offer:

Are you looking to take control of your personal privacy and security? Are you frustrated by disappearing jobs and want to make an impact in the cybersecurity industry? Do you have what it takes to ensure your economic future and that of others?

 

The Undercroft’s Baseline program was built for those with the fortitude to fight against daily attacks that threaten our way of life.

 

In response to the global pandemic and increasing uncertainty in our economy, we are offering a select number of scholarships to guild and non-guild members for our July 20th, 2020 cohort.

Interested? Sign up on their scholarship page. You’ve got only until sometime on Friday, July 17th to apply!

(I’ll admit it: Although I’m not likely to qualify, I applied.)

Categories
Current Events Tampa Bay

Tonight at 6:30: Share your favorite tech tool tips and tricks in Suncoast Developers Guild’s online community chat!

Photo: Suncoast Developers Guild Community Chat - Online tonight at 6:30 (MacBook Pro, coffee cup and notebook and pen on a desk)

From 6:30 to 8:30 tonight, join the folks from Suncoast Developers Guild for an online hangout where everyone will share their tips and tricks for making the most out of their tech tools!

If you’re in tech and in the Tampa Bay area, you’ll want to keep an eye on what Suncoast Developers Guild are up to. They’re more than just a coding school — they hold and host regular community events, they sponsor all kinds of goings-on, they maintain a public  Slack for local techies (suncoast.io), and they’re part of what makes the Tampa Bay tech scene what it is!

Categories
What I’m Up To

My other computer stand

Photo: Makeshift laptop stand made of (from top to bottom): Cigar box, Coffee table book about Manila, Adrian Tomine’s graphic novel “Sumber Blonde”, AD&D books (2 copies of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, Monster Manual II, Fiend Folio, Player’s Handbook, and Unearthed Arcana).
Geek stack. Tap to see it at full size.

I don’t just use books as monitor stands for my Linux setup, but for my macOS setup as well — and it’s an equally geeky set of books!

Photo: MacBook pro on the stack of books.
Tap to see at full size.

Here’s that previous article about my Linux monitor stand setup:

My Smalltalk-80 literature and monitor stand