This is a guest post written by Siddh from Texas. He became a Scholar in the National Cyber Scholarship Competition by playing CyberStart America, CyberPatriot and picoCTF.

“I believe that as a National Cyber Scholar, I will have more opportunities to be able to pursue cybersecurity and similar fields in the future.”

We caught up with Siddh to find out how CyberStart America helped him become a National Cyber Scholarship (NCS) Scholar, and his future plans to start a business in the tech industry.

How would you describe your experience of the National Cyber Scholarship Competition?

I had a fun time getting to learn more about a variety of cybersecurity techniques through interactive challenges. The design of the competition, with points and scores associated with the activities, made it an even more enjoyable experience with the perfect level of competitiveness as well as by gamifying it. I did get stuck a lot, but it was very satisfying to solve the challenges after spending some time learning more about them.

“The design of the competition, with points and scores associated with the activities, made it an even more enjoyable experience with the perfect level of competitiveness.”

How did you feel about becoming a Scholar in the Competition?

I'm excited and elated about it! I believe that as a Scholar, I will have more opportunities to be able to pursue cybersecurity and similar fields in the future. I'm looking forward to being able to learn more through the industry-level course offered and get certified over the summer. I'm glad to be able to add this to my journey with CyberStart. I'm also happy that I was able to go from zero cybersecurity knowledge at the beginning of this school year to a having general understanding of a variety of techniques and having applied them to become a Scholar today.

“I'm happy that I was able to go from zero cybersecurity knowledge at the beginning of this school year to a having general understanding of a variety of techniques, and having applied them, to become a Scholar today.”

How did you prepare for the National Cyber Scholarship Competition?

CyberStart America was ultimately the program that helped me prepare the most. I participated in CyberPatriot and picoCTF; however, I felt like CyberStart America was more fun and educational than the other programs. CyberStart America also encouraged me to research on my own, where I learned many skills as well.

Do you have plans to continue your cybersecurity studies?

I'm planning on majoring in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Cybersecurity in college, and I'm working on finalizing a college list right now, as I am a junior.

I'm considering several in-state schools such as UT Austin, UT Dallas, UT San Antonio, TAMU, and Texas Tech and weighing out which ones I like the most at the moment. I'm also planning on applying to some highly-ranked schools like MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and Stanford, but I'm still working on finalizing my actual list.

Before participating in the National Cyber Scholarship Competition, were you considering a career in cybersecurity?

Before participating in NCS, I had just begun to explore cybersecurity as a career option (after focusing on computer science for the earlier part of my high school career), through programs such as Cyberpatriot and a couple of different CTFs.

I mostly focused on computer science and learning programming and other similar skills before the competition. However, I participated mostly in programming competitions like UIL and USACO. I also didn't know much about what a cybersecurity career included before participating in the competition.

Since participating in the National Cyber Scholarship Competition, are you now considering a career in cybersecurity?

I'm definitely more into cybersecurity as a career option and field of study in my higher education due to my participation in the NCS Competition. I've had the ability to participate in simulated cybersecurity challenges, which helped me get a feel of what applying the techniques I learned in the real world would feel like. This hasn't been paralleled as much in other cybersecurity competitions I participated in this year.

I believe that the NCS program and competition are unique in teaching new skills and allowing for their application simultaneously. Having the opportunity to participate in this had increased my interest in cybersecurity as a career option since I've thoroughly enjoyed the competitions.

“I believe that the NCS program and competition are unique in teaching new skills and allowing for their application simultaneously.”

I am looking forward to at least minoring in Cybersecurity or a similar field in college as well as working in tech in the future. I'm also interested in entrepreneurship. I believe that when I am able to start my own business in the tech industry, I'll be able to apply some of my new skills and new things I pick up in college to gain a basic understanding of how to apply cybersecurity techniques to products I develop.

How did participating in CyberStart America / CyberPatriot / picoCTF help prepare you for the National Cyber Scholarship Competition?

I believe that CyberStart America was probably the most helpful of the three listed above -- it provided a guide with an introduction to different ways of exploiting vulnerabilities which I learned to go from absolute 0 cybersecurity knowledge to a basic understanding of how to apply techniques to get flags.

picoCTF was also helpful in practising these skills with their large collection of capture the flag challenges as well as additional resources.

CyberPatriot was the least related of the three, as it focuses more on operating systems and is more open-ended. But, I believe that I was able to learn general principles of cybersecurity and more about networking and OS's like Linux through CyberPatriot.

Any final comments on your National Cyber Scholarship Competition experience?

I had a great time! I'm looking forward to participating in the experience next year and learning more about cybersecurity in the meantime. I’m looking forward to the summer experiences I can participate in as a Finalist.

Are you ready to take on the National Cyber Scholarship Competition challenges like Siddh? You can sign up for free training via CyberStart America here.