Beginner to Builder: Shaping the Conversation in Open Source Security  🔗 **Source:** [Beginner to Builder: Shaping the Conversation in Open Source Security](https://share.snipd.com/episode/052e68f1-b855-41d9-a206-5d3547199ddc) ## Highlights - **Learn Publicly To Build Consistency** - Do learn publicly to build consistency and accountability by sharing your progress on platforms like LinkedIn and X. - Ejiro started a 100-day cybersecurity challenge after an internship rejection and posts daily learnings to stay disciplined and visible. Transcript: Ejiro Oghenekome It? So I have embarked on a 100-day cybersecurity challenge where I post whatever I learned about cybersecurity in the open. I post it both on LinkedIn and on X. Twitter, currently as X. So my journey can be documented. What made me do this was the advice I got from friends and loved ones. I was told to learn publicly. And that really has shaped me over time coming now. Because looking back, it has really helped me to stay consistent. And it has also helped me to stay disciplined in terms that I feel so indebted to the course of posting because I've seen a lot of people grow interest in what I have posted about my career, Everything I do about cybersecurity. It has really been an interesting journey for me. Also, another reason why I embarked on the 100 Day of Cybersecurity Challenge was because I would say I got a rejection from an internship. I really did not get a feedback from them. So I don't know if I should say that's a rejection, but technically it is because I didn't get a feedback. I really wanted to get a practical knowledge of what I was already learning. I've learned for a while and I wanted to get into the practical space. I wanted to get into the real world space to practice what I have been learning. I applied for the internship. Unfortunately, I did not get it. So I had to take some step back and make a curriculum for myself where maybe I would be able to create something that feels really practical. The internship I applied for was a three-month internship, which is 90 days, if I would say technically. So I just had to do it, oh, 90 days for an internship that I did not get. So I had to make it 100 days for myself. Looking at all I have done, what I hope to come out from this, which I am already saying, is for people to know me for what I do. For people to know me for open source, for people to know me for open source security, for people to know me for cyber security, and for people to know me for preaching and being an enthusiast Of open source. People should come into the open source space to contribute to open source. I see the opportunity it comes with. And people to also know that I am a cybersecurity analyst and I also give best practices. I also give basic knowledge of what cybersecurity is and all of that. Yeah, that is what I hope to get my 100 day challenge. And it has really been turning out well for me. ([Time 0:04:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/25e5e317-1dcc-4531-875e-a08594048249)) - **Consistency Is Discipline Not Perfection** - Consistency means discipline, not perfection; pace will vary across days and that's okay. - Ejiro learned to accept smaller outputs on low-motivation days and larger ones when motivated, creating a sustainable routine. Transcript: Ejiro Oghenekome Okay, that's a very interesting question. I would really say if I'm going to put it short, I would say it has not been an easy journey. It's not been easy because it's not easy to stay consistent and trying to like remodel my expectations of what I have to post, what I have to do. It is not easy. I've come to see that everything cannot go on the same pace every day. I've had to stay consistent. I've had to understand what consistency and discipline means. I've come to get that. Consistency does not mean I have to be on the same pace every day. I cannot do the same thing every day. Some days I might not even be motivated to want to partake in that particular challenge for that day. But I have to stay disciplined. I have to stay consistent, which might make me cover less than what I covered the previous day. And other days, I might feel so motivated that I might cover more than every other thing I've covered in the past. It just happens. One thing I've learned is staying consistent. What consistent really mean? Being very disciplined in the space. Also, it has given me a very good routine. In terms of community, I've come to understand that community is where I learn. And this learning can come by interacting with projects and interacting with people in the community that have more experience than I do. During my 100-day challenge, I've been able to have the opportunity to be part of the Open SSF. This has gone hand-in with the 100-day challenge that I'm doing. For the fact that I'm part of the Open SSF and doing my 100-day challenge, I've seen the impact that the Open SSF community has had on me. I'll give a very simple example. We had a blog post or we had a blog series posted that talks about a lot of things that we might go over eventually. Because of one research I did for one part of or one series of the blog posts, I saw a course from the OpenSSF and the Leaners Foundation Education that I took in and I benefited from. That is the LFD121. That is developing secure software. So, yeah, I've come to understand from this journey that I've taken that I could learn from community. I could learn from interacting with people. ([Time 0:08:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/29aaaed5-9de7-4cb7-9a4f-aa1c6ed6eced)) - **Community Work Reveals Learning Paths** - Community connection can directly reveal practical learning opportunities and courses to fill gaps. - Research for a blog led Ejiro to the OpenSSF/Linux Foundation LFD121 secure software course she then completed. Transcript: Ejiro Oghenekome That is the LFD121. That is developing secure software. So, yeah, I've come to understand from this journey that I've taken that I could learn from community. ([Time 0:10:28](https://share.snipd.com/snip/4c6411ae-bb3b-4cc1-ae2a-ec8af5110cf5)) - **From Consumer To Author In OpenSSF** - Ejiro moved from consuming content to shaping the conversation by coauthoring the Beginner to Builder blog series with the BEAR Working Group. - Authorship forced intentionality, community feedback, and ownership over her learning and visibility. Transcript: Ejiro Oghenekome During my design career, I've always known about open source, but I was not involved in open source contributions because as I then, I would say, I did not know where to start. I did not know what to do. I did not know how to get into the space. I also felt most of the times that I did not know enough to be able to partake in open source contributions and all of that. And that feeling of mine is something I feel like a lot of other persons also do have. It was a problem for me, and that problem, I felt that a part of the blog post was able to solve it. One thing about me is if I experience a particular challenge or problem going forward in my career, I try my best to solve it so that when people come behind me and they experience such Problems, they would not find it difficult to solve because there are cases or maybe there are documentations that will help them go through this problem. That is one thing that I've been able to do with the blog post. And that is how, that is why the blog post publication was made public. And for me, authorship in open source is more than just putting my name on the blog post or making contribution. It represents ownership of my learning and my voice. When I started my cybersecurity career, I was mostly consuming content. I was reading documentations, watching tutorials, and following experts, asked questions. I did all of that. But authorship changed the dynamics of everything for me. It shifted me from being just someone that consumed information to someone that is actively shaping the conversation, even if it was in small ways. Authorship made me feel responsible. I know that something I am going to write is going to be published and the knowledge I share is going to be put out in the ecosystem. It would make me more focused. It would make me more thoughtful. It would make me more intentional about what I'm going to post. And this me to call back, ask questions, ask people from the community to give me feedback on the blog post I wrote. ([Time 0:11:21](https://share.snipd.com/snip/da220ed4-7cf9-4507-b463-bb14a98fb520)) - **Get Community Feedback Before Publishing** - Do solicit community feedback before publishing open source guidance to improve quality and relevance. - Ejiro and the BEAR group iteratively sought input to ensure their Beginner to Builder series solved real beginner problems. Transcript: Ejiro Oghenekome One thing about me is if I experience a particular challenge or problem going forward in my career, I try my best to solve it so that when people come behind me and they experience such Problems, they would not find it difficult to solve because there are cases or maybe there are documentations that will help them go through this problem. That is one thing that I've been able to do with the blog post. And that is how, that is why the blog post publication was made public. And for me, authorship in open source is more than just putting my name on the blog post or making contribution. It represents ownership of my learning and my voice. When I started my cybersecurity career, I was mostly consuming content. I was reading documentations, watching tutorials, and following experts, asked questions. I did all of that. But authorship changed the dynamics of everything for me. It shifted me from being just someone that consumed information to someone that is actively shaping the conversation, even if it was in small ways. Authorship made me feel responsible. I know that something I am going to write is going to be published and the knowledge I share is going to be put out in the ecosystem. It would make me more focused. It would make me more thoughtful. It would make me more intentional about what I'm going to post. And this me to call back, ask questions, ask people from the community to give me feedback on the blog post I wrote. I think you must have experienced that because during the first part, the second part and the third part, we were always very intentional to make sure that we got feedback from the community So that the best resources can be put out there to solve the actual problem we saw that we wanted to solve. ([Time 0:11:56](https://share.snipd.com/snip/40ee4dc4-7fae-4982-a90f-32ff82f1a26b)) - **Accessible Posts Lower The Barrier For Beginners** - Ejiro's posts encouraged beginners to start cybersecurity because they found her explanations less intimidating than highly technical expert posts. - People messaged her that they began learning after seeing her accessible 100-day posts and asked about tools and resources. Transcript: Ejiro Oghenekome Speaking, I really did not think about impacts when I started all of this. When I started my 100 day challenge, I was not thinking about the impact it was going to have on anyone. I just wanted to learn. When I started contributing to open source, I just wanted to learn. But over time, I started to notice little impacts on people. I saw that for my 100 Day Challenge, people would message me saying things like they started learning because they were following my post. Some people asked me questions on the tools that I used and if I would be able to share resources to them. Other people said that it made cybersecurity feel less intimidating because, of course, a lot of cybersecurity posts we see online are from experts that would tell us how to earn cybersecurity Knowledge and try to express things in very technical terms for us, which could be very intimidating for beginners. But for people that are beginners that could relate to what I was saying, that could relate to very basic things in cybersecurity, it really felt nice. It really felt welcoming. It gave them confidence to say, okay, I could learn this. I could start somewhere. I could get some of this knowledge and get to that point of expertise where I would be able to have this proposed intimidating knowledge also all to myself. And also talking about the community, the impact has been slightly different. I've been able to be part of so many decision making. I've connected with experts that are very kind and friendly, they want to see me grow. From publishing the blog series, this has made me more aware of my words, that my words could guide people that are just starting up and this makes me feel so happy. I'm growing in the community in terms of confidence and experience and also in transferable skills, in terms of receiving feedback and all of that growing. ([Time 0:16:09](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c050422f-f81f-4217-ba7e-545ec4584d24)) - **Join Open Source Even If You Don't Code** - Do contribute to open source even if you are not a coder; roles include design, writing, community management, and joining calls. - Ejiro emphasizes 'come as you are' and that participation builds confidence and transferable skills. Transcript: Ejiro Oghenekome While I'll give a disclaimer, I would say I'm still part of the next generation. So whatever advice I'm going to say, I'm giving that to myself also. This is something I would have told myself earlier on in my career during design. Try to understand open source and the opportunity it provides. Also, open source is not just about coding. There are different things that someone can do in the open source space. As a designer, you could in the open source space. As a writer, you could contribute to the open source space. As a community manager, you could contribute to the open source space. Obviously, very obvious ones, you could write codes, you could review codes, and you could do a whole lot of other things. Even joining calls, giving your suggestions on calls and decision making during the call is also a way to be part of the open source space. So get involved in the open source space. It has a lot of opportunities for people. It's a very welcoming space. I can testify to that from the community I am part of. It's a very lovely community with lovely people. The OpenSSF has been a great space for me to learn and grow. And I strongly believe that this is how most, if not all, of the open source communities are. It's a place where you can learn. It's a place where you can build your confidence. It's a place where you can grow. And also open source is not about you being an expert. Come as you are. With the knowledge you have, you could be part of an open source space. You could be part of, you could contribute into the open source. So come as you are. Try to understand open source. ([Time 0:21:37](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b21761d1-a3ec-485b-a351-00b990414602)) - **Use Open Source As A Career Launchpad** - Try to use open source as a career launchpad by participating in projects, calls, and decision-making to gain visibility and skills. - Ejiro recommends preaching open source in Africa to increase awareness and opportunities there. Transcript: Ejiro Oghenekome Try to understand open source and the opportunity it provides. Also, open source is not just about coding. There are different things that someone can do in the open source space. As a designer, you could in the open source space. As a writer, you could contribute to the open source space. As a community manager, you could contribute to the open source space. Obviously, very obvious ones, you could write codes, you could review codes, and you could do a whole lot of other things. Even joining calls, giving your suggestions on calls and decision making during the call is also a way to be part of the open source space. So get involved in the open source space. It has a lot of opportunities for people. It's a very welcoming space. I can testify to that from the community I am part of. It's a very lovely community with lovely people. The OpenSSF has been a great space for me to learn and grow. And I strongly believe that this is how most, if not all, of the open source communities are. ([Time 0:21:52](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d57d9696-72e8-4496-8090-481b53966b68))