Bilde © Stanley Skarshaug
Bilde © Stanley Skarshaug
Are you curious about who I am, and what background I have? Well, then you have come to the right page! In this article, you can get some insight into who I am, and what I spend my time doing.
About me
Technical enthusiast - and driven
Ever since I was a child, I have always had an enormous interest and fascination with almost every type of creative discipline. My parents were very encouraging and allowed me to pick everything I owned apart in an attempt to "repair" them. As I grew older, I got my own i386 desktop computer from an uncle running windows 95. This computer was my gateway into a youth filled with an obsession with computers. A 128kb ISDN modem enabled me to connect to the mid 90's internet where every (expensive) minute was spent exploring the internet together with friends.
Much to my parents' delight, my technical interest was also outside the computer. I loved to make things out of wood and metal, making simple tools and modifying electronic gizmos and later car components.
Volunteering
How I try to help the world become a better place

Kida Koder: Kodeklubben Molde
As a kid, I wanted to learn to program. Unfortunately, I had no one to guide me in a good direction, the internet was not the hub for learning as it is today, and I lacked the proper English skills needed to learn on my own through books. Because of this, I decided in early 2020 that I wanted to help give children the opportunity I dreamt of having by joining the local coding club as a teacher.
In November 2021 took over the leadership role in the code club "Kodeklubben: Kidsa koder Molde". If you want to contribute, please feel free to reach out!
Education
The road to Rome, and beyond?
Despite having a strong passion for IT and electronics I did not choose an education within those disciplines. My choice of high-school education was mechanical vocations. More specifically automation mechanics, the art of building industrial robots. Due to a lot of funny and strange coincidences, I ended up as a refrigeration engineer apprentice. After the apprenticeship was over I moved to Trondheim and completed a 2-year vocational college education in refrigeration system design. Once that education was over I went back to the refrigeration industry working as a project manager, and engineer. Shortly after I started working as a department manager and CEO.
In 2018, while I moving from one job to another, I had to complete a paid non-compete clause. This clause gave me the opportunity to finally take a deep dive into Linux, programming Arduino, Android, and Web applications. In addition, I spent a whole lot of time learning about electronics and radios by building FPV drones and having a blast. When I was not completely geeking out I did spend a lot of time learning more about sociology and psychology. This was a fantastic year of personal growth and development.
After a little under one year as CEO of the new company, I quit my job to follow my dream of becoming a programmer and working in IT. Finally, after about 13 years in the refrigeration industry, I had the courage to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming an IT professional.
I found a company that was crazy enough to hire me, and since then I have been having a blast playing with computers all day long, programming web applications, running cloud servers, and digesting as much as I possibly can.
Parallel to working full-time as a full-stack web developer and sysadmin I have since August 2020 followed the Network- and Information Security program at Noroff Vocational Collage, as a part-time student. Thanks to fantastic colleagues, and a great boss I have had the opportunity to use what I learn during my studies on the job. I think this helps me retain and get a lot deeper understanding of the topics covered during the studies.
Certifications
Formal IT certifications
As a part of my Network- and Information Security studies I try to get deeper knowledge in all of the classes by reading books that cover certifications that follow a similar path. The reason why I like to follow certification paths is that I think that certification represents a standardized and more quantifiable amount of knowledge gained that school programs sometimes lack.

Cisco CyberOps Accossiate 200-201
213t
Theoretical basic principles of network and information security. A nice big step beyond CompTIA Security+
"This certification really boosted my confidence in security-related topics."

Cisco CCNA 200-301 (Cisco Certified Network Associate)
499t
Basic, but broad certification in network fundamentals, design, and configuration using Cisco networking equipment.
"This certification made me realize how big and deep networking really is."

PCEP - Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer
188t
Foundational and thorough certification on foundational Python lexis, syntax, and semantics.
"...great certification exam that tested me on the understanding of foundational Python lexis, syntax, and semantics"

Microsoft AZ-900 (Azure Fundamentals)
42t
A basic introduction to the services offered by Azure, and how to connect on-prem services to azure.
"It was an eye-opener to get first-hand experience on how easy it was to navigate and do stuff in Azure compared to other cloud providers..."
Courses
Web-based courses to gain insight and knowledge
My hunger for knowledge is strong. Very little makes me happier than learning about new stuff in programming, system administration, system design, and Cyber Security. Below is a list of the three latest courses I have taken.

Python Essentials - Part 1 (Basics)
- Python Institute - 42t, 0m
A course designed to guide you from complete programming illiteracy to a level of programming knowledge that allows you to design, write, debug, and run programs encoded in the Python language, and to understand the basic concepts of software development technology.
"An absolutely perfect fundamentals course in Python."

Cloud Security
- Tom Drange - 155t, 0m
A course based on the Microsoft AZ-500 Cloud Security certification. The written material provided by learn.microsoft.com was yanked straight from Microsoft and formatted to fit the Noroff LMS layout and structure.
"I'm sad to say that this course felt like a minimum-effort project by Noroff..."

CyberOps
- Farai Nyandoro-Kunzvi - 213t, 0m
A class covering intermediate Information Security concepts, methodology, and theory. It felt like a natural next step after covering the material in the CompTIA Securiy+ certification.
"This class helped me pass the CyberOps certification, and the certification helped me get a good grade in this class."
Cyber Security experience
Capture The Flag and daily work
CTFs provide a fun way to learn about Cyber Security, System Administration, and IT in general. They provide a safe and harmless way of testing and gaining experience with tools, techniques, and procedures. I focus my time on TryHackMe because it has proved to be more beginner-friendly and educational than other platforms. In many ways, TryHackMe's gamified learning feels like a real-world role-playing game where I level up my own life.
At work, I try my best to implement what I learn during my Noroff studies and on TryHackMe. If I learn about new concepts that I think would benefit my workplace, I take the initiative and challenge colleagues and management in ways to implement what I have learned.
Books
Interresting books I have read and reviewed
During my studies, I jump from reading the school material, watching video courses, and reading books about the topics. I love video lectures, but I usually gain a deeper understanding of the topics by reading about them in a book. Below is a list of the last books I have read and reviewed.

The art of clean code
Christian Mayer - 176 sider
Learn eight principles to simplify your code and become a more effective (and successful) programmer.
"This was a fantastic and straightforward book written in a typical self-help book but for programmers trying to become better at their craft."

Grokking Algorithms
Eric Schmidt - 0 sider
A comprehensive introduction to algorithms and data structures. Learn how to use them for programming at all levels
"An excellent audiobook I wish I had heard a long time ago."

Cisco CyberOps Associate CBROPS 200-201 Official Cert Guide
Omar Santos - 688 sider
The official certification guidebook for the Cisco CyberOps associate certification.
"You could really tell that the author loved to teach, and loved to make the reader understand"