User:Akerge

As the study builds up bit by bit, then,

He, who collects no bit, gets no byte!

This is a work in progress:

Survival Guide for Students of Cybersecurity Engineering

This is an ongoing project from the original Alpha Tester and first year student. All suggestions are purely recommendations that I wish I knew before the beginning of the school. Prepare to say goodbye to social life and to going out on weekends, as you will be almost living in school by the end of the semester.

Before the Start of Academical Year

In order of importance. Or not, take your pick what's important to you.

• Follow the news of the industry if you don't do so already. Get a RSS/Atom reader and follow the various news feeds.

• Read 'Hacker ethic' by Pekka Himanen.

• Familiarise yourself with Discrete Math ∨ suffer. One can find several books online, although printed ones are superior to electronic ones, unless one prefers e-readers. Second hand books in a readable state are rather cheap online.
  • Susanna S. Epp's book is supposedly easier to follow, although with any book time and practice are prerequisites to gain knowledge on the subject.
  • Kenneth H. Rosen's 'Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications' is suggested by Disc. Math professor. If you go with this one, also get the 'Student Solutions Guide For Discrete Mathematics And Its Applications' as well. At the time of writing, the newest version is 7th edition but new ones cost in multiples more. The difference is probably minimal errata.
  • 'Schaum's Outline of Discrete Mathematics' by S.Lipschutz and M.Lipson is another recommendation as well as 'Discrete mathematics: elementary and beyond' by L. Lovász, J. Pelikán and K. Vesztergombi.

• Learn JAVA as much as you can before, so you can study more in class and/or do your project meanwhile. Codecademy's Java and Git courses will get you kickstarted. More in depth source regarding Java is David Eck's book which is also used in class. Python is advisable but not a prerequisite. The more you know before the easier the courses will be. Then again, the classes will get more interesting and school exists to acquire new knowledge.
• If possible, move closer to school or dormitory to cut down time on the commute.
• Learn to cook. By cooking I don't mean seasoning boiled noodles. Here's a fine example.

List of booksellers

In order of personal preference.

• Amazon in £. Listing update is slow. Had one book refunded due to it. Although, as the prices for books might be cheaper than in EU, it is a hassle to get all the necessary books from one seller because of the (relatively) pricey shipping fees. On the other hand, if you're lucky, then the courier will bring the order to your doorstep.
• eBay in €! Usually mail order, prices and shipping costs are varied. Any parcel bigger than A4 envelope and 20 mm thickness will be kept at your local postal branch and you'll get a notification by snail mail.
• AbeBooks in £. Lists European booksellers as well. Pricey shipping. €8 per book from UK?!
• ThriftBooks in $. Unfortunately no personal experience with the last two.

During

Majority of the following can be started before the beginning of school year to get in gear.

• Learn to learn. This is the most difficult part.
• Structure your time. Congrats if you're doing well with it.
• Try to keep developing the learning habit and stick to the routine or figure out what works best for you.
• There are no stupid questions. Get over the fear of asking questions. The more the merrier. How to ask good questions is another story altogether. Look it up.
• Get plenty of rest. 8 hours per night, if possible.
• Stay healthy -- invest in vitamins, especially vitamin D in winter due to lack of sun and Ginseng and/or Rhodiola extracts to keep you up and going.
• Attend the classes. Recordings are made, but they are not a substitution to attendance.
  • Or if learning curve is too steep, skip the unnecessary classes and learn meanwhile, but really do it, don't imagine it doing. Prioritise classes.
• Attend hackathons. Awesome places for networking and getting some hacker-cred!

Problems

• If there is a problem, solve it or seek help. Unattended problems tend to grow out of hand.
  • If the problem is in curriculum or school, go see a study counsellor. They are best informed regarding school matters.
  • If the problem is of an emotional kind and/or related to depression, motivation you can seek help from the psychologist who speaks English and operates in TUT. The contact is counsellor at ttu (dot) ee. Google translated page can be found here.
• Ex unitate vires -- the strength of unity. Get to know your coursemates. Learning together and/or teaching each other is a simple solution for difficult problems.

Classes

In the beginning of first semester you have 6 courses. It's going to be mad, so do as much as possible at school. Stay late, as college building is a surprisingly good place to study. Also, if you comprehend a little Estonian, attend the weekend classes for distance learning students: if you fail to comprehend something in Java or Math then this is a good way to recap.

Semester 1

Social, Ethical and Professional Issues in IT

Rather interesting lectures read by Kaido Kikkas on computer and hacker history and related topics.

Grading: A quiz in the first practicum about computer related history and trivia in a computer lab where you'll be using the Web to find the answers. Practicum attendance is a must, max 3 total non-attendances allowed. 1-2 written essays (2k words) with presentations.

Oral and Written Communication Skills

Valuable English language taught by Kärt Rummel. Be prepared to get over stage fright as you will have to present your writings (letters of motivation, informative and persuasive arguments etc) in front of your class.

Grading: Ongoing assessment - do your homework, attend your classes and you'll be fine. >=51% rate of attendance and participation in final round-table is necessary to pass.

Basic Programming

Which is Java and is read by Mikk Mangus. If I would take this again, I'd skip the classes and study the book & practice more on my own. Practicums are sometimes interesting. There is no homework, sometimes lecturer remembers to remind to read a chapter from the book. The pace is a chapter per week.

Grading: Two tests in November, your own project by the beginning of December and exam in January. Own project can be anything but has to have several classes and have a git repository.

Introduction to Informatics and Computers

The basics of computers with some in-depth stuff, like debugging VHDL. Read by Lauri Võsandi.

Grading: Ongoing assessment in practicums and exam in January.

Logic and Discrete Mathematics

You know math or are good at it? Help others out. Seriously, this is the most difficult subject. It is read by the professor Jaan Penjam from Institute of Cybernetics, TUT. Recommend getting a textbook.

Grading: Ongoing quizzes (9*2%) in practicum, after lecture. Midterm test (20%) and a final test (20%) before exam (42%) in January.

Basic Networking

By the end of the Cisco Networking Academy's course read by Roman Kuchin, by end of which you'll get a CCNA certificate. Be aware that the tempo is quite high - 2 Cisco semesters during fall semester! Read, the chapter and do the chapter exam on netacad and read for the next lecture. This way you'll understand better what is said.

Grading: Online exams and practical labs, all of which should be done before the exam, but before Christmas is better.

Semester 2

Coming soon!

Introduction to Cyber Security

Why this course is on second semester, beats me!

After

As with a good graphic designer, your work (probably) will not be noticed or commended unless something goes (horribly) wrong. Paraphrased from Erowid's Sysadmin article.

Never stop being curious. There is a Calvin and Hobbes comic that (maybe) illustrates this perfectly but I spent too much time searching it and got distracted by imgur so maybe it will be here by the end of my studies.

Contact & Feedback

If you have any further questions or comments, then you are free to contact me at artur at kerge (dot) eu or for non-urgent things, start a discussion on the page and/or edit it straight away. Also you can check out my awesome homepage!