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Hey there, Gamers and Game Makers!
So, over the last while I've started to pinpoint some aspects of my thought process towards my work and how I view my goals and achievements. I've always had this attitude of fobbing off my achievements as not being a big deal or even being a mistake. I often push myself to be a perfectionist in things I do. Sometimes to the point where I set myself a goal that I can't actually achieve within the constraints I've set. I'll push myself harder than I have to just because I feel I can't keep up if I don't. Turns out, a lot of this is a sign of Imposter Syndrome. Now, I'm not big on the whole self diagnosis thing. I believe doing that is unhealthy and can cause more problems. So, I'm not going to claim I actually have imposter syndrome but, rather I'm going to look at back at last year and how I put myself through a level of unnecessary stress that I think a lot of us do. During my first year of college, I started fairly nervous as anyone would on their first day. The thing is, I was going back to college as a mature student in his late twenties. Right off the bat, I felt I was competing with the younger students. There was this feeling that I didn't belong. That I was too old to be there. I also felt that being a mature student that there was an expectation that I should already know most of this stuff. When it came to exams and projects, I put myself under a lot of pressure to do well. It wasn't about wanting to do better than anyone else but more so a sense of if I don't do really well, people will think I don't belong in the course. I remember I got a 99% in an exam last year. Most people would be pretty damned thrilled with a 99% but I was actually really annoyed with myself. It was such an illogical reaction. It's very rare for anyone to get a 100% in any exam. So, to be so close should have made me very happy but all I saw was that 1% I failed to get. Here's the thing, I actually got 100% on two exams and scored in the high 80s and 90s for the others. The ones I did get 100% in I actually thought there must be a mistake and there was a period of time where I waited for an email to inform me my grade has been adjusted based on an error. Such an email never came. I finished the year with first class honours and even now starting into my second year, there's that niggling feeling of you're not good enough and you're not cut out for this. And this is despite the fact I'm doing really well. So, while this is not something I can just switch off, I have been trying some things that help. When ever I start to feel insecure about not knowing everything about a topic that I've never encountered before, I remember that that's actually how everyone else in the room is feeling right now. Whenever I feel anxious about a project and people are asking me questions about a lab or assignment, I remember that they're also feeling anxious about labs and projects. Hey, we're all in this together. The most important thing I'm doing that helps is that every now and then, I'll allow myself to feel like I belong there. Even if it's just for a few minutes, I try to remind myself that I got this far because of my own efforts. The efforts that were in fact more than good enough to get me here. I remind myself that my achievements to date in games and even this blog are a result of hard work I put in and not because of some mistake or fluke. I don't know if I have imposter syndrome and I don't think it matters. What matters is I've got this far not because of some mistake but because I put in the effort. So, remember to take a step back and allow yourself to feel like you belong because you do. Until next time! Hey there, Gamers and Game Makers! Ok, I lied. I don't actually know your password. As part of my degree course, we have a secure systems module. Since I started this module, my eyes have been opened to just how lazy we tend to be when it comes to our own cyber security. When it comes to setting passwords for our devices and online accounts, we tend to pick something we can remember and thus something simple. I'm willing to bet a lot of you use a dictionary word followed by a series of numerical values and maybe a special character, right? Don't worry. That's actually a simple psychological pattern most people follow. This does however make it very easy for people to figure out your passwords. Most databases that store your passwords run them through a hash algorithm to encrypt them. Now, while most sites are going to add what's called a salt to your hashed password to further add a level of difficulty to cracking your password should the database be compromised, it's actually quite easy to reverse the hash if there is no salt. In our class, we tested each others passwords by giving each other the hash and trying to crack it. For a room full of future computer scientists, you'd be surprised at how many people had their passwords cracked.  The point I'm trying to make is that if your password is easy enough to remember, then it's actually not that secure at all. So if the most secure password I can have is one that I can't even remember, how the hell do I use that? Your first instinct might be to come up with a list of passwords that meet the requirement of what a secure password might be and store them in a text file on your computer. Well, that's pretty much the same as leaving your car keys in the ignition or locking your front door but putting a spare key under the doormat. Never store passwords in plan text. If I can get access to your files or if i can monitor your session, then I've got all your passwords. So, how do I store all my passwords? Tools like KeePass make storing passwords far more secure. KeePass acts as an encrypted database that allows you to generate passwords using various algorithms. To access the database you require a master key or you can specify a removable storage device such as a usb to act as your master key. The database itself can be stored off of the computer itself for added security. A KeePass database itself is highly encrypted and while not impossible to crack, the resources required to do so make it highly unlikely that anyone is going to go to such effort for your Facebook password.  What do I want you to take away from this? Simply, I just want us to all practice better cyber security. Change your passwords often (every three months is good) and make your passwords as secure as possible. Wikipedia gives a good summery of what makes a good password and can be seen as follows:
 Until next time! Hey there, Gamers and Game Makers! In this week's blog, we're going to bust some of the myths of programming and look at the reality of what a programmer is. 1# Programmers don't know every language Some people have the idea that if you're a programmer, you automatically know every programming language and can simply code on anything. This is not the truth. While a programmer might know quite a lot of languages, they will not know them all. Most of the time programmers tend to focus on one area of programming. This may be for cloud computing, front end, web development, games programming and so on. Now, I'm not saying don't learn more languages. It's actually a benefit to know a range of languages. Just bare in mind, the more you learn the higher the chance of you becoming a jack of all trades and a master of none. 2# Programmers don't just know Another misconception is that programmers just sit down and know how to fix every issue. If this was the case, programs would be developed much faster. The reality is that programming is equal parts logic and frustration. You'll find yourself encountering code that will seem to challenge your logic. Thus the frustration kicks in and you go down that Stack Overflow rabbit hole. 3# We are not experts in all things computing Just because someone is a very good programmer, that doesn't mean they know all aspects of computing. For example, a programmer doesn't necessarily know the ins and outs of the computer hardware in detail. It is advisable to know as much as you can about a computer as it will ultimately help you as a developer. 4# You don't stop learning programming While the fundamentals of a programming language tend to remain the same, programming is constantly evolving. If you hope to compete in an area as fast paced as computer science then, you need to evolve with it. Keep up to date with developments in a language. Look at others code in order to learn how some things might be done better. If you're just starting out with programming, don't limit yourself to the basics. Once you're comfortable with something, move onto the next aspect of it that you find challenging.
Until next time! |
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