Nahmstay: The Approach
Nahmstay3 min read·Just now--
I once misconfigured a switch, took down the entire school network, and blamed it on the ISP for two hours. I don’t want to talk about it. I do want to talk about where I’m headed next.
My name is Nahmstay. Yes, spelled wrong, and it’s pronounced na-ma-ste, stolen straight from my wife’s past life as a yoga teacher. I heard this word so many times around the house while she was practicing her sequencing that I eventually found solace in it. Nowadays, I think of it as a reminder to stay grounded while everything else in life is chaotic. Plus, once it is your gamertag, that’s it. It’s done. It is who you are now.
College happened, technically. I cycled through majors, dropped out at some point, eventually crawled back across the finish line, and walked away with a degree that has been collecting dust ever since. You’re welcome, student loans. I managed to land an IT helpdesk job and from there jumped into a network admin role I had no business being in. Sink or swim, and I was the only IT person on staff, so drowning wasn’t really an option. The production environment was my lab, Microsoft Patch Tuesday, no pilot group, just push it all. Things broke. I fixed them. I prayed nobody noticed before they worked again. Repeat.
Somewhere in there I got tired of fixing things and started seeing the different ways they could be broken into. I didn’t hate the job. I hated the quiet. Most days were just waiting for something to break, and the only moments that felt right were the ones when everything was on fire. That pulled me toward security, and security was a hallway that led to something I didn’t know existed… Hacking. And for the first time in a long time, something felt right. I spent my nights on YouTube inside a Kali VM, chasing a penetration tester role that never seemed to come within reach, even after acquiring a Security+ certificate I still lacked the requirements most roles wanted. Is now a good time to reflect on the fact that I bailed out of a computer science degree that I now needed? Cybersecurity isn’t really “entry-level,” so fuck it, back to school. This time with an actual plan.
To help myself land a Security Analyst role, I bit the bullet and enrolled in a Master’s in Cybersecurity. Shortly after starting my first semester, again late at night, I stumbled onto a YouTube video about Web3 hacking. I knew of “crypto,” but I didn’t know anything about the actual security side of it. The second I saw it, I was hooked. It felt new, exciting, and most importantly, it felt like a fair fight.
Web3 is more like a global, open-source campfire where everyone brings their own marshmallows. No cover charge, no corporate credit card required. The tools are open, the research is public, and a self-taught researcher at midnight has a genuine shot at playing the same game as everyone else.
So, here we are: doggy paddling in the Web3 ocean during whatever free time I can find. Full-time infrastructure and security role by day, finishing a Master’s degree that may or may not get used, and training for an Ironman 70.3, which who the fuck decided was a good idea?
I’m early. Solidity is my first coding language and it’s kicking my ass. I’m okay with that. Security researcher? Yes. Bug bounty hunter? Yes. Developer? Hell no. People are out to get you guys, respect though.
You’d expect an industry with an insane amount of money to be more cutthroat. It’s mostly not. People share research, write breakdowns on current hacks, talk about their own mistakes, and genuinely seem to want others to succeed. Someone like me can lurk in Discord servers, ask dumb questions, and still get a genuine answer from someone way above my level. Most secrets end up in the open. Code gets pulled down and studied. Tools, automation, roadmaps, all of it shared freely.
Writing doesn’t come naturally to me, which is exactly why I’m doing it. Smart contract audits, CTF write-ups, concept breakdowns, embarrassing mistakes. Front row seats, no charge.
I’m here to learn, grow, chase some chaos, and maybe find some digital inner peace along the way.
Nahmstay.
