Back on Track: A Quick Life & Learning Update
After quite a break, I’m finally back and ready to get more active here again.
The past few months have been intense - filled with certifications, training, and my first big exam milestone as part of my retraining journey as an IT specialist.
Let’s catch up.
Certifications & First Major Milestones
Since the beginning of the year, my main focus was on pushing through multiple learning goals at once.
I successfully passed the Linux Essentials, ITIL 4 Foundation, and recently also the Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104) certification. Each one had its own challenges, and I’m proud to have them under my belt now.
In parallel, I also tackled Part 1 of my final apprenticeship exam (AP1) - the first official checkpoint before graduation.
Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as I had hoped.
AP1 - What Went Wrong
As someone who’s specializing in System Integration with a focus on networking, I expected the exam to reflect those core topics - subnets, protocols, services, maybe even troubleshooting scenarios.
Instead, the exam was surprisingly vague and business-heavy.
There were only about 3 points covering my actual specialty.
Most of it focused on general economics, project workflows, and a bit of programming logic.
I had gone into it well-prepared - practicing diagrams, doing mock exams, reviewing technical content every day.
But almost none of it was relevant. It was demotivating, to say the least. I’m still confident I passed, but the grade probably won’t reflect my actual knowledge or effort.
What’s Next - Project Phase & Internship
Now I’m moving on to the next big step: the final project, which counts for 50% of the overall grade.
We’re currently in a 4-week preparation phase where we’re learning how to:
- structure the project report
- select a good technical topic
- organize and document everything according to IHK standards
There’s a lot to learn about formatting, goal setting, scheduling, and how to approach the presentation at the end. But this is where I can finally show what I’m really good at - designing, building, and explaining technical solutions from scratch.
Pause on TryHackMe (But Not Forever)
I’ve also hit pause on TryHackMe for now.
As much as I love the platform and learning offensive security, it was simply too much to juggle alongside certifications and exam prep.
That doesn’t mean I’ve given up on my cybersecurity path - far from it.
It’s just a temporary shift in focus.
Once the project phase and internship are more settled, I’ll be back to hands-on hacking - better prepared, better organized.
Internship Starting Soon
Starting October 9, I’ll begin my internship - which I’m honestly really excited about.
After 14 months of pure school and theory, it’s finally time to get my hands dirty in the real world.
It’ll be interesting to see how much of what I’ve learned translates into actual IT work, and what new insights I’ll gain on the job.
Staying Motivated
Yes, the exam setback was frustrating.
Yes, it’s exhausting to constantly learn, test, fail, and repeat.
But that’s how growth works - it’s not linear, and definitely not easy.
What matters is that I’m still here.
Still learning.
Still aiming high.
I’ll be posting more frequently again, including updates on my internship, the project report, and of course, all things related to cybersecurity, WiFi testing, and Red Teaming. Lots to share - and I’m back with the energy to keep going.
Stay tuned -
More coming soon.