Wow, I was apparently on a 4-5 month hiatus (job change and college). Time flies when you're, um, running yourself ragged. I just burned through 32 pages of unread threads (and consumed a proportionate amount of alcohol), and I wanted to tell everyone how thoroughly impressed I am with how much progress everyone has made in that time. The newbies took their training wheels off, and the pros became even more terrifying. Reading through all that was really a unique experience. There was a story-like feel to it, and I was curious to see who did what next.

So the obvious question now is, what next? What are you currently working on, and what are your personal and professional goals for 2011?

Myself, I'm going way back to the beginning. I'm currently studying computer architecture and will then transition into assembly. I feel like I have a respectable amount of knowledge, yet there's this gap where I don't truly understand how things work behind-the-scenes. I obviously understand the theory behind things like buffer overflows, but if I was asked to explain what a specific piece of shellcode did, I'd be like a deer in headlights. I don't have any interest in vulnerability research, exploit development, and so on; it's truly just a case of OCD and not wanting to feel like a script kiddie

Cert-wise, I'll take a stab at the CISM and some yet-to-be-determined SANS/GIAC certs. The GSE is in my sights, but that might slip to 2012 since it's just a ridiculous goal to keep me busy and isn't necessary for anything else I'm doing. I also need to wrap-up the OWSP and OSCP, which I've left untouched for way too long.