Cyfrin Updraft Rebaptism | DataStructures and back to the grind.

About five months ago, I powered through Cyfrin Updraft’s courses at full speed. Now, I’m revisiting the material, diving deeper into the finer details. Having already worked with TypeScript in Hardhat and Foundry, I’m focusing on the foundational concepts that are critical when learning a new language—functions, arrays, structs, and understanding the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). I’m also running tests to ensure my grasp of data structures in Solidity is solid.

Data structures and algorithms are the cornerstone of any developer’s skill set, and I’m making sure not to overlook this during my second pass through the Cyfrin Updraft course. This will give me greater context and awareness when I eventually start auditing smart contracts. Why does this matter? Because when you’re part of a system handling billions of dollars in crypto, you want the underlying code to be rock-solid. This urgency is underscored by the recent $1.5 billion drain that happened less than two weeks ago.

Amidst all this, I’m also preparing for the CompTIA Security+ exam (SYO-701), which I’ll be taking in a month. Hardware security is just as important as software security, and I’m committed to covering all bases.

For those new to programming, I highly recommend O’Reilly’s The Complete Solidity Course: Zero to Advanced for Blockchain and Smart Contracts. As I mentioned earlier, mastering data structures and the concepts behind them is essential for success in this field. The past two weeks since my first post have been productive, thanks to a consistent learning cadence.

I’m also planning to start video blogging about this journey and other topics. On a personal note, I haven’t worked out in the last six months because I’ve been busy building a chatbot to coach me through my fitness goals. If you’ve put a major career goal or life change on hold due to time constraints, I encourage you to get back to it. Keep pushing through your obstacles—it will pay off.

As a coach, I work with people every day at the gym, from 80-year-olds in rehab to professional bodybuilders. Challenges are relative to our abilities, but what matters most is the grit to overcome them. Now, it’s back to the dojo of Solidity and getting this cybersecurity certification out of the way.