About Me

Hello World :3

Welcome to my corner of the internet. I am Rajan.

The purpose of this website is for me to share my interests / creations with the world!

I am a lifelong fan of breaking and making technology, usually in that order lol. My earliest fond memory with tech was getting an iPod Touch (2nd generation) in 2nd grade and immediately jailbreaking it so I could customize it. I loved the way my cousin’s iPod looked with all sorts of tweaks and themes, and I wanted to do the same. That curiosity led me to learn how to SSH at a young age, mostly so I could move music and pictures from my computer onto my iPod.

When Minecraft first came out, my friends and I were determined to play together. That meant I had to figure out how to host a server myself, which led me down the rabbit hole of port forwarding and configuring my home network. I did not realize it at the time, but I was teaching myself networking fundamentals and getting an early introduction to cybersecurity.

Like most kids, I did not think twice about sharing my public IP address, until my internet started dropping multiple times a day. That experience was my first real lesson in why security matters. By middle school, I had moved on to using VPS hosting and setting up DNS, which let me run servers properly without exposing my home network. Looking back, it was the start of understanding not just how to build things, but how to protect them too.

In high school, I became fascinated with virtualization and operating systems, especially Linux. I brought an old family Toshiba laptop back to life by installing a new SSD and setting it up with Mint because the hardware was underpowered and I needed something lightweight for coding. From there, I started distro-hopping, experimenting with different systems, package managers, and configurations. I liked seeing how much I could build and inevitably break then figure out how to fix.

Eventually, I discovered Kali , which sparked my interest in cybersecurity. I began experimenting with tools like Nmap and Wireshark. At the time, I did not fully understand everything I was doing, but the process of exploring, testing, and learning pulled me deeper into the field.

Music was also a huge part of my life growing up. I was involved in marching band from 6th-12th grade, playing percussion in the front ensemble, primarily keyboard instruments. It taught me discipline, timing, and attention to detail. I performed in a world class indoor drumline that competed in Winter Guard International , which pushed me to grow both technically and mentally.

Because of that, I seriously considered pursuing music in college. I played in a band and thought about majoring in it, but I knew I did not want to rely on it as a career. At the same time, I had always been drawn to technology, I just did not know what direction to take. With so many schools, majors, and paths available, it felt overwhelming trying to figure out where I belonged.

I ultimately chose Computer Science because I enjoyed working with computers and coding. My early programming classes introduced me to C and C++, where I learned about linked lists, memory management, and how programs work under the hood. I enjoyed the challenge and the problem-solving mindset it required.

Then in my sophomore year, my university introduced a Cybersecurity major, and I switched almost immediately. I had not seriously considered it before because none of the schools I originally applied to offered it as a standalone option. But when I saw it, everything clicked. I had always been interested in the intersection of psychology, criminal justice, and computers, understanding how people think, how systems can be exploited, and how to defend them. Cybersecurity brought all of those interests together, and for the first time, my path felt clear.

Today, I am continuing to look for opportunities in the tech space where I can keep building, breaking, and learning. While I search for the right role, I have been keeping myself busy working as a barista and a manager at a local dry cleaners. Those roles have sharpened a different set of skills of communication, leadership, multitasking, and staying calm under pressure but my long-term goal remains rooted in technology. I am excited to find a position where I can apply my technical foundation, curiosity, and problem-solving mindset to real-world security challenges and continue growing in the field.