Last week I went back to university, for the first time in nearly 20 years
I’m studying for a MSc in Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity (the hot topic at the moment – I hope it isn’t out of date by the time I finish) at De Montfort University in Leicester.
The first module was a foundation, covering operating systems, cryptography, networks & programming.
So, what did I learn?
- Networks have hardly changed in 20+ years and I still don’t really understand them
- C is a sod of a language to program in – there’s not proper string handling
- File systems haven’t changed in 20+ years and I do still remember and understand them – I think
- Cryptographic theory really isn’t difficult – it’s just the implementation
Questions raised
- How on earth did I ever work 9 to 5 and still have a life?
- Why are students 20 years my junior as tired as I am after 4 days of lectures & workshops
Now I have 4 assignments to do – apparently this is supposed to take around 80 hours – that’s 2 working weeks! I’m going to have to be very disciplined if I’m going to get these done on time