“I’d always been very curious as a kid. I remember taking apart...

“I’d always been very curious as a kid. I remember taking apart electronics and putting them back together, just to see if they’d still work. But I lost all that enthusiasm during my teenage years. My house became very dark, literally and figuratively. The lights were always off. My parents were always fighting. We never spoke to each other, and if we did, it was always in short sentences. All I cared about was getting out. I put the minimal amount of effort into school. I was angry all the time. I went through life without any goals and ended up getting a job that I wasn’t passionate about. But then one day I downloaded a program onto my office computer that gave me control over the entire network. It was my introduction to hacking, and I’ve been addicted to it ever since. I feel inspired every day. I started learning everything I could. I even discovered you can do it legally, so I’m back in school, getting my degree in information security.”

(Manila, Philippines)