I Turned My Cybersecurity Path Into a Bingo Board (Vol. 1: Foundations)
- Jul 20
- 5 min read
The start of a series
I kept saving cybersecurity roadmaps.
You know the ones — the big infographics with the ladder of certifications, the arrows from "beginner" to "expert," the wall of job titles. I saved dozens. And every time, I closed the tab feeling a little more behind than before I opened it.
The problem wasn't the information. It was that none of them felt like something I could do. They felt like something I was supposed to already understand — a map drawn by people who'd already arrived, for people who'd already arrived.
So I made the one I wish I'd found.
Why bingo
Here's the thing nobody tells you when you're starting out: you don't learn this in a straight line.
Roadmaps imply order. Step one, then two, then three — and if you're on step one you are, by definition, at the bottom. That's not how it actually goes. Some weeks you're reading about a vulnerability. Some weeks you're fumbling through the command line. Some weeks you just join a Discord and lurk and absorb. It's messy and non-linear, and that's normal.
A bingo board is honest about that. You fill in whatever square you can reach today. No wrong order. You don't have to earn your way to square one — you just start wherever you are, and the board fills in as you go. Every completed square is a small win you can actually see.
That's what I needed. Not a ladder telling me how far I had to climb. A board showing me I'd already started.
Volume 1: Foundations
This first board is the universal on-ramp. I built it so that whether you're coming from data like me — or nursing, or teaching, or retail, or anything at all — there's a square you can start on today.
Volume 1: Foundations · 25 squares · a free space that just says Keep Learning
Want it on your wall? Download the printable version and hang it somewhere you'll see it every day. There's something about physically checking off a square that a screen can't quite match.
Download The Free Printable Here
The printable is great for your wall, but I wanted a version you could actually click. So I built the interactive board: tap a square when you've done it, watch it fill in, and let the board hold your progress for you. No account, no setup — just you and the next square.
Click Start with Foundations, and you'll land right on the board.
It's a bingo board, so play it like one — fill a row, fill the whole thing, and screenshot your progress to share with #BuildInPublic. Every square you check is a real skill you've started building.
Click the button above and then click: Start with Foundations, and you'll land right on the interactive version of the board above.
If any square leaves you wondering what it actually means or where to begin, that's exactly what the free Quick Start Guide below is for — it walks through all 25 in plain language.
A few of the squares that matter most to me:
Learn what cybersecurity is. I put this first on purpose. Most roadmaps assume you already know why you're here. This one doesn't — it's okay to still be figuring out if this field is for you. That curiosity is the starting line.
Try a beginner CTF challenge. Problem-solving is the real skill underneath all of this. Not memorizing tools — asking questions, poking at things, figuring out how something works and how it might break.
Learn basic SQL · Write your first query. These are on the board as invitations, not requirements. You do not need to be a data person to start here. But if you've ever touched a spreadsheet, you're closer than you think.
Share what you learned #BuildInPublic. You don't have to wait until you're an expert to share. Documenting the climb — the confusion, the small wins, the "oh, THAT'S how it works" moments — builds a portfolio and finds your people at the same time.
And the free space in the middle? Keep Learning. That's the only rule.
Free Companion Guide
Not sure what a square means? The guide has you covered.
The Foundations Quick Start Guide is the companion to the board — it breaks down every square in plain language, gives you one concrete way to start, and points you to a genuinely free resource for each. So if a square ever leaves you thinking "…okay, but how do I actually do that?", the guide is where you look. No jargon left undefined. It's the guide I wish I'd had when I was staring at forty open tabs with no idea where to begin.
Straight to your inbox · no spam · unsubscribe anytime
Where I'm coming from
I'm not writing this from the finish line. I'm writing it from the middle of the climb.
I spent years as an atmospheric scientist and a data analyst, learning to look at messy data and spot the thing that doesn't belong. It turns out that instinct — what's anomalous here, and why? — is the same one threat hunters use. That realization is the whole reason I started this blog, and it's the thread running through everything I make here.
So this board isn't theory. It's my actual path, generalized enough that you can walk it too.
THE SERIES
The map, as I see it now
Foundations is where everyone starts. From here the path branches into the volumes I'll build as I climb them myself. This isn't a fixed curriculum — it's my working map, and it'll change as I learn.
Here's the board again — open the interactive version, hit Start with Foundations, click a square when you've done it, and watch it fill in. Print it, save it, stick it on your wall. Whatever helps you see the path.
If you're standing at the start of this, feeling behind before you've even begun: you're not. Pick one square. Start there.
The roadmap changes. The first step doesn't.
New here? If you're coming from a data or analytics background and wondering whether any of it transfers — it does, and here's exactly how. That post pairs perfectly with this board.
Show me your progress 💜
Fill in your board, then screenshot it and tag @DataSecChron on X — I'd love to see which square you started on. We're all figuring out the path together.
Your progress saves automatically in the interactive bingo, so you can bookmark it, come back, and fill in more as you go.
Oh, and one more thing...
If you're the type who likes to check boxes with a pen instead of a screen, I'm putting together a free companion Workbook for Vol. 1 that drops in August. It's basically this whole post turned into a fill-in-the-blank journal—what it means and why it matters for the squares, bonus reflection prompts, a bonus printable checklist, and even a bonus progress tracker.
Here's a sneak peek at two spreads so you know exactly what you're getting (no fluff, I promise):
Square 14 Learn Basic SQL
Welcome
If that looks like your kind of chaos, I'll ping you when it's ready in August. Sign up here, and you'll be the first to know.
Here's what I know: nobody breaks into cybersecurity all at once. They do it one square at a time — one room, one command, one small win that makes the next one feel possible. That's the whole idea behind this board. Not to overwhelm you with everything you don't know yet, but to show you that the path is just a series of steps you can actually take.
So pick your square. Any square. The first step is the one that matters.
Thank you for being here — for reading, for starting, for building in public alongside me. The roadmap changes. The first step doesn't. 💜
— Tasha
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