Why I'm Building a Free Cybersecurity Course (And How You Can Follow Along)

A Quick Announcement

MyCyberSecurityPath is no longer just a collection of blog posts about my career change journey. It’s now a structured, free cybersecurity course — organised into six levels, starting from absolute zero and building up to professional-level skills.

I want to explain why I built it this way, what’s available right now, what’s coming next, and how you can follow along if you’re on a similar path.

The Problem I Kept Running Into

When I decided to switch careers into cybersecurity, the first thing I did was search for free learning resources. And there were thousands. YouTube playlists, Reddit recommendations, free platforms like TryHackMe and Hack The Box, scattered blog posts, certification study guides, and more. The quantity of material was overwhelming.

But the quality wasn’t the problem. The structure was.

Every resource I found assumed one of two things: either you already had an IT background and could jump straight into security concepts, or you were willing to figure out the learning order yourself. Neither applied to me. I came from real estate, aged care, and delivery driving. I didn’t know what a subnet was. I didn’t know the difference between TCP and UDP. I didn’t even know how to open a terminal.

What I needed wasn’t more content. I needed a curriculum — a structured path that said “learn this first, then this, then this” and explained why each topic mattered before moving to the next. Something designed specifically for people who don’t already speak the language of IT.

I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. So I started building it.

Why a Course Structure (Not Just Articles)

I could have built this site as a traditional blog — one article per week, whatever topic interested me at the time. And there’s nothing wrong with that approach. But I kept thinking about the person who’s in the same position I was six months ago: staring at a search results page full of resources, paralysed by the question “Where do I actually start?”

A course structure answers that question definitively. Level 0 comes before Level 1. Level 1 comes before Level 2. Each page tells you what you need to know before reading it, and where to go after. There’s no guesswork, no “am I learning this in the right order?” anxiety. Just a clear path forward.

It also keeps me accountable. Instead of writing whatever catches my attention, I have a curriculum to follow. Every page I publish needs to fit into the progression. That discipline has made the content better, because I’m constantly thinking about how each topic connects to what came before and what comes after.

The 6 Levels

Here’s the overall structure. Each level builds on the previous one, and you shouldn’t skip ahead — the later levels assume you’ve internalised the earlier material.

Level 0 — Start Here. This is the “why” before the “what.” Career paths, salary expectations, the roadmap, and an honest assessment of what you’re signing up for. If you’re not sure cybersecurity is right for you, start here.

Level 1 — IT Foundations. Networking basics, operating systems, Linux fundamentals. This is where most career changers need to spend the most time, and it’s where I spent the most time. You can’t secure what you don’t understand.

Level 2 — Core Security. Security principles, the threat landscape, cryptography, and how attacks work. This is where you start thinking like a defender (and an attacker).

Level 3 — Hands-On Skills. Penetration testing methodology, scanning and enumeration, vulnerability analysis, web application security. This is where theory becomes practice.

Level 4 — Applied Practice. Home labs, capture-the-flag challenges, tool deep-dives, and portfolio projects that demonstrate real capability to employers.

Level 5 — Professional. Certifications, interview preparation, resume building, and career strategy. The bridge from learning to earning.

What’s Published Right Now

I’m building this course as I learn, which means it’s growing week by week. Here’s what’s currently live and available:

Level 0 (Complete):

• Start Here — the main entry point and course overview
• Career Roadmap — timeline view of the full journey
• Career Paths — detailed breakdown of cybersecurity roles

Level 1 (Complete):

• Networking Basics — TCP/IP, protocols, ports, and subnetting
• Operating System Basics — how operating systems work and why it matters
• Linux Fundamentals — command line, file system, permissions

Level 2 (In Progress):

• Security Concepts — CIA triad, authentication, access control
• Threat Landscape — the attacks you need to understand
• Cryptography Basics — encryption, hashing, PKI fundamentals

Level 3 (Started):

• Penetration Testing Fundamentals — methodology and phases

Plus a growing collection of certification guides (CompTIA A+, Security+, CEH, and more) and blog posts documenting the journey.

What’s Coming Next

My focus for the next few weeks is completing Level 2 and expanding Level 3. Specifically:

• Completing the remaining Level 2 pages on incident response and risk management
• Level 3 content on scanning networks, enumeration techniques, and vulnerability analysis
• More hands-on lab guides that pair with the theory pages
• Weekly blog posts documenting what I’m learning and the mistakes I’m making along the way

I publish new content every week. The site is growing steadily, and every page follows the same structured progression.

What This Is NOT

I want to be transparent about the boundaries of what I’m building, because honesty is more valuable than hype.

This is not a paid course. Everything on MyCyberSecurityPath is free and will remain free. I might create supplementary paid resources down the road (study trackers, structured planners), but the core curriculum will always be openly accessible.

This is not certification training. The course covers much of the same material as CompTIA Security+ and CEH, but it’s not designed as exam prep. It’s designed as a learning path. If you want to pursue certifications (and I recommend you do), the course gives you the conceptual foundation, and the certification guides point you toward the specific exam prep resources you’ll need.

This is not a shortcut. There’s no “become a cybersecurity expert in 30 days” promise here. This is a long path. I’m walking it myself, and I’m documenting it honestly — including the parts that are frustrating, confusing, and slow. If you want someone to promise you quick results, this isn’t the right site. If you want someone to walk beside you and show you what the journey actually looks like, pull up a chair.

This is not written by a solo beginner guessing in the dark. I’m a career changer learning in public, and my husband Mohit — a software engineer with 17 years at Cisco, Adobe, and Australian government agencies — works through every topic with me. I research, I write, he checks the engineering. Every technical claim is verified against official sources (NIST, OWASP, CompTIA, EC-Council), and I flag when something is my personal experience versus established fact. I’m not a 20-year veteran — but I have one at the kitchen table.

Building the Site Is Accelerating My Own Learning

Something I didn’t expect when I started this project: writing about cybersecurity has made me learn faster than just studying it.

When you need to explain a concept clearly enough for a complete beginner to understand, you discover every gap in your own knowledge. I can’t hand-wave past something I don’t understand when I’m writing a curriculum page about it. I have to go back, research it properly, test it in my lab, and make sure I can explain it in plain language.

The best example is the networking basics page. I thought I understood TCP/IP well enough. Then I tried to write a clear explanation of the three-way handshake, and I realised I had it half-wrong. Writing forced me to fix my understanding in a way that passive studying never would have.

This is the “learning in public” philosophy in action. By documenting as I learn — by publishing pages and posts before I feel fully “ready” — I’m creating accountability, accelerating my own progress, and (hopefully) helping others who are a few steps behind me on the same path.

Follow Along

If you’re also changing careers into cybersecurity — or even just curious about whether it’s right for you — here’s how to follow along:

1. Start at the Start Here page. It’s the main entry point to the course. Read through Level 0 to understand the landscape before diving into technical content.

2. Bookmark the Career Roadmap. This gives you the timeline view of the full journey, including which certifications to pursue and when.

3. Check back weekly. I publish new content every week — sometimes a course page, sometimes a blog post, sometimes both. The site is growing steadily.

4. Set up a home lab. If you do nothing else, do this. Having a hands-on environment to practise in is the single biggest accelerator for learning.

5. Read the blog. The course pages are the structured curriculum. The blog posts are the messy, honest, in-the-trenches documentation of what the journey actually looks like — including the mistakes, the frustrations, and the small victories.

You’re Not Alone

I built this site because I felt alone in the career change process. Every resource I found was written by someone who already understood the material, looking back and simplifying it. Nothing was written by someone in the middle of learning it, looking forward with the same confusion and doubt I was feeling.

That’s what MyCyberSecurityPath is. It’s a career changer’s guide written by a career changer, in real time, with genuine honesty about what’s hard and what’s working.

If you’re in your forties — or your thirties, or your fifties — if you don’t have an IT degree, if you’ve spent your career in a completely different field, if you’re worried you’re “too late” or “not technical enough” — I get it. I feel all of those things too. But I’m doing it anyway, and the evidence so far is that it’s working.

Start at Level 0. Take it one page at a time. And if you ever feel lost, remember: there’s someone in Sydney who went from delivering packages to studying penetration testing, and she’s leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for you to follow.

Start the course here.

Further Reading

• Start Here — begin the structured curriculum at Level 0
• Career Roadmap — the timeline view of the full journey
• Career Paths — which cybersecurity role is right for you?
• Home Lab Setup — get hands-on from day one
• Why I’m Learning Cybersecurity — the full backstory of my career change decision
• Certifications Overview — which certifications to pursue and when

Individual results vary based on location, experience, market conditions, and effort invested. This site provides educational content, not career guarantees.