Cyber Member Spotlight — Cameron Cuellar
Learn more about ACM Cyber member Cameron Cuellar!
What’s your major? What drew you to this field?
I’m happy to be majoring in Computer Science here at Earl Warren College. I’ve always been heavily interested in technology and computers, at least ever since I’ve been playing video games. Back when I was in primary school, I learned how to edit and mod games like Pokémon in hex editors by trial & error. It was fascinating to me that changing single lines of code could have major effects in these games. A couple of years later, when I was more interested in Minecraft, I started to get more into redstone (which is basically Minecraft’s in-game electrical system for those who are unaware). I learned how to make all sorts of mechanisms and other things like calculators, all inside this video game. By the time I was in high school, I realized that I could take the knowledge I had learned from these games, and apply them to a career path, like CS or Computer Engineering.
How did you become interested in cybersecurity?
I was first introduced to cybersecurity while I was going to a CodeDay event here in San Diego. I joined a team for a Capture The Flag tournament and loved it; so since then I’ve really been interested in OpSec and Cryptography. I’m very excited to be a part of ACM Cyber @ UCSD!
What are some cool cybersecurity related/other projects you’ve undertaken? Or have there been any fun CTFs you’ve participated in recently?
I have been doing a few Capture The Flag tournaments on ACM Cyber’s team 3PAC and team IRS. I haven’t done any extensive projects related to cybersecurity yet, although I’m very open to the idea!
What are your long term goals (if any) ?
I plan on graduating with a B.S. in Computer Science, and a minor in physics, and taking my skills to a company where I can make the most of it. My dream is to be part of a team that works on some revolutionary technology that will have a lasting impact on the world (maybe something in the field of quantum computing!).
What’s a fun fact about you :D
I’ve shattered the backboard while playing basketball.
What are your hobbies / what do you like to do in your free time?
I absolutely love solving Rubik’s Cubes, and have been using them since primary school. I have a whole collection of about 40 different Rubik’s based puzzles that all range in shapes and sizes. I even have one that has 17x17x17 squares. That’s just under 2000 pieces! My best time on solving the normal one is about 6 seconds, and I hope on joining my first competition when the coronavirus settles down.
And finally, do you have any advice/something to say to the readers?
The most important advice I have to give is to be open to change. For many people like myself, sometimes we struggle with handling the unexpected, or the unknown, and we try to plan out things to be a certain way, and so we are afraid or get anxious when they don’t turn out in our favor. Odds are, if you ask any working adult around you, they never would’ve expected to end up specifically where they are right now career-wise. I think everyone should look forward to changes, rather than fear them because of the vast opportunities that come with them.
