Freelancing

About a month ago, I quit my job to start freelancing. Or alternatively, to run an experiment, go on an adventure, take a sabbatical, or start a business. I’m still figuring out how much of each it’s going to be. My main goal is to try a bunch of different things that appeal to me, while being open to any opportunities that appear in the process.

Some of the things I want to try are closely aligned with my work experience. For example, I once found a security issue in a protocol designed to secure all inter-domain routing on the Internet, and I’m a member of the IETF’s Security Directorate; cyber security consulting is a clear next step. I like analyzing complex systems for potential security issues, and working to mitigate or resolve those issues. I’m also considering various bug bounties and Google Patch Rewards. It would be really nice to use the Patch Rewards program, or possibly other funding sources, to increase support for multi‐factor authentication in open source projects.

Other things I want to try are slightly more outrageous. For example, apparently some people make money by recording themselves playing video games; I want to try something a little different, speedrun videos of some of my favorite logic puzzles. Or maybe I’ll make a YouTube channel about cryptography and other assorted topics.

I also want to spend more time learning new‐to‐me things, in order to see if any of these things lead to new opportunities I haven’t even considered yet. This is most of what I’ve been doing for the past month, and it will get its own follow‐up post shortly. Edit 2017-09-02: added link to follow‐up post.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this freelancing/experiment/adventure/sabbatical/entrepreneurship plan goes.