Today Deep Hacking turns 1 year old, and a special occasion deserves a special article, and I firmly believe this is one.

The idea of the article is already visible in the title, it’s basically that different professionals who already work in Cybersecurity share their experience of how they got to where they are now and how they got their first jobs. The purpose of all this is that a person can identify with a story, find what’s shared in it useful, or simply learn from the paths other people have followed and take something away to apply to their life.

In any case, I hope that the different experiences and advice presented below can be useful to someone.

First of all, although they already know it, I want to thank again the people who wanted to contribute their grain of sand:

THANK YOU ALL <3

Antonio Sánchez (Aka. Sh0x)

How did I find my job in Cybersecurity?

Well, I’m a guy who finished his Computer Engineering degree and that same year I found a job at a Cybersecurity company working as an auditor… the question is, how? Because I remember I didn’t really want to look for work at that time, and I was doing a master’s degree and improving my English, so I said: “well, when I have my master’s and have improved my English even more, I’ll start looking for work, or even during the internships that the master’s offers”… But the truth is I was curious to see how the cyber market was and I started investigating on LinkedIn (a highly recommended social network to have your profile in a more business environment, really…)

So nothing, looking at the requirements for Junior people, I kept seeing that I didn’t meet them because most companies required having 2-3 years of experience in the sector, and in my case, I had 0… but well, as I said before, my idea wasn’t to look for work… So, October arrived and in a few weeks I was about to start the Master’s, but before that came the NCL (National Cyber League).

For those who don’t know it, it’s a national event (Spain, in case you’re from elsewhere), where you compete in 3 disciplines related to cybersecurity and cyberspace. These 3 disciplines are:

  • Technical part.
  • Legal part.
  • Communication part.

I had already participated the previous year with my classmates from my degree, but we were left wanting to play in the semifinals, which we couldn’t do due to priorities with the University. So, that itch was still there and that year I wanted to try again, in this case with other colleagues I convinced to join and the truth is we didn’t do badly because we reached the in-person final in Madrid.

It should be said that we passed the qualifying phase and in the semifinals we were assigned 3 mentors, each specialized in a discipline. Then, of the teams that the mentors managed, only we reached the final so the treatment was closer. And talking a bit about the event, the truth is it’s an experience to live once in a lifetime for those who can (since there are certain requirements for registration), but it’s highly recommendable since it’s free and surely you’ll at least leave learning something which is the most important thing about this type of event, going with an empty backpack and leaving with it full.

I won’t go on anymore, how did I get the job? Well, I remember that preparing ourselves the weeks before to go to Madrid, I saw on LinkedIn that a company called Cipher was looking for a Junior profile for the Hacking department and it showed me that one of my contacts worked there… IT WAS MY MENTOR FROM THE NCL!! Of course, I already mentioned that being the only team of the mentors we had, the treatment was more direct and we had each other as contacts in a Telegram group, so I decided to write to him directly about this news…

Immediately his response was: “How does tomorrow work for you for an interview?”, then without thinking I told him no problem…

Finally, the interview went very well, I had taken a couple of introductory courses on Ethical Hacking and pentesting that same summer and I was able to explain what things I knew, which ones I had experimented with but always being humble and honest in each answer… I’m telling you that you look better saying “I don’t know” to a question, than hesitating on how to answer and saying something that doesn’t make much sense because they notice.

And this was my story of how I got my first job in the cyber world ;)

Pablo Castillo Andreu (Aka. ReyCasto)

Hello everyone! My name is Pablo, I’m 29 years old and since the end of 2021 I’ve been working in the offensive cybersecurity branch as a pentester. Although not too long ago, my professional trajectory followed a quite different path. I’ll tell you my story.

Technology has always been something I’m passionate about. Thanks to my mother’s work, we had a computer at home practically since I can remember. I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with computers and see their evolution from a very young age. As a teenager, it was when I started to feel curious about cybersecurity and Hackers, an era in which that sector began to flourish because the use of the Internet settled in practically all homes in the world. It was then when I started tinkering with an old computer we had at home, on which I installed the newly released Backtrack 3 system. To tell the truth, I had not the slightest idea how to use absolutely any tool despite searching for a lot of information about them, it was too much for me at that moment, which is why I got a bit discouraged and parked my curiosity for a while.

I hadn’t yet turned 18 when I entered university to study Mechanical Engineering. Mathematics and physics were my subjects par excellence and there were (and still are) some sectors of mechanics that I like, such as aeronautics and automotive, added to the fact that in my city is the only polytechnic faculty in the Region of Murcia. These were the reasons for my choice. To tell the truth, when you’re 18 years old it’s very difficult to know what you like and what job you want to dedicate the next 35 years of your life to. Think about it coldly: you’re going to dedicate 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for around 35 years in a job position. An 18-year-old guy or girl doesn’t have enough awareness to know the magnitude of that decision.

During my university years, I touched hacking again. I had the first version of Kali Linux and used the Wifislax system a lot to compromise Wi-Fi networks that, at that time, you still found the WPE encryption system and WPA was abundant (I didn’t do anything bad, I promise). These were the first times I felt I knew how to do something ‘useful’ so to speak, something that gave me an extra motivation to keep learning. I studied programming in a subject (I learned C language) and took a Java course, which made me see that that sector wasn’t as impossible as I thought years ago.

I never regretted nor do I regret the degree I did, it gave me priceless things in this life, like people, knowledge and experiences both personally and professionally. When I finished my degree, I had a unique opportunity to go work abroad, and I got on that train without thinking twice. I lived for a month in Geneva, Switzerland, where I received training for my future job position, which was in Paris, a city where I lived for a year. If you ever have the opportunity to live outside your country, don’t hesitate, you’re going to obtain incomparable personal growth. It was a turning point in my life in which I matured in all aspects, but especially personally.

My job position was Metal Structure Design Engineer, my company worked for Renault, and I was dedicated to designing the bodywork of vehicles that later came out advertised on TV, or someone in your family or friends bought. Sounds cool, right? Honestly, I had incredible luck, I worked in an office with wonderful people in spectacular working conditions. But there were several problems: the automotive sector, like many others, is a cyclical sector, in which there is a lot or little work depending on how the market is. Additionally, the design technology was stagnant in the same methods with the same software for many years. In short, it was a very monotonous job with a very unstable projection.

Then I asked myself what I mentioned earlier. Do you really want to continue in this direction?

When my contract ended, I decided not to renew and return to my land (when you’re used to the climate of southern Spain, you don’t handle rain and cold very well) and I returned full of doubts about what direction to take in my life. While I thought about it, I continued working in what I had studied, only in worse conditions and doing worse work (that’s what Spain has compared to other European countries). That’s when I had it clearer than ever: getting up every day to go to a job you don’t like at all is the worst punishment a person can have.

Then something happened that no one was prepared for: a global pandemic. There’s no need to recall the terrible consequences it brought to our lives, both personally and professionally. But a good life lesson is knowing how to take something positive from a negative situation. And there it was, I read it every day at all hours, in all media: cyberattacks increased more than ever in history. Remote work was forcibly established in a society that wasn’t prepared for it, bringing as a consequence a hole in the cybersecurity field.

There it was, that was the signal that cleared all doubts about my future: training in something I had been curious about for 12 years and that had a demand for thousands of job positions due to the new world that had appeared overnight. A young sector, in full boom, full of opportunities and that updates day by day. A train appeared again, and I got on again.

While working, I started taking very basic courses on offensive cybersecurity and Red Team topics, from scratch. I needed a lot of foundation that I didn’t have at all. After several months, I realized that working 8 hours and advancing in a field that requires a lot of dedication was practically impossible. That’s why, again, I decided not to renew that position when my contract ended. I saved and bet everything on dedicating myself fully to learning for a few months.

During this period (8 months) I had the same schedule I had when I worked (I got up every day at 7:30 in the morning) to dedicate a full day to training in offensive cybersecurity. I took courses, trained on platforms like THM and HTB, obtained the eJPT and eWPT certifications and started training for the eCPPT (which I obtained later).

Additionally, I started meeting people in the sector, whom I must say helped me with everything I needed, and I found a community of people supporting you when you needed it and sharing their knowledge to clear the path for you. Without going far, I exchanged words with the person for whom I’m now writing this story. Months later, life placed him as my coworker, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Today I have an incredible job with a team of spectacular people. And I give thanks every day I get out of bed for the decision I made to bet everything on what I really like.

It’s never too late to change trajectory and dedicate yourselves to what you really like or are passionate about. I encourage you to, if you’re not happy with your current situation, change it, because it’s never too late. Work, effort and dedication.

Happy Hacking!

And above all, happy life.

Pablo.

Daniel Monzón Peso (Aka. Stark0de)

Hey! My name is Daniel Monzón and I’m a 21-year-old guy. My experience in the cyber world started a long time ago, in 2015, when a friend and I went to Aula, an event held at IFEMA where high schools, universities and companies announce their training plans. There we discovered a 5-day hacking course that was taught at U-TAD, and we both signed up. I’ve always liked tinkering since then but I didn’t really start giving it my all until 2019.

That year I finished high school and wanted to go directly for certifications (I was clear that this hacking thing was for me), so the first one I did was the OSCP. Needless to say, I dedicated a few months to it body and soul XD. Before that I got started with HTB for a month. And what a month hahaha. The thing is that after the OSCP, I kept getting certifications, the OSWP, several from CREST, the CRTP and without planning it my first professional opportunities in the hacking world emerged in 2020 (the offer was posted by one of my colleagues on Telegram, it was very random hahaha).

I was for a year and a half at Atalanta, a cybersecurity company here in Spain. It was interesting, we had curious projects, I had the opportunity to teach classes in a master’s that Atalanta gave at San Pablo CEU and I learned about many topics. At first I lacked confidence (the well-known impostor syndrome) but then little by little bugs started appearing in the first web audits I did and little by little I improved (here I have to say that partly it was thanks to the flexible schedule we had and remote work, which was key to continuing training). After this stage I entered Innotec. And I saw they were two different worlds. For example, the team at Innotec is huge, in all senses, there are authentic cracks here. And the project management, reports, dealing with clients, and even the schedule was different. I learned (although I still have more to learn😂) the mysterious art of making reports. At first it was hard for me to adapt, but then I got the hang of many things.

During all this time, in both companies, I’ve never stopped training, certifications, courses, I’ve continued giving talks, etc. And, even more important, I’ve never stopped creating and improving my methodologies and tools. This methodology thing comes from the OSCP era, in which I did everything chaotically, until one day I said enough. And I got into taking structured notes, making my work more efficient. Why am I going to search again for how to do tests against X CMS if I already did it before? And with the tools topic, well, I got a bit obsessed with that at the beginning of 2021, and now I continue creating my tools to make my life easier (although with more calm than then hehehe). With all this more than telling my first experience in cyber, I wanted to tell how my way of working has evolved since I started, from chaos and lack of confidence to mastering topics that at first sounded like Greek to me and making my processes efficient. No matter how difficult a certification, a topic or anything within hacking you want to learn may seem, with time and persistence you’ll get it in the end. So nothing, as I said, give it your all and enjoy! 😉

Andrés González Ochoa (Aka. A8A)

My name is Andrés González and my story of how I started in the world of Cybersecurity is a bit crazy, because even though I graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering I wasn’t clear about what I wanted to do, so for a while I took random jobs that allowed me to know the working world and people. This brought me the contribution of gaining confidence facing the public, that is, losing part of that stage fright that later served me to handle or face meetings or presentations of results to clients in the best way and be calmer and less nervous.

Regarding my beginnings, it wasn’t until early 2019 where they recommended a course on “Computer Security” to me and it made so much noise that I decided to enroll, this course is given by the Toledo community for those people who are registered as training seekers. This course is at a general level regarding cybersecurity topics and touches on points both management such as the regulatory part and practical such as using distributions at a general level like for example Kali Linux.

In this course, I had the great fortune of meeting a professor who for me is a professional in all aspects who, in addition, this professor later became a great colleague and friend to whom I thank for the introduction he gave me to this world. He helped me understand the risk to which we are usually exposed (with it the issue of data privacy) and among other things how fun it can be to break things.

During that course I could see 2 aspects of cybersecurity: the management part and the technical part. At that moment I liked both, but I was clear that I felt a greater attraction to the technical part. Once the course was finished I was eager to look for work in the sector.

Finding work will always depend on you, having a good CV, not losing the desire to find something you like, improving your skills, expanding your knowledge and defining your strengths, after all, this is a market and you have to sell yourself (without smoke xD).

I remember that as soon as the course ended and I placed it on LinkedIn I started receiving offer messages without having to search, among them I accepted an offer for a SOC, since it seemed interesting to me (and in fact it was for being the first contact). However, after some time I realized it wasn’t what I wanted, I’m thankful that one day like any other, Innotec, a cybersecurity company, called me on my cell phone indicating that my profile had seemed interesting to them due to the degree and the course. They were looking for a junior who could start in the cybersecurity area with web audit topics, vulnerability analysis, etc. And without thinking much, I decided to accept it, it was there where I can say I really started to grow professionally. There I saw the amount of people/machines that were there and I motivated myself even more to want to improve my level and where I started taking courses/certifications to grow in that aspect.

From there on everything has gone better, since I was obtaining certifications like the OSWP and OSCP from OffSec among others, which later opened doors for me in other jobs thus allowing me to take on new professional challenges and projects of greater complexity. In parallel to these new challenges and projects, I was able to meet incredible professionals who ended up being great friendships, who contributed to continuous improvement whether with links to blogs, a talk about a new technique, talking or commenting on protocols, exploits, etc.

The fact of belonging to communities (Telegram / Discord) and attending conferences among other things allows you to meet people along the way who may become friendships, and with luck, you’ll have a group to talk to practically always, whether to have some laughs or break something haha

I’ve met very good people along the way (and there’s more to come xD) and I try to be as good as they have been with me. For that reason, I can say that I’ve helped more than one person change jobs, improve their conditions, study for a cert, etc. It fills me a lot to know that a simple gesture can be something good in a person’s day.

Finally, I want to give some small tips to find work in cybersecurity that may make your search a bit more pleasant:

  • Define and improve your skills so you can get the best out of yourself.
  • Seek to support that knowledge through entities, that is, get certifications (as soon as you can). Example: Pepito knows because he has X thing from X entity.
  • Have a good CV to reach that technical interview where you’ll give it your all, you have to pass through a filter first so give it love and care to that sheet that speaks well of you.
  • Enter communities that can contribute to you in the day to day.
  • Rub shoulders with people who provide added value both in friendship and professionally, that marks a big difference.
  • Try to make each day productive even on those days where we don’t want to do anything, read a news article or article (about Cyber of course haha)
  • Face all opportunities in the best way, you learn from all experiences.

These are a few things I can recommend out of many things that exist, I hope it has served as a contribution or help, thanks for reading and until next time.

David Utón Amaya (Aka. m3n0sd0n4ld)

Hello!

My name is David Utón and they’ve asked me to tell my experience in Cybersecurity. Although I think I’m not the most suitable person, since I’ve been working in the sector for only a few years, but I’ll tell you my experience and how I managed to “work” in what started as a hobby and ended up being my profession.

Effort, work and dedication. Or has it been luck?

I’m sure someone has said something similar to you at some point: “How lucky you’ve been! You’re so lucky!” Has it really been luck? For me, luck is winning a prize like the “Euromillions” or the “Football Pools”, although I understand they mean that all your effort, work and dedication has been rewarded.

But how did it all start? Since I was little, I’ve always liked all the “gadgets” that have keys, not just on the outside, I was also very attracted to what they were like inside, I think that’s what motivated me to learn to assemble and repair computer equipment, not just in component replacement, but in finding the fault and managing to fix it (this is also a CTF).

So, I got my parents to buy me my first PC, on which I could learn to program in web languages and in mIRC Scripting. I felt curiosity and passion for how a few lines of code were capable of performing automated actions, so I continued reading, learning and practicing self-taught.

Years passed, I was looking for work in the IT world, but the lack of studies didn’t motivate the HR staff of companies, so I had to opt to work in other trades, so I got a position in a factory, where I spent 12 years surrounded by industrial “gadgets” with technology (OT/IoT) out of reach of many, in it I was learning the operation of these works of engineering art, I even learned to configure them and even repair them in some cases!

But was I satisfied? Well unfortunately not, I worked three shifts, so I was combining my family, my two jobs (in factory and computer technician) and my hobby, there are many hours that I dedicated (and still dedicate) to continue learning and improving. I continued searching for information, when I stumbled upon Cybersecurity through YouTube videos and Telegram channels of Hackplayers, Follow The White Rabbit, The Hacker Way and C43s4rs (Edu, Jesús, Manolo, Kevin, etc… There are many of you! But thanks to all!), the latter made me a place in their channel and I would say they are the main responsible for introducing me to this world and the CTF (Capture The Flag) world.

Do CTFs serve any purpose? Personally yes, although I understand the thinking of many that CTFs don’t resemble reality, and it’s true! Hacking a company is easier on many occasions. So I started participating in CTF challenges and started acquiring skills that helped me continue advancing in Cybersecurity, programming and a change of focus when searching for possible intrusions or security flaws in web applications or systems.

I started attending some events (CON’s) in my area, to attend talks about cybersecurity and experience this world more closely. So I went with my friend Jose Iglesias on LinkedIn (a crack at PLC’s and reversing), where several speakers were sharing knowledge at TomatinaCON, there I met Alejandro Aliaga on LinkedIn and Javier Payá on LinkedIn (two other cracks), these three people were the cause of encouraging me to leave a CV at their company.

Several months passed, I didn’t lose faith, but I perfectly remember that day they called me from Sothis HR for an interview at their facilities. There, I met Fran Mateu on LinkedIn and Jose Luis Chica on LinkedIn, the people who trusted me, a person who came from another trade, abandoning his position as supervisor in a factory, a person who only had some CTF’s behind him, many hours of nighttime tinkering, with a lot of desire to learn and passion for this world.

Thanks to all those people who made possible what I thought was impossible. THANK YOU!

David Manuel Herrera Rodríguez (Aka. Shac0x)

Let me introduce myself, my name is David Herrera, I’m 24 years old and I currently work at VASS as a Pentester.

My beginnings with computers were from when I was very little, when my parents bought their first computer. I was very curious about everything you could do with it. That’s why I asked them for a computer, but it wasn’t until I was 14 years old that for Christmas I built my first computer from parts, and the truth is I was very afraid to assemble it, since the only experience I had was from all the videos I watched on the Internet, but after a few hours of work and sweat I got it to work.

Talking about my training and studies… it was a bit chaotic since from high school I knew I wanted to study computer science which is what I liked, but when I finished high school and could access the intermediate level of microcomputing and networks, unfortunately I didn’t get spots, and I signed up for high school. Once I passed the first year of high school I tried again and again I didn’t get spots so I started studying web development on my own while continuing with the second year of high school. Two months into classes, they called me from a high school, since a spot became available, and that’s where my journey into cybersecurity began.

During the two years in the intermediate level, I learned a lot of disciplines both from the systems side or what caught my attention most, development. I realized during all this time that more and more I wanted to dedicate myself to this, so I decided to continue my training with the advanced degree in web development in dual mode (I totally recommend doing an advanced degree in dual mode, since it completely immerses you in the working world).

During my first year in dual mode I learned a lot about different programming languages and how to face them in the working world with real projects, since I had to attend the company four out of five days a week. I focused on frontend and specifically on the Vue.js framework, which at that time was doing very well and it was then where I joined to manage the largest Spanish-speaking Vue.js community on Telegram.

Once in the second year of the advanced degree I started to be called by this cybersecurity thing. Researching I discovered the Root-Me and TryHackMe platforms along with their labs, I started practicing (I wasn’t able to do one without looking at a write-up or seeing some hint) and the truth is every day I got more hooked.

Then 2020 arrived and they locked us all down, at that time I was doing the internships for the advanced degree and I got a request from my boss at that time offering me to join the cybersecurity team they had just set up, and my answer was a resounding yes.

During my first year working in cybersecurity I had to learn a lot since I had to face real projects. My favorite methods were different training platforms like TryHackMe and HackTheBox, I also had to learn about forensic analysis, because I also had to do computer expert reports performing extractions from devices, to then analyze them using hardware like Cellebrite for mobile devices or Falcon for computer hard drives. Thanks to doing projects both as Pentester and forensics I knew that what attracted and pleased me most was offensive cybersecurity and during this year I continued training in this sector.

My first year working in cybersecurity was approaching and I decided to sign up for the Specialization course in Cybersecurity in Information Technology Environments that they were just launching that year. I knew it was going to be complicated to combine work and studies, since both were in-person, but I joined the adventure and started the Specialization course, which I can highly recommend, because in addition to offensive security, they teach and reinforce various aspects such as secure production deployment, forensic analysis or secure development.

A few months after finishing the specialization course I was given the possibility to change jobs and go to the company where I currently am, VASS, providing service to Telefónica, which is the client. The truth is I couldn’t be happier, all this year I’ve learned a lot in different areas (infrastructure audits, web, mobile, Wi-Fi..), I’ve obtained different certifications like eCCPT, eWPTX or OSCP and met great professionals and colleagues.

My advice for getting into cybersecurity:

  • Consistency, this sector needs a lot of consistency and patience. At first you’ll see that everything becomes uphill, but it happens to all of us. With patience you’ll achieve it.
  • Practice on machines like PentesterAcademy, TryHackme or HackTheBox (the latter my favorite).
  • If I had to choose a certification to start I would choose the eJPT from the guys at eLearnSecurity and if you can afford it the OSCP from Offensive Security with annual subscription, since it gives you a great start starting from zero apart from the basic PEN 100 course included in the pack.
  • Cybersecurity specifically pentesting is very broad, there are many types of audits like Web, mobile, internal penetration test, external… don’t focus on one, and train and study several, normally if you want to dedicate yourself to this they’ll ask you to know several of them.
  • Google is your friend, don’t be afraid to search, look up some command or exploitation method, we all do it, we’d be lost without it 😀.

And finally, ENJOY! Doing what you love.

Lessons and Advice

After all these stories, I’m going to try to compile all the lessons and advice that I think each story has given us:

  • Networking. This point is no novelty, and if it isn’t, it’s because it really is an important point. We’ve seen how for example Toni (Antonio Sánchez), thanks to participating in the NCL, was able to meet someone who, in the future, helped him get into work.
  • It’s never too late. In life they always try to define a path for us, this is, usually, going to high school, college, university and to work. Here we’ve seen how for example Pablo made a total career change, from Mechanical Engineer to Cybersecurity. The same applies to David Utón, he had a position already secured in a factory, but he wanted to make that change he wanted. Both already had their lives somewhat defined, but they were capable and had the courage to make that change. If they were capable, why not you? Another clear example of this is David Herrera. He was clear about what he wanted to do, however, due to simple life circumstances, until some time passed, he couldn’t make the change of studies he wanted. As I said, it’s never too late.
  • Methodologies. The one who knows the most isn’t the one who knows everything by heart, not at all. Dani is a clear example of a person who knows how to prepare methodologies and notes of everything he’s seeing, so that if someday he needs that knowledge, he’ll know where to look for it and how to act immediately.
  • Look for opportunities. Staying at home it’s unlikely that someone will knock on your door to offer you new opportunities. Instead of waiting, cause them yourself. You just have to see how, for example, Antonio Sánchez created his opportunity by moving. Another example is David Utón, who attended events that were organized near him. You don’t need to go to the biggest and most famous cybersecurity event, just by going to one, you’ll already be making a difference.
  • Move around. Remote work has now been established much more, but if you’re looking for an opportunity you shouldn’t directly reject a possible in-person opportunity. Or move to a new city where there are more opportunities.
  • CTF’s. Cybersecurity is a field that is very gamified, what seem like games like CTFs, can not only be a great way to learn, but to meet people and move in the sector. You just have to read David Utón’s story to fully understand this point.
  • Write-ups. Everyone has read write-ups, David Herrera says so. He at first was unable to do things without reading them from others (just like everyone). And extrapolating this idea a bit, isn’t that how we all learn? By reading from others. Reading write-ups isn’t bad, and it’s not something unique that’s done when you’re a beginner, even the most advanced continue doing it.
  • LinkedIn. We’ve already seen how Andrés managed to find work through this social network. Without a doubt, for me, the best place to find employment, in addition to networking, because in fact, this is something to keep in mind, not all offers are published.
  • Degree obsession. We live in a world where degree obsession has existed and exists. A world where a paper that says you know how to do something is worth more than actually knowing how to do it. Luckily, it seems this is increasingly less so. Two clear examples that if you really set your mind to it, you can reach the same place, with or without a degree, are Dani and David Utón. Both don’t have either an advanced degree or university degrees, however, they work in what they set out to, because both have made an effort to achieve it.
  • Effort and dedication. All the people in this article, whether in one way or another, have made an effort and have dedicated a lot of time to get where they are today. This is the basis of everything seen in the article, without this, nothing will work.