Ashley's Thought Cloud

I'm a

About

Hey there! My name is Ashley and I'm a 2nd year Computer Science MS student at UC San Diego. This website is a project of mine intended to showcase my abilities and to help me organize my thoughts. Once I graduate, I hope to work in a role that both allows me to explore cybersecurity and is able to utilize my software engineering background!


My Background

My very first coding experience came from an unexpected source. I used to play on a website called Neopets as a kid, which was a site where users could care for virtual pets. On the site, you were able to make webpages for your neopets, but you had to use HTML and CSS. So, at about age 10, I ventured into the web design world for the first time. I would spend years playing around with these tools and learning to troubleshoot design errors. I gained a passion and confidence for coding.

My first interest in cybersecurity arguably also grew from online games, with a different situation. When I was about 14, I was harassed by an online stalker. It scared me because I had never given out any pictures of myself or information except my first name. The attacker was able to get my address just through having me click a malicious link. When he called our home phone and started harassing my parents, he said that he had gotten our information by calling our cable company. This incident made me realize that both myself and the companies I associate myself with are responsible for securing my data. I gained a curiosity for how cyber attacks happen and how to stop them from happening.

In hindsight, I am thankful for both the good and the bad experiences which led to discovering such an interesting field. Now, I have graduated with my undergraduate degree in Computer Science and am pursuing my Master's degree. My work experience includes various teaching roles through my university as well as a software engineering internship with Viasat.

Languages

These are the languages I've worked significantly with. I list them in order of most-recently to least-recently used. 75% means that I can effectively write code in the language, but may need some refreshing on syntax. Less than that means I haven't learned all the syntax of the language yet, though I can use it with some help from Google.

Python 100%
C++ 100%
HTML/CSS 100%
Java 75%
SQL50%
Go 50%

Resume

This resume content has been updated as of 9/14/22.

Summary

Ashley Jacobs

Hardworking and reliable graduate student interested in software engineering and cybersecurity. I am self motivated and dedicated to improving my skillset!

Education

Master of Science - Computer Science

2021 - 2023

University of California San Diego - San Diego, CA

Bachelor of Science - Computer Science

2017 - 2021

California State University San Marcos - San Marcos, CA

GPA 4.0

Relevant Coursework

  • Graduate Software Engineering (with Agile)
  • Graduate Analysis of Algorithms
  • Graduate JIT Security
  • Graduate Networked Systems
  • Graduate Computer Security
  • Graduate Applied Cryptography
  • Undergraduate Operating Systems

    • Research

    Data Leakage from Cloud Service Misconfigurations

    June 2020-August 2020

    California State University San Marcos

  • A survey of cloud service misconfigurations which lead to data leak as well as a discussion of their mitigation
  • Produced a research paper based on research and findings
  • Completed during an undergraduate summer internship

    • Security from Ideation with Docker

    January 2020-May 2020

    California State University San Marcos

  • An analysis of the security impact of Docker misconfigurations and their potential mitigations
  • Argues that security must be considered earlier in development
  • Produced a research paper based on research and findings
  • Completed during an undergraduate summer internship
  • Completed during an undergraduate research course.

    • Professional Experience

    Security Software Engineer Intern

    June 2022 - September 2022

    Viasat

    • Write various pieces of software for security automation purposes
    • Biggest project: GitHub RBAC auditor, which audits various permissions on Viasat's GitHub organizations
    • Smaller projects included: Kubernetes image pull secret automation, "canary" Docker container
    • Presented and demoed the GitHub auditor as a potential innersource offering at Viasat

    Teaching Assistant

    September 2021 - June 2022

    University of California San Diego

    • Collaborate with 24 other course staff members on CSE11, an accelerated intro to programming class
    • Host 3 weekly discussion sections and interactively work through course content with CSE11 students
    • Hold 8 weekly office hours to answer student questions about the course material and related topics
    • Review assignments and exams, provide feedback, and assign grades

    CodeQueens Mentor

    September 2018 - March 2020

    California State University San Marcos

    • Design lesson plans for high school students to learn about game development using block coding and web development using HTML and CSS
    • Lead weekly club meetings and encourage the development of students’ technical and interpersonal skills
    • Manage the game project progress of student teams

    Leadership

    President of CSUSM Cybersecurity Club

    August 2020 - March 2021

    California State University San Marcos

    • Lecture and demo cybersecurity techniques, plan all meeting activities
    • Collaborate with other club officers in order to ensure that meetings are effective
    • Accommodate each activity/lesson to students with varied levels of experience
    • Served as Vice President for the Fall 2020 semester and President for the Spring 2021 semester