Hi, I’m Hafiz Syed Shah Ali, a Computer Science graduate from Lahore, Pakistan, moving from AI automation into cybersecurity. My goal is to become a SOC Engineer.

Where I’m coming from

For the past two years I’ve worked on automation and data: building workflows in Zapier and n8n, data pipelines in Databricks, dashboards in Power BI, and handling information security tasks across business systems. I’ve also completed more than ten freelance projects on Upwork.

That background is exactly why I’m aiming for SOC engineering rather than only analysis. Security operations teams deal with huge numbers of alerts and a lot of repetitive work, like enriching indicators, checking file hashes, opening tickets and isolating machines. That’s the kind of work automation does well, and it’s where I want to combine what I already know with what I’m learning.

What this journal is

This is my public learning log. I study from structured courses, take handwritten notes, and turn them into a post here, usually twice a day. Writing each topic out in my own words is how I make sure I actually understand it, not just that I watched the video.

So far it covers networking, cloud basics, and Cisco’s full Junior Cybersecurity Analyst Career Path. The Learning Path page lists every post in order.

What’s next

• Hands-on practice with TryHackMe’s SOC Level 1 path
• Building out my home lab with real security tools
• Security automation projects, shared on GitHub

Get in touch

I’m open to SOC and security automation roles, remote or with relocation. The easiest way to reach me is on LinkedIn. You can also see my work on GitHub and my portfolio at shahali.dev.