Week Two, Let’s Go: Why Communications & Code Are Two Sides of the Same Cyber Coin
The second week of a new semester always feels different than the first. That opening rush of syllabi, new faces, and chaotic schedules starts to settle into a rhythm. Now I can take a breath, look around, and really get excited about the journey ahead.
For me, that means diving into two classes that couldn’t seem more different on paper — Communications and Algorithms & Data Structures — yet are more connected than they first appear.
The Classroom Connection
Communications is about people. How we talk, listen, persuade, and build relationships. In a world where signals fly across the globe in milliseconds, the ability to cut through noise and connect is more important than ever.
Algorithms & Data Structures, on the other hand, is about logic. It’s the bones and muscles of the digital world — how data is stored, sorted, and made useful. It’s problem-solving distilled into code.
At first glance, one course feels soft and human, the other rigid and technical. But step back, and you see they’re not just complementary — they’re part of a long, shared history.
From Telegraphs to Cybersecurity
The story of modern tech starts with communications. The telegraph and telephone were the first great information networks, reducing distances to nothing more than a pulse on a wire. The “security model” then was simple: don’t let someone physically tap the line.
Then came computing. Early machines were isolated, but once we linked them together — ARPANET in the 1960s being the big leap — IT and communications merged. Suddenly, computers could “talk” to one another.
But with that gift came risk. Data no longer lived safely in a single box you could lock in a room. Information moved, and with motion came vulnerability. Cue the birth of information security. By the 1970s, the first self-replicating program — Creeper — appeared, and the earliest cybersecurity defenses were born.
A Cycle of Innovation and Defense
Since then, communications, IT, and cybersecurity have been locked in a feedback loop. Communications drives the demand for networks. IT builds those networks. Cybersecurity rises to protect them.
Phishing exploits human communication.
Malware exploits IT systems.
Defending against both requires not just clever code but clear communication: translating risks into language that leaders, coworkers, and communities understand.
That’s why Communications and Algorithms & Data Structures aren’t really “opposites” at all. They’re two halves of the same story — the human and the technical, the message and the medium, the network and its defense.
Looking Ahead
This semester feels like more than just another academic checkpoint. It’s a chance to sharpen both sides of the blade — the human skills and the technical skills — because in cybersecurity (and in life), they’re inseparable.
Here’s to week two, to learning, and to carrying forward the long, intertwined story of communication, technology, and security into whatever comes next.