Welcome back, my friend. Writing to you again in 2025 feels like coming home after a year of twists, turns, and a lot of learning. Life, like technology, evolves constantly, and sometimes, the best way to understand where you’re headed is to reflect on where you’ve been.
This post is a little different from my usual fare. It’s part reflection, part resolution, and a look back at how the challenges and lessons of the past 12 months have shaped my perspective and future direction.
A Year Ago: New Beginnings
In January 2024, I wrote one of my first posts on this blog, brimming with excitement about starting a new role. I shared my thoughts on how to navigate those critical first months in a new position, offering advice on getting organized, establishing good relationships, and setting yourself up for success.
At the time, I was doing all those things myself: meeting new colleagues, setting up onboarding sessions, and creating an “Intel Network” across the organization—a web of connections to help me understand how the company operated and where I could add value.
But hindsight is a wonderful teacher. If I could go back, I’d add one crucial piece of advice to that post: probation periods work both ways. They’re not just a time for the company to evaluate you—they’re your chance to evaluate whether the role aligns with your goals, and your values.
Shifting Perspectives
As the months went by, I started to feel a disconnect. My vision for the role, the direction it would go and how it would get there, didn’t fit with the day to day reality. It was only after a conversation with a colleague, where they reminded me of a podcast episode by Andrew Bustamante, that I realized what I’d been missing.
Bustamante spoke about a skill used by spies: shifting from your own perception to someone else’s perspective. While I’m not a spy, this concept still hits home. In cybersecurity, we do this all the time—analyzing threats from the perspective of an attacker. Its something I needed to apply pretty quickly to my new circumstances, what I needed first was “intel”, I needed to understand not just how the company operated, but what the company valued.
Junk Volume and Misaligned Value
After a some time thinking about what was happening I concluded that the disconnect was fundamentally about purpose and leadership; what I wanted from this new role and what the company wanted from me did not tally with the discussions that were had during the hiring process. That disconnect or misalignment was causing friction and frustration on both sides, which inevitably grew into more profound discontentment as time went on.
The misalignment of purpose reminded me of a concept well-known in fitness: junk volume. Gym enthusiasts use the term to describe exercises or reps that don’t meaningfully contribute to muscle growth. It happens when you’re training without the right intensity, focus, or alignment with your goals. Instead of gains, you’re just burning energy—leaving you fatigued but without real results.
The parallel to work became painfully clear. In my role, I was pouring effort into strategic initiatives—building foundational solutions and tackling systemic issues. But what the company valued, were quick, tactical solutions that solved immediate pain points. My work, though well-intentioned and thoughtful, wasn’t what they were looking for at that time. It became “junk value.”
Just like in the gym, where junk volume leaves you overtrained without gains, misaligned efforts at work can lead to burnout and frustration without any meaningful impact. This “Junk Value” was causing “fatigue” in the sense that it drained time and resources, but it didn’t drive the outcomes the company desired. Without the right alignment between effort and goals, even the best intentions fall flat.
The Cost of Misalignment
The lesson? Value isn’t just about effort—it’s also about alignment. What’s valuable at one company might be irrelevant at another. While I set myself the mandate to solve systemic issues, the company was prioritising tactical solutions. This disconnect in purpose and lack of work that I found meaningful eventually led me to a decision: that I needed to find something that better matched my professional goals and personal drive.
Reflecting on the idea of a probationary period being a two-way process, If it isn’t working out, it’s best to rectify that sooner rather than regret it later, in the same way the company would if you were falling short in their expectations of you.
It wasn’t an easy choice. But as any gym-goer knows, there comes a point when you need to “deload” and focus on recovery before you can grow again.
The Silver Lining
Although the past year didn’t unfold as planned, it wasn’t wasted. I gained valuable experience, made lifelong connections, and learned things that will stay with me forever.
Most importantly, the challenges of 2024 reignited a passion I thought I’d lost: the desire to lead, to create, and to build something of my own.
Introducing CAXA Technologies
This year marks the beginning of a new chapter. I’m excited to announce the launch of CAXA Technologies Ltd, my own cybersecurity consultancy.
Our focus is simple but impactful: empowering organizations to operate in today’s complex threat landscape with confidence. At the outset, we’ll specialize in delivering tailored consulting services in Threat Management, Security Architecture, Purple Teaming, and DevSecOps. For enterprise businesses, this means designing and implementing robust security frameworks, centralizing threat detection, and streamlining vulnerability management across large-scale operations. For product-focused businesses, we’ll embed security into the product development lifecycle by integrating secure coding practices, conducting in-depth threat modeling, and performing real-world attack simulations to harden applications. Additionally, our DevSecOps consulting will help organizations of all sizes adopt security automation and integrate security seamlessly into their CI/CD pipelines, ensuring that security becomes a natural part of development without slowing down innovation. These areas reflect my experience and passions, and as we grow, so will our offerings.
Cybersecurity is evolving daily, and I’m thrilled to contribute to that evolution—helping businesses not only protect themselves but thrive in a digital-first world.
Closing Thoughts
If there’s one takeaway from the past year, it’s this: sometimes, what feels like a detour is actually a redirection toward something better. The path to success isn’t always linear, but every experience—good or bad—is something to learn from and another step forward.
To anyone reading this—whether you’re in tech, fitness, or chasing a dream—I hope my story resonates. Don’t be afraid to reflect, course-correct, and take bold steps toward what truly matters to you.
Here’s to 2025: a year of growth, resilience, and new beginnings.
Until next time, stay safe, stay secure, and stay awesome.