My career began far from blinking servers, network logs, and vulnerability scanners. I started with walls, ladders, and rolls of patterned paper. I was one of the many wallpaper installers who took pride in transforming plain, imperfect rooms into warm, vibrant spaces. Every project began with a tape measure in one hand and a bucket of paste in the other. Clients would invite me into their homes, trusting me to not only make their walls beautiful but also to treat their space with respect.