Elvis Ngoc-Phu Tang

I am a second generation Vietnamese son, brother, and lastly pet owner. I live with my parents in a household of four. I have two cats, and a turtle. There are also a plethora of stray cats in my neighborhood. I was born in May 1998 and grew up to the birth of the internet. I was always fascinated with technology since birth. I distinctly rembering typing 120 wpm in junior high and also using a hacking program called "Cheat Engine" to break the games I would play. I would modify the code in game to be boosted to a insanely high number. For example, I would make my gold at the max number in this game called Adventure Quest. They would then label my clan as "Cheaters/Abusers/Time Wasters Clan". I would also cheat on Roblox! A household game every kid knows. I would also make a popular game back in 2008 and start messaging back and forth one of the creators of the game, Builderman.

I then went to highschool. This is when I truly found myself. I decided to join the wrestling team because I was bullied in previous years because I was so skinny. This is where I met my closest friends to this day. They are like family to me, and we talk to each other on a daily basis. I play video games with them as well. Most notably, this video game called "League of Legends". I climbed the ranks and peaked diamond during my prime. Now in days , I do not play so seriously. More recently, I started playing a card game called "Magic, The Gathering". I run a black and green deck: Slimefoot, the Stowaway.

After highschool, I went to community college for four years to do my general education classes and prerequisites. I completed my general education at Cypress and Fullerton College, where I joined the STEM2 program. Through STEM2, I connected with professionals and secured a summer research opportunity at Cal Poly Pomona in 2019.

I transferred to Cal Poly Pomona in Fall 2019 and completed upper-division courses, including electives in cybersecurity, control systems, software engineering, and communication systems. After graduating in Spring 2023, I focused on cybersecurity and embedded systems. I completed the Google Cybersecurity Certificate and earned the CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701). I am now preparing for a blue team role as a SOC Analyst or a junior embedded systems role. I am also now working on an exciting project that implements A.I. with my embedded systems skills. Since, breaking things down and reverse engineering stuff as a kid, it is exciting to see what my career path will be in the future.