Whoami
knowing something isn’t the same as understanding it. ~Elijah Ketchersid
I’m Elijah Ketchersid (also Matthew, and RektByFaith online).
I’m building this wiki as a clear, practical record of what I learn and what I build. If you’re here because of cybersecurity, game development, or just curiosity—welcome. This is my “here’s who I am and what I’m about” page.
A quick picture of me
I was raised in a faith-centered home, and that shaped how I try to move through the world: I care about doing things with integrity, owning my choices, and keeping my standards the same whether anyone’s watching or not. I’m not really interested in being flashy—I’d rather be accurate, steady, and useful. Over the years I’ve learned that I function best with structure and clear expectations, and I’m the kind of person who’d rather write something down, test it twice, and be able to reproduce it later than “wing it” and hope it works.
Computers and games were my entry point, but I was never only interested in playing. I got pulled toward how systems behave, how people break them (sometimes accidentally), and what it takes to build something that holds up when real users show up. That turned into hands-on work: building large environments, working with teams, shipping projects, and learning the unglamorous parts—documentation, version control, troubleshooting, and cleaning up messes when something goes wrong. Eventually cybersecurity started to feel like the natural place for my brain to land, because it rewards the same habits I respect: being careful, thinking ahead, and treating “it works on my machine” as a problem, not a victory.
Right now I’m tuning my professional focus toward cybersecurity and a service-oriented path (including the Air Force), while keeping game development as a smaller, selective part of my life—mostly where it still teaches me useful lessons about building reliable systems and working with other people at a high standard.
What I’m doing right now
- Studying and practicing defensive cybersecurity through labs, certifications, and structured learning
- Writing down what I learn so it’s repeatable (not just “I solved it once”)
- Building a professional footprint that reflects how I actually work: steady, careful, and consistent
What you’ll find on this wiki
This wiki is meant to be useful—even if you’re not me. Expect things like:
- Notes and walkthroughs from labs/CTFs (with the “why” included, not just steps)
- Practical writeups (what a tool does, how I used it, what I’d do differently)
- Checklists and small playbooks I can follow under pressure
- Occasional engineering/game-dev notes when they’re genuinely useful (workflows, performance, organization)
Certs/ Education
Schooling
KU Leuven (B.A., 2024)
Certifications
- Comptia SecurityX Certification (Originally Casp+)
- Comptia Security+ Certification
- HTB Certified Defensive Security Analyst Certification
- Testout Network Pro Certification (C3R25)
- Google CyberSecurity Certificate
Gaming Achievements
• Top 200 Grandmaster - Starcraft 2 • Top 0.1% Of Players – Fortnite • Grandmaster – Call of Duty • 2,000 Rating Arena – World Of Warcraft • Emerald (Top 20 Miss Fortune EUW) – League Of Legends • Platinum – Valorant
Useful Links
If you’re looking for the finer details:
Portfolio / main site: https://elijahketchersid.com/
Resume: Work In Progress ;)
Contact
The best way to reach me is my email: [email protected]