Fagan Afandiyev has a knack for analyzing situations, finding vulnerabilities and creating strategic solutions. That talent led to a highly anticipated internship this summer as a penetration tester at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington headquarters. But his analytical ability to think strategically wasn’t something that began in a college classroom. It emerged years earlier in high school, and his instructors took notice. During Afandiyev’s high school years, he excelled in developing clever strategies to compete in national and international robotics competitions. His talents then became been a driving force in his college career, studying cybersecurity at USF’s Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing. Whitehatters and CyberHerd competitions soon followed. And in his internship role as a penetration tester, he will work at identifying weaknesses in computer systems before attackers can exploit them. He’s made it his specialty. “You're trying to find vulnerabilities that someone, an attacker, will have found, and you're reporting that so it can be patched,” he said. “What’s great is that I’ve been specializing in Microsoft systems the last three years. So, getting the internship is just great!" Discovering a passion for technology Afandiyev’s interest in computing began in middle school when teachers recognized his aptitude for working with computers. “So, it started in middle school, and I was in sixth grade at the time,” he said. “My school was making a quiz for the whole school.” At the time, his school in Azerbaijan was identifying students with strong critical thinking skills and introducing them to specialized areas of study. “The professor realized that I'm real good computers, IT and stuff,” he said. “The robotics teacher at the school, he just told me, ‘Just go sit by my side and watch for a while, then you're going do robotics things yourself.’” It was a pivotal moment for