He taught himself programming. He taught himself network security. Now, he’s teaching himself to run a business.
A few years ago, Daniel Bloom wanted to make his own game. So, he picked up a couple books and taught himself to program.
It was that simple.
The programming got him into technical programming, the technical programming got more and more complex, and that complex technical programming led to network security. Bloom ultimately taught himself Java, C#, C++, PHP, JavaScript and HTML5, and put his skills to the test in 2012, when he decided to launch Ironheart Security.
“I knew I loved working on security,” says Bloom. “I knew it was what I wanted to do. So I figured—let’s just do it.”
As an entrepreneur, Bloom is truly fearless. Driven by the desire to be his own boss and make his own decisions, Bloom made the right contacts, participated in competitions, and worked his way up the ladder.
Three years, one rebranding and 15 contractor acquisitions later, Bloom is a high school senior at R.L. Pascal High School in Fort Worth, Texas. He’s headed to Oklahoma State University in the fall, whose cyber security program is formally recognized by the NSA, and plans to study network security with a specialty in information assurance.
Bloom intends to continue running his company, now Bloom Cyber Defense, from OSU. He expects that they will continue to strive, especially with the help of a new product he hopes to get off the ground over the summer.
“It’s a pretty revolutionary web intrusion prevention system,” says Bloom. “It’s a high-functionality intervention system that I think has the potential capability of stopping attacks you’ve never seen before.”
Bloom hopes this system will take care of his company for the next few years, so he can concentrate on getting his degree. And that degree is where NFIB comes in: in April, Bloom was awarded NFIB’s Donald F. Summers Young Entrepreneur Award.
“College is so expensive, and having a degree is such a huge step up in the world,” says Bloom. “You don’t necessarily need one to go into network security, but to have that token, that certification, is amazing. Being able to pay for that without worrying is such a big thing.”
