HELP

How to Use
This Site

what's here, how it's organized, and the fastest way to actually get interview-ready instead of just browsing.

← Back to all cheat sheets See practice plans

01 What This Site Is

Quick-scan reference sheets

Every page is a single, self-contained static HTML file — no login, no build step, nothing to install. Open it, read it, close the tab. Networking (OSI layers, BGP), tooling (Git), and firewall reference material live in the top sections of the home page.

Interview prep, tailored to one role

Two sheets under Interview Prep — Target Role are built specifically around a Senior Network & Security Engineer job: why the interviewer will ask what they ask, and what "good" sounds like when you answer.

Fundamentals — mechanism walkthroughs

19 sheets answering "what really happens when X" — not definitions, but the full step-by-step sequence (link up → DHCP → ARP → routing → NAT → firewall, etc.), the kind of question that's hard to fake your way through.

Practice plans — a guided order

Rather than browsing 31 cards at random, four role-based plans put the sheets in a sensible study order with a progress checklist that's saved in your browser.

02 How to Read a Fundamentals Sheet

Start with the skeleton strip in the header — the pill-chain of steps is the entire mechanism compressed into one line. If you can recite that from memory, you can rebuild the full explanation around it.
The numbered flow is the real content — read it once start to finish before jumping around. Cause-and-effect matters more than any single step.
The filled circle is a checkpoint — a deliberate pause marking "here's what's actually true and known at this exact point," useful as a recap anchor when explaining out loud.
"How to Explain This in an Interview" isn't filler — it's specific delivery advice: what to say first, what not to skip, and what interviewers are actually listening for.
The gotcha Q&A cards are follow-up bait — assume at least one will actually get asked if you bring up the topic yourself.
The glossary is for a fast pre-interview skim, not first-read study — it's there so a term you half-remember has a one-line anchor.

03 How Sheets Are Color-Coded

The accent color in a sheet's header tells you what kind of page it is before you even read the title:

Amber / Orange — original topic reference (OSI layers, BGP, Git)

Violet — CV-derived interview prep, tied to the specific target role

Cyan — fundamentals mechanism walkthroughs ("what really happens when...")

04 Using Search

The search box on the home page filters by title, description, and hidden tags — so searching vlan surfaces every sheet touching VLANs even if "VLAN" isn't in the visible card text. Empty sections and labels hide automatically as you type, and clearing the box restores everything.

05 Frequently Asked

Q I opened a sheet from a search engine or a bookmark — how do I get back?

A Every sheet has a ← all cheat sheets link at the very top-left, above the header. It always goes back to index.html.

Q Does my practice plan progress get saved anywhere?

A Yes, but only locally — checkbox state is saved in your browser's local storage, tied to this specific browser and device. Clearing site data or switching browsers resets it, since there's no account or server behind this site.

Q Do I need to follow a practice plan in order?

A No — the ordering is a recommendation, not a requirement. Jump to any individual sheet directly from the home page any time; the plans exist for when you'd rather be told what to read next than decide yourself.

Q Which plan should I actually use?

A If you're prepping for one specific role interview, use the Full Target-Role Track — it's the complete path. The three narrower tracks (Network, Firewall/Security, SOC) exist for focused refreshers on one discipline at a time.