Seeing as it’s coming up on almost a full year since my last post on the site, I thought it appropriate to at least account for my silence here.
It’s been one hell of a year – in all the best ways.
Lifelong Learning
Early in the
After banging my head against promises, asynchronous requests, accessibility, and much more – the program was complete and I learned more than I can accurately capture in a quick blog post. Most importantly this course helped me recognize an extremely common threat vector in today’s connected world and cemented my ability to think like a programmer.
Thinking differently has served me in ways I never thought I’d be able to leverage. Understanding how a large application like Air BnB, Uber, or Google Maps is constructed allowed me to understand more fully that these things don’t just come together as a whole product from jump – rather they’re individual pieces and components that snap together to build a larger, functional idea where all parts work in concert. It took me back to the days of building Lego sets – all the little bricks made slightly larger pieces, then they all came together as a cohesive product in the end, even if looking at it in the middle of build made things look questionable.
– The Martian
At some point, everything’s gonna go south on you and you’re going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem and you solve the next one, and then the next. And If you solve enough problems, you get to come home.
The Ol’ College Try Something Totally New
The Udacity program was great, full of community involvement, and taught me a ton. It was, however, a challenge in quite a few ways. In addition to this, I continued my schooling but changed up the focus/degree and school. I heard about Western Governor’s University from a friend and having a unique model of accomplishment I was interested in just how I could get it done. Previously I had been knocking out 2 courses per semester at a local community college toward a B.S. in Computer Science. Progress was slow but I was getting there, and I was interested in *most of the coursework. Then came Calculus – I had told myself I would be able to force myself to learn differently and enjoy math, but 3 weeks into the term I was wholly frustrated and just not finding the fun in learning the material that I had in other math courses so far. This coupled with the fact that this was 1 of 3 Calculus courses I’d have to take, really had me doubting my path, and abilities.
So I switched to something closer to my career interests, and something with immediate ability to impact my contributions to my company and hopefully push along my career sooner than later; Cybersecurity and Information Assurance.
Along with a Bachelor’s Degree, the courses also set learners up for certifications, which although the debate is hot and heavy around necessity, I’m a believer that it doesn’t hurt to be able to pop those on your LinkedIn and in all reality, the content is solid. So far I’m enjoying the structure, content, and the path ahead of me – allowing me to set my own goals for completion with an admittedly low bar for “satisfactory progress” being completing 4 courses in 6 months (my goal is to complete those courses within 2, leaving 4 months for faster progress). The combination of the degree and certs are a definite win, for reference here’s the list:
- Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) – Associate of (ISC)² designation
- Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) – Associate of (ISC)² designation
- Certified Encryption Specialist (EC-Council ECES)
- Certified Incident Handler (EC-Council ECIH)
- Certified Internet Webmaster – Site Development Associate (CIW-SDA)
- Certified Internet Webmaster – Web Security Associate (CIW-WSA)
- A+ (CompTIA)
- Network+ (CompTIA)
- Security+ (CompTIA)
- Project+ (CompTIA)
- IT Operations Specialist (CompTIA)
- Secure Infrastructure Specialist (CompTIA)
- ITIL®1 Foundation
Some of these are pretty basic and stuff that I *should be able to breeze through using my existing experience and knowledge working actively in IT for so many years. Others which were the real draw like Security+, CCSP, SSCP, and the EC-Council certs will look great on a resume to hopefully work into a mid-level security position in the future.
Career Changes
Last but absolutely not least, I got a new job! I’m with the same company, but working on our Security Services team, which supports our client’s security infrastructure in a way that is exciting, new, and terrifying all at once. I’m shoulder to shoulder with some insanely knowledgeable, smart, and driven people that want to help spin up a security apparatus in our organization to be modeled and referenced for years to come. We’re doing great things here, and while sometimes rolling out a whole new team in an established organization that “hasn’t done this type of thing before” is challenging, it’s rewarding at the same time.
This experience is invaluable – I’m getting hands dirty in areas that are in-demand like SIEM, Threat Analysis, Network Anomaly Detection, Vulnerability Management, and much more – all while also interacting with, presenting to, and educating C-Suite partners of ours, and directly interacting with our senior leadership by showing the value of our team. I can truly say that this
In my ~8 months gaining valuable experience in Security, I was lucky enough to be featured on “Breaking into Cybersecurity” – an awesome experience with some truly incredible people, Renee Small and Christophe Foulon – whose goal is to feature those stories of Cybersecurity professionals who recently broke in to the field in order to help more talent find its way into the pool. The show was a great time and the conversation went well, and if any of the tips I gave help a single person along the way, I consider it an absolute success.
Onward & Upward
The other day a colleague made what I have to imagine was an off-hand remark about “one day we’ll be working FOR you”, but I took it to heart. I reminded myself that little actions throughout the day enforce your public image, what your team thinks of you, and how attractive you are as an individual for progress. While it’s easy to say “I don’t care what others think” – it’s not true. You must, to a certain degree at the very least UNDERSTAND what others think and say, and consciously work on your ability to correct behaviors and actions or responses that might come off as against your true intent.
As I continue to move forward, I remind myself that my wife and I have done something incredible by moving 800 miles away, creating a truly thriving life for ourselves, and we consistently surprise ourselves with how much we’re capable of. Every single day I take a few moments to look forward and think “where do I want to be”, and the answer, while possibly somewhat superficial and vain – is “ahead”. I want to continue the trajectory we’ve established, continue having an impact both on the business and my coworkers, and ideally begin to have an impact on the greater Security community at the least within Colorado. 2019 will probably be even more hectic, but my commitment is to not take the foot off the gas, but also recognize those times where it’s ok to take the offramp and get lost for a few days.
