One Exciting Year in Cybersecurity: An Update
Trinity Treft
Having been in the Cybersecurity field for a year now (precisely on July 1st), I want to share what I’ve learned. Of course, learning also means I’ve unlearned along the way as well. I also provide recommendations for someone who could be in a similar situation as I was this time last year.
What I loved
Upon deciding that medical school was not the pain I wanted out of life. My lifelong goal of becoming a physician vanished. This was an anxious time for me, but I unlearned my false belief in seeing healthcare as the only noble and worthwhile career.
Accepting an apprenticeship and starting out working in a Security Operations Center (SOC) made me fall in love with the endless possibilities of this career path. Among what I love is its flexibility. This meant a lot to me because I didn’t experience flexibility or understanding while working in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU). This freedom was coupled with an increase in my compensation, double what I made before. It’s easy to feel out of place even when things are going well, as if you’re being tricked, but I liked this better.
Shahadat Rahman
Other factors that I truly adored include:
Skill transferability
Reward for curiosity
Possibility of switching focus areas within cybersecurity
Beyond all of this, I loved that I can now make plans outside of Tech. Anyone that was a pre-medical student once in their life can tell you - it’s all-consuming. I can now dedicate a significant amount of time to thinking outside of my role and more about what I want out of life. And boom - Unlearning Blog was born. It’s exciting.
Areas for Improvements
There are certain areas of this journey I would’ve loved for someone senior to me to have told me about. This includes aspects of being in cybersecurity I overlooked. Firstly, I didn’t get any certifications because I emphasized doing my job and learning its facets. This is fine, but I should’ve also added a few certifications that are relevant to my role and future goals. For anyone that wants to research which certification to get, remember to be strategic and only pursue the ones that will give you maximum value.
Secondly, since I had more freedom and flexibility in my role - no one tells you when to study or the right time to pursue something you don’t yet know about (certifications). This is a blessing and a curse. I can see why someone can easily get comfortable and embrace non-challenging aspects of this field. However, this can push you to be a self-starter and become someone open to expanding and feedback.
Anyone Can Do It
My biggest takeaway looking back - anyone can do this job. It should not be gatekept. There are more jobs open in cybersecurity than anyone can count (a global estimate of 2.7 million). I hope this encourages all of you pursuing a cybersecurity career to keep going. I have a lot to learn, every day I find out something new - but that’s the fun part too.
Thanks for reading, and for more join my free Unlearning Newsletter:)
