I most likely should have started this blog years ago. As you listen to most IT professionals, listen to podcasts, and read various websites. The one thing that just about all IT professionals will tell you is to keep a record of the things you are working on, studying, and skills you are acquiring. This is important as a resume now is not the best way to showcase skills. Most job application processes are now automated as opposed to a person that would review the inbound resume it has been replaced with computers that scan for keywords and details that match the job descriptions. 

This is easier as it doesn’t require as many people to be involved, you only have the candidates passed along that match EXACTLY what you are looking for. So while it speeds along the process it also weeds out people who have potential growth. That is a whole other conversation. 

This is about my journey to transition into a Cybersecurity role. I have always been a bit of a tech head. I have loved technology for as long as I can remember. It could be messing around with tape players recording and making little radio shows. Watching my favorite sci-fi shows/movies on TV. Playing with my old Atari ST computer which was one of the first computers in my home. 

Now, as we all know, when you become the tech person of the family you automatically get upgraded to “fix” almost any technical issues your products experience. Even if you don’t know what to do about it. This in turn leads people to learn, experiment, and resolve issues by breaking down problems into smaller bits to take something from not working to working in a lot of cases. 

This simple process I learned when I was young is still applied to things I learn about resolving technical issues to this day. I have worked in technical roles over the last 20+ years, allowing me to apply the same methodology to various issues. 

I worked in technical support for Earthlink Internet starting back in 2001. This opened the door for me as far as the internet. Before that point, like most, I had just been familiar with the AOL service which was a program overlaying an internet connection. A pure internet connection to an ISP (Internet Service Provider) had no interface. Once the connection was made then YOU would pick how you wanted to access things. Open your browser to view web pages. Open your email client to access mail and so on. 

I spent many hours troubleshooting and walking through processes to help people get online, resolve browsing issues, and get email. It was once again using that same layered troubleshooting process to take a problem from a point where it didn’t work to having it resolved. 

From here I continued on my journey as I wanted to build more skills so I started getting certifications like A+ for general computer knowledge and Network + for network knowledge. This helped to round out my troubleshooting items which I have used in business and personal problem resolution. 

Now Cybersecurity is a new and emerging field that once again needs people who are familiar with computers and networks and how to secure them against internal/external threats. As we have more things expanding connectivity into the online space we have also found that these same items that help us can also cause us harm in various ways. A site that you use to look up your banking information if not properly secured can leak your critical access credential to unauthorized parties. Your favorite online game can be leaking personal details and information because of issues on compromised systems. Your healthcare provider can have information stolen via poor security practices which can risk you and your family’s health and privacy. 

Securing this information is critical and why cybersecurity plays such an important role in today’s ever-connected worlds. People who are aware of the cyber networking landscape and are familiar with the way these systems operate and the ways they may also be exploited.

I have started my journey of moving into this world. It will be a very interesting journey, but it is something I am very curious about, and working along this path to get my CompTIA Security+ is a good place to start.