Brittany, Former Veterinary Technician Studying Cybersecurity and Information Assurance at WGU
Published 09 Mar 2020
Tags: cybersecurity, women-in-stemWhy did you choose to pursue this career? What made you certain this was the right path?
My major is cybersecurity and information assurance. I chose it because they had a lot of certifications I could earn while I studied. It was also affordable and flexible (all online).
What events, prior employment, or educational experiences led you to your current job?
When she was younger she wanted to work with animals, so she wanted to be a veterinary technician and then eventually a veterinarian. She became a veterinary technician at an animal hospital. People said she shouldn’t become a veterinarian because she wouldn’t be able to do a lot of things she enjoyed doing as a technician. As a veterinarian you do a lot of advising and she enjoyed working with biological samples. She was a vet tech for a few years, but wanted to be challenged and learn new things. She realized that these hospitals needed better security so she looked into technology of the animal hospital. She began learning python. She began studying for security + which was needed for the program she was interested in. She then was accepted into the SANS workforce academy (scholarship for people going into the field of cybersecurity) and was able to earn the GSEC and GCIH (information about cybersecurity and tools, incident handling). She failed the GCIH the first time she took it, so she had to wait for 30 days to retest, and then took it again and passed the second time. She was able to combine her love of medical devices with penetration testing.
How did you make the best use of your time in both your education and career?
She was able to pace herself with python because it was an interesting challenge. She used pomodoro timer (app) 25 minutes of focused work, and then 5-minute break (prevented burnout). Pacing herself, setting small goals. When motivated, she keeps going.
What advice would you give to a high school or college student interested in pursuing this field of work?
Start networking early, it’s a big part of the field. Talking to people in different fields of cybersecurity, there’s a lot of different branches, so you can learn about what you’re most interested in. Try things, don’t be afraid to download a VM (virtual machine), so you don’t break anything. SANS may have high school program, but they have the workforce academy, and a women’s academy (take classes and get certifications), and they also have help for finding jobs. She also recommends attending cybersecurity conferences, because the people there are passionate about it, and you can have great conversations while finding out new information relevant to the field.
What does a typical day at your job look like?
She is spending about 4 hours a day studying for her degree. She took a class called intro to IT, which was able to teach her information that might’ve been overlooked in her SANS classes. She helps her classmates with questions. She communicates with her course mentor often to learn information that may not be in her class, but is relevant to the field.
What qualities are necessary to be successful in your field of work, and why?
Have an open mind, but also be ready for failure. It’s likely you’ll fail at some point, but you need to get back up and keep trying. It’s also important to accept constructive criticism, and there will always be people with more knowledge and experience.
Do you have any additional advice?
“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” -Zig Ziglar