My passion for cybersecurity started early in my career, as I made security recommendations to both my government employer’s local office and their visiting private sector business partners. As a helpdesk technician, I gained a reputation for both saving the day (and hours of work) while simultaneously helping to calm my coworker’s anxiety around technical issues.
For a time, I went on to explore one of my other passions – environmental conservation, in which I helped farmers make sustainable improvements to their land while reducing their impact on the surrounding environment. This period of self exploration was highly rewarding, but ultimately I missed the fulfillment that came with being a highly sought after technical expert.
When I returned to IT I quickly proved I had lost none of my technical acumen, reducing the number of open helpdesk tickets by 40% in my first two weeks. When news came that we were being acquired I reconfigured the authentication methods for one of our business critical tools, used by a high profile customer facing team.
Some time later, our new parent company recognized my contributions and promoted me to Systems Engineer, where I have primarily worked within Active Directory, Microsoft Azure, and M365. Most of my time lately is spent in the domains of Identity and Access Management (IAM), email security, and helping businesses reconfigure authentication methods of their existing tools as a part of mergers and acquisitions.
Education
During my career, I have continually pursued further education within the realm of Cybersecurity.
- Early in my career, I passed the CompTIA Security+ certification, which I would later renew when returning to IT.
- During my time working in Environmental Conservation, I attended several training events held by Black Hills Information Security (BHIS) on SOC core skills, the MITRE ATT&CK® framework, threat hunting, and Azure security. I continue to regularly attend their training webinars.
- Since returning to IT in 2021, I earned my Undergraduate Certificate in Applied Cybersecurity from the SANS Technology Institute while gaining the following certifications:
- GIAC Public Cloud Security (GPCS)
- GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH)
- GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC)
For me, the need to constantly learn and adapt to keep up with Cybersecurity is a feature, not a bug. I’m a lifelong learner, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.