Why Cybersecurity?

Dear Reader,

Picture this: You are going skydiving for the very first time. You are excited. You are sick to your stomach. You are elated. You are also afraid for your life. You are also disgusted by your life choices, "What was I thinking, spending 200 dollars to get myself killed? If I wanted to die, I would have stood in front of a moving train, and it would have cost me $0."

You feel all these emotions all at once. It is a roller coaster of a journey. You get on the plane. And you meet the skydiving instructor whom you have never met prior to that day. And they are probably giving you a pep talk, and right before you jump, you go, "Let me tell you something! Let me tell you something!!!!!"

But you jump anyway, and for some weird reason, you trust some guy whom you've never seen their certifications or LinkedIn profile (no shade to the nasty job market). You trust them with your life. You trusted that they would pull the parachute on you at the appropriate time.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is how I jumped o! I remember moving to America, knowing I wanted to get into tech but needed to figure out what field to go into. I knew I couldn't study law anymore because I had no money or patience to get a first degree before attending law school. I also knew I wanted to do something that promised sustainability over time. I prayed about it, and I heard so many good things about the demand for cybersecurity in the United States.

I had heard everything but a word from God. I wanted it to be so specific, but it never came. But I got this instead: the visual for the picture I painted earlier. I knew if I could trust a man I'd never met to pull a parachute on me. I would trust God even more, so I jumped.

So, if you needed a little push—a little nudge here and there—my dear, this is your sign to jump.

When I started taking classes at Wake Tech, I felt like I was on information overload. I knew so much, but I knew nothing at all. I only had time to read but never the time to study. I had the time to get my work done but never the time to learn. I am a full-time student, and I must say that learning groundbreaking concepts in 16 weeks is such a hassle. (That is why I never take summer classes.)

Some days, I struggled to enjoy what I was learning, but it was impossible. One problem or another hindered my learning journey.

Now I am in the second year of my Journey and I could never be more grateful for how far God has brought me. I almost started crying today because I hadn't realized how far I had come in my learning journey.

Although I jumped, I must liken "choosing Cybersecurity" to a marriage. You don't just choose them on your wedding day; you choose them every day. You choose them when you don't understand why in the world they make you learn subnetting when you can use a subnet calculator online (and I still don't know how to create a subnet :( ). You choose them when you are learning Python, and you don't see how this can be applied to security concepts. You choose them when you are angry and frustrated that you are learning much theory and don't see how it can be used in everyday life. You choose them still when the job market is crazy, and they want 93+ years of experience for an internship position, and these companies don't see the amount of hard work you are putting into your career(I don't want a cookie, though; just a job.)

Cybersecurity is a very challenging course. But I like a healthy challenge, and so I choose it every day. "Statistics and the Department of Defense and whatnot predict the demand for cybersecurity professionals to increase by blah blah blah percent." You are probably thinking, "That's my cue right there, and I will be indispensable since they will always have a need for me."

You see, it is deeper than that. Even the tiniest coffee shop needs a cybersecurity expert. The sad truth is that nobody ever thinks they are the targets of a cyberattack until it hits them. As a cybersecurity professional or a prospective one, you will be privy to sensitive data. Companies have lost billions of dollars because of insufficient Cyber education. Don't just get into cybersecurity because of the money and demand. You will be frustrated and unhappy. You will also miss the essence of your job, "with great power comes great responsibility."

What am I even saying? I am saying even the most "lowly" of people need a cyber education. I am also saying that aspiring Cybersecurity professionals should see it as a responsibility. Healthcare professionals have lives to save, and you have data and sensitive information to protect.

Despite how challenging it is, I have done, learned, and seen so much because of my choice.

If not for cybersecurity, I probably wouldn't have:

• Came in contact with Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) and attended a once-in-a-lifetime conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
• Discovered Rewriting the Code the code and all the amazing women on there.
• I wouldn't know so much about leaving a positive digital footprint and being careful about what I put online.
• I wouldn't know how hard it is not to be a perfectionist, and although this newsletter is incomplete, it is whole.

I'll write to you again.

I'll write to you soon,

Amarachi.