Sometimes people do not take the straightest path to reach a goal. Especially if the person has many different interest that he or she may want to pursue. I fall into this category in two separate disciplines: writing and Cybersecurity. While I have academic credentials in both topics, I also have multiple interest in each. Even though I am still determining my primary focus, it is safe to say that there is a lot to learn and there is the realization that both disciplines can be productive when applied simultaneously.
Everyone has a special talent or gift that they can share with the world. My first talent has always been writing. I started writing long form prose and stories at the age of four. Many of the teachers and family members in my life during that time noticed that I could apply spelling and grammar at a much higher grade level for my age. There have been many people who have encouraged me to continue writing and to develop my skills whenever possible. I still remember producing arts criticism for the school paper in sixth grade. At this point, I was making some significant writing contributions to the music criticism section. I created long form articles on music that was played frequently on the radio, popular music videos and album reviews. I also had a good grip on how record labels would find talent, sign them and begin the process of recording music as well as live performance. I could describe how this process occurred for contemporary popular musicians. I discovered that every artist has a different story to tell. They were just like me in a way; they were trying to find the right sounds to create and I was attempting to write different types of articles that my peers may find interesting. At this time, my writing was a hit and many of my peers were excited to read my articles and were happy to share positive thoughts about the work to me.
In addition to writing at school, when my family purchased our first computer, one of the first things that I did after setting it up was gain a familiarity with word processors. I immediately discovered there was a hierarchy among the word processor applications. Notepad was handy for short form writing, making list, and writing HTML. WordPad was better for long form writing as it gave the user the ability to format, change fonts, and insert a variety of objects and visual components that were not available in Notepad. Today, I still enjoy figuring out what features are in modern word processors. If I am writing an article for Arts Tribune or for a client as a freelancer, I do not write the first draft on the word processors connected to the websites. I always go to Microsoft Word to create a solid draft and then upload the file or copy and paste the edited document into the one present on the website.
As an undergraduate student I graduated with a BA in English. I received my degree during a time in which many of the writing outlets like newspapers and magazines were transferring their business operations from print to digital. In the years after graduation, I worked as a pharmacy technician, retail salesman, food pantry program assistant, a program specialist for the Child Abuse Prevention Program, cashier (for more than one company), actor, stagehand and many others. I would work these job in addition to being a freelance writer and a part time writer for an online content development company.
I could not have done all of these jobs without time management. I considered it a period in which I was “paying my dues.” Afterall, no one starts at the top. Everyone has to build their skills and résumé in order to land the job that they truly want. The only problem was that when I was working for companies I did not have the opportunity to develop my writing at a pace that I wanted to. There were many writing projects, but I still wasn’t satisfied and wanted to be a writer full time. One day I decided to commit to building my writing craft and to go full time as a writer. I was working around the clock, but it didn’t matter because I was gaining so much experience and I was doing what I felt like I needed to be doing. It wasn’t perfect; some weeks I did pretty well and others not so much. However, looking back on those days, it was necessary for me to go through this period in order to get to where I am today.
A friend and former co-worker of mine pointed me in the direction of Cybersecurity. I decided to put being a full time writer on hold and pursue a MS in Cybersecurity. I was excited because there are many opportunities to use your writing skills within the discipline. For example, the creation and ongoing revision of Information Security Policy requires having strong writing skills and the technical knowledge needed to craft informative policy.
As of today, I am most interested in the roles of Information Security Officer so that I can develop Information Security Policy and Digital Forensics-simply because I find it to be an interesting aspect of Cybersecurity.
I am in the process of meshing all of my writing and cybersecurity skills together. It is going to be a fascinating journey and I am looking forward to making a positive impact on people and companies alike.