Hello, London!
I’ve always dreamed of saying that and now, thanks to the International Cyber Expo, I’m going to get to say it. I like to think that I’ll be the Liam Gallagher of cyber security panel discussions, except a good deal less shouty and fighty. So, when I think about it, nothing at all like the sharp ticket practice frontman. However, the discussion that I will be chairing will be, to a certain extent, about a dream and how it was initially up in the sky before I was able to bring it on down to reality. I will be discussing with my fellow panellists how we all pursued the dream of one career but then, to use a pentesting term, pivoted into a different career in cyber security.
I myself was a History teacher and, for 25 years, happily taught 1066 and all that to high school pupils. However, as a history buff, I’m fully aware that time moves on, I’m just getting older, it’s easy to get stale and I’m not going to live forever. My once dream job could have started to fade away and become a tortuous Catch-22 of dreading being in a comfort zone where I would soldier on in uninspired familiarity but being too scared to make a break into the unknown. Enter lockdown, where the calendar stood still, the noise of routine daily life ceased and there were weeks, where time would just slide away, in which to stop and reflect. Having spent a good part of my life telling young people that they could do anything or be anything they wanted as long as they dared to dream, it was time for me to put this to the test.
Computers have always fascinated me. As a teenage boy I had seen the arrival of home computers like the ZX81 and Spectrum and had saved up for four years in order to buy an Amstrad with its own state of the art green screen monitor and built-in cassette player. I had always tried to engage pupils with technology in my lessons and had become a competent user of IT but had always wondered how it worked. During lockdown, I decided to dedicate myself to finding out.
Those first few months involved a lot of head scratching as I watched videos and read books that seemed to make little sense. It was at this point that I took a real leap of faith and signed up to do a part-time MSc in Computer Science with Cybersecurity. Cue two more years of head scratching, hard work and long hours of reading and writing. Much to my surprise (and relief), I got through the course and so was ready to launch the masterplan into my new and exciting career.
My journey led me to becoming a graduate security consultant at Pentest People in Leeds. It’s a great company to work for, partly because they recognise and nurture talent. I’m now their training academy team leader, which combines my old teaching skills with my newfound cyber knowledge. The dream job for me!
So, if you’re considering a mid-life career change, what conclusions can you draw from my tale? Firstly, whatever you think of the risks involved, it’s a life-affirming, re-vitalising experience and, in my mind, helps me to stay young and alive. I like coming to work because, like teaching used to be for me, it doesn’t feel like work. Secondly, learning new skills is awesome: not easy, but awesome nevertheless. Thirdly, it’s a long journey that isn’t straightforward – think going for a long walk with an uncertain destination but no map (twentysomethings, it’s an early form of satnav) – and it involves a big commitment of time and money, so resilience is important. Some might say that fortune and circumstance have also played their part in getting me where I am.
If you want to hear from me and my co-panellists who will stand by me and discuss, debate and ultimately acquiesce and roll with it about how we chased a dream and changed into a career in cyber security, why not come along to the Cyber International Expo, find out what’s the story and ask for advice? I hope that lots of you, with headfuls of dreams, and keen to find out what’s the story, can make it. That said, if only three of you come, and we’re using dynamic ticketing prices, it will be very cheap to get in.
By Michael Keddie, Training Academy Team Leader – Pentest People
