The Symantec Cyber Career Connection (SC3) is helping to train under-represented populations for meaningful careers, fill a needed gap in cybersecurity skills, and round out Symantec’s pool of talented professionals. Learn about the success of SC3 one year post-launch, and meet Diana and Cullen, two SC3 graduates and new Symantec employees!
Cybersecurity is one of the most important fields in technology, yet, there is a significant shortage of qualified candidates prepared to fill these roles—an estimated 500,000 to one million jobs remain unfilled in the U.S. alone – and this gap is expected to grow to a staggering 1.5 million by 2020.
As this talent gap continues to widen, there is a vibrant community of under-employed young adults—including people of color, women, and veterans—that could fill at least 60,000 of these positions if properly trained.
Last year, Symantec launched the Symantec Cyber Career Connection (SC3), combining a vision to help these underserved young adults prepare for careers in the fast-growing cybersecurity industry with a commitment to addressing the urgent need for trained professionals in this field.
Welcome Diana and Cullen!
From February through July, Symantec hosted four SC3 interns – two in Herndon and two in Mountain View – and is thrilled to have extended offers for full-time employment to both Cullen Covington and Diana Shafer after their graduation from the program last week. Cullen is now employed as an information security analyst in the Security Operations Center (SOC) in Herndon, while Diana is a senior information security analyst with the Global Operations Center in Mountain View.
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“I believe everyone could benefit from a program like Year Up,” says Cullen. “Not only do they teach you hard skills for your desired career path, they also develop your soft skills, which a lot of young adults lack. I was blessed to be given a chance to change my life and I took full advantage. I’m fortunate to be compensated for something I genuinely enjoy doing! The path here was not easy but the support from Year Up staff, and now coworkers at Symantec, made me believe I belong in the SOC. I’m looking forward to seeing where my career takes me and I also know my journey is just beginning!”
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“I’m really grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to me,” says Diana of her SC3 experience. “It’s even more valuable because none of this was just handed to me – I had to work really hard to get where I am. The work is consistently challenging and there is never a dull moment. The best part is I am learning so much and having fun. This is such a great start to my career and I am excited for the road ahead of me. I can’t wait to see what is in store for me next.”
Symantec is currently hosting seven new SC3 interns through January 2016.
Moving from student to cybersecurity professional
SC3’s success can be attributed to a combination of elements including the unique blend of classroom-based training that prepares students for key certifications, followed by hands-on internship experience and job placement preparation; as well as the support of our many partners, including leading educational and workforce development non-profits Year Up and NPower.
In April, the first SC3 cohort in New York graduated after months of technical and soft-skills training, and last week they were joined by two more graduating classes – one in the San Francisco Bay Area, and another in Baltimore, MD. This brings the total number of SC3 graduates to 31.
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All SC3 graduates were placed and completed successful internships with leading companies, including Marathon Consulting, KPMG, Bank of America, CBS, Citi, Morgan Stanley, New York Times, Conde Nast, TD Ameritrade, eBay, Gap, iSEC Partners, LinkedIn, Symantec, and more. Fifty-one percent of graduates have received offers of employment or acceptance into higher education programs.
And this is just the start. Most cybersecurity professionals today were not trained from the beginning in the field and do not have cybersecurity degrees. In many cases SC3 participants will be better trained than those in the workforce today when they started.
“I have to give Symantec credit for looking at the market and identifying a huge need in the cybersecurity field,” says Donald Ger, National Director for Partnerships and Innovation at YearUp, one of Symantec’s nonprofit SC3 partners. “They know there’s a skills gap, and much of that gap can be filled with talent who don’t have a four-year degree or technical certification. It will be a double win: in terms of filling jobs for companies and for the young adults.”
Expanding SC3: More students, more cybersecurity professionals
At the Clinton Global Initiative America event in June, NPower and Symantec reinforced their commitment to continue with the SC3 program in New York, and also announced that SC3 will be scaled up to serve U.S. military veterans in Dallas. NPower has administered technology-training programs for veterans since 2013 and will now add a cybersecurity curriculum to prepare veterans to enter the field.
In addition, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Symantec signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Building Cyber Security Skills, an initiative to develop world-class skilled and certified professionals in India. An extension of SC3, this program will support 1,000 women undertaking the cybersecurity NASSCOM certification.
“Cybersecurity is an exciting field and one where Symantec can lead with integrity and create positive change for participants, our customers and society as a whole,” said Cecily Joseph, “I’m extremely proud of the broad support that we are seeing and the opportunity to extend the reach of SC3 internationally and to the veteran community. We are creating the workforce of tomorrow and helping to close the cybersecurity gap by investing in the training of the future generation of STEM professionals.”
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“I believe everyone could benefit from a program like Year Up,” says Cullen. “Not only do they teach you hard skills for your desired career path, they also develop your soft skills, which a lot of young adults lack. I was blessed to be given a chance to change my life and I took full advantage. I’m fortunate to be compensated for something I genuinely enjoy doing! The path here was not easy but the support from Year Up staff, and now coworkers at Symantec, made me believe I belong in the SOC. I’m looking forward to seeing where my career takes me and I also know my journey is just beginning!”
“I’m really grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to me,” says Diana of her SC3 experience. “It’s even more valuable because none of this was just handed to me – I had to work really hard to get where I am. The work is consistently challenging and there is never a dull moment. The best part is I am learning so much and having fun. This is such a great start to my career and I am excited for the road ahead of me. I can’t wait to see what is in store for me next.”
