It is estimated that around 300,000 cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. cannot be filled. Out of these 300,000 jobs, 20 percent can actually be filled by candidates that do not have a four-year college degree. In order to combat the need for unfilled positions in the cybersecurity marketplace, Year Up has partnered with the Symantec Cyber Career Connection, an initiative to help provide young adults an entry way into cybersecurity careers.
When fellow IT instructor Rory MacLysaght and I first started to discuss the types of students we wanted for the cybersecurity program at Year Up Bay Area, “techies” weren’t the first ones that immediately came to mind.
Now this might sound a bit odd considering the field of cybersecurity is considered a very technical field. However, oftentimes techies with a lot of experience have a difficult time with the introductory material they already know. Getting back to the basics, however, is key.
My experience as an educator has shown me that the students who are aware of what they don't know rapidly foster self-growth and motivation to keep learning in and out of the classroom. They also demonstrate a very strong aptitude and an incomparable eagerness and hunger to learn.
In order to identify these students, we constructed a rigorous application process that involved an essay, interviews, and finally, a test lesson involving the basics of cryptography. Our intense application process was meant to test the students’ approach to problem-solving, grit, and the ability to learn new technical skills quickly.
After we selected our initial 17 students in September 2014, the 18-week journey began. From the fundamentals of TCP/IP, the OSI model, CIA and understanding various types of cyber-attacks, our students absorbed everything like a sponge. Fast forward to week 18—after many days in the classroom and countless hours spent in Year Up's tech labs – the majority of our students have earned internships with our corporate partners throughout the Bay Area, including eBay Inc., Gap Tech, iSec and Symantec.
Trami Nguyen, Monitoring & Security Site Support Team Intern at Macys.com, described how it was challenging at first to process information from a cyber-security mindset. “I knew nothing about technology before I came into the program. Now I study Cross Site Scripting and SQL and injection. Because I came in with such an empty slate, it helped pave the way for how I should be thinking in that kind of environment. Having that attitude, has given me the edge over others meaning I’ve have had the mindset to be proactive about security.”
While their hard work in the classroom has paid off, the journey has just begun as our class of current interns finishes off their second of their sixth-month internship.
At the end of the day, Rory and I may have provided our students with the content, but it was their motivation, eagerness to learn, and auto-didacticism that truly helped put them to the test when preparing to work in the field of cybersecurity.
Dan Hastings has been an IT instructor at Year Up Bay Area for more than one year. He specializes in training students in Linux System Administration, Networking and Security.