From Kerry Katona to Pen Testing: Transferable Skills in Cybersecurity

Okay. So, first of all, thank you so much for having me today. Really appreciate it. Thank you to Pete, to Stu, to David, everybody who's who's made this event possible today. Yeah. >> So, thank you. And thank you for coming watching my little talk as well. I really appreciate it. Delighted to be here in Devon. What a gorgeous place it is. It's beautiful. We've got scon cathedrals, gorgeous countryside. >> No pies. No pies. >> No pies. So yeah, looking forward to get back home and having a pie. Otherwise, it's perfect. Um, so yeah. What else is Devon famous for? Starting going down a bit of a a rabbit hole. Did you know, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

that Dr. Adam Bach, the inventor of the hashtag, the father of Bitcoin, um did his computer science degree here at the university and got his PhD here. >> No. Well, neither did I. >> I found out in the pub last night. >> So, I thought that was quite cool. Um there's something else. It was a bit more grizzly. But this was quite interesting. The last women to be hung as witches in the in England was here actually on connection on St. Luke St. Lucas camp. >> Yeah. And that's that in the late 1600s. So anyway, fascinating. Very buried. You've got your music as well. Chris Martin's from here. Yeah. I know that's not your cup of um muse down the road.

Is it? Yay. They're really cool in Timorth. So yeah, great place. Um, and here is my weird obscure little talk from Kerry Katona to pen testing. And this is all about me, my favorite subject. Okay, so who doesn't love a ven diagram? Am I right? Uh, so me and Carrie Katona, we're both children of the 80s. We both Yeah, thank you. Thank you. We uh were both in Icelands. We're both northern. Don't know if you can tell by the accent. >> Um, questionable career choices and paid for something slightly ridiculous. Kerry Katona, she's a reality TV veteran. New autobiography every 18 months. Atomic Kitten, famous just generally for being famous. Has a Wikipedia page. And then

there's me. Gets paid for cat cyber security, not life choices. Hasn't married a boy band member yet. Um, peak fame, 17 likes on LinkedIn and crisis management doesn't involve okay magazine. Now, just to prove I'm not some absolute freak of nature with an obsession with Kerry Katona. Here is the connection. So, I was That's me. Yay. That was an Iceland advert in the naughties. So, this is all about my weird career into cyber security and transferable skills. Coming back to of a lovely Harriet said before and I was like yay that's in my talk too. Okay so whistle stop tour of my working life. So I went to university. I did English literature and history card if

university didn't know what to do. So obviously I went into teaching. Um and that wasn't for me. It is a hard gig teaching. Any teachers in the room? No. It it's really hard. You've got, you know, people trying to get out of the windows, you being sworn at, chairs being flung around, and that's just in this afternoon. So, I thought, you know what? I'm going to try me hand at tacting darling. I'm going to be an actor. And I probably did better than most wannabe actors and models and actresses. I had a speaking part in Cy. I was in Holly Oaks, Gemma. I was in um music video little man take European lover. Um yeah so that was that

then kids. So I stopped doing that and I got a job in the civil service surface service even put me teeth back in. um whilst having a baby. Um then my husband owns a company so I was kind of like working for his company raising the kids and this is something you touched on as well, Harriet trying to juggle things. It's hard and mess now they're 13 and 16. One's doing his GCES. That's just a whole of a talk that is but anyway I thought you know what I they're a bit older. They can look after themselves. I want something for me, something that I can do. So all I literally did was Googled what are the most in demand jobs

in the world and cyber security popped up. And at first I thought I what I can't do cyber security. I don't know anything about computers. It's just not me at all. I'll come to the transferable skills in a minute. Um so I did a cyber security course caps lock. Um after doing the caps lock I got a at Capslock being a cyber security careers advisor which kind of solicited um sorry fitted in with my experience at the the job center plus you know trying to get people back to work helping people from all different types of backgrounds all walks of lives vulnerable people and just being able to connect with people on all different levels and help them so

there were quite a lot of crossover um then I worked some somewhere else as a junior analyst um oh that was the thing that's the point of that do you remember when the government advertised this and they got absolutely slated and like Richie Fatima's already got a job she's a ballet dancer leave her alone but I actually I thought oh god yeah fat can do it so can I so that it worked it worked on me which brings me to where I am now so ladies and gentlemen this is the best version of myself as a magical genie um and I work at that security company here are a few of my lovely colleagues. So,

what I'd say is the transferable skills, soft skills. I'd call them impact skills because you can teach someone how to do the tech. And I'm not diminishing that and saying it's not important. Not for a second. We need our engineers. But you need to be able to get on with people and be able to communicate. In fact, when um I was at capsule my colleague Rory who I'm working again with now he was like did some research and the top skill that was most wanted within cyber security was great communication skills. So um yeah I think the common thread in everything that I've kind of done work-wise is customer service like always put the customer

first they're literally paying for you to do a job so you just give your best self and try your best all the time. um sense of humor, great communicator, problem solving, not just techy but human skills. Um being able to speak to everybody um and I think treating everyone with the same grace. Whether you're talking someone worth millions and millions or a student or whoever it is, you just treat people how you like to be treated yourself. It's that easy. Um and a willing willingness to learn. Yeah. If you've got that curiosity and that drive and you you know you're enthusiastic, that's that's probably one of the main things. So in summary, transferable skills, impact skills

matter. Cyber is an industry for everyone. It's such a gigantic industry. So whatever your skill set is, whatever your personal qualities are, whether you're an introvert, an extrovert, whether you're a techie, non techie, whether you love people or hate people, it's just such a big industry. There's a place for you. Um, never look down on someone unless you're helping them up. I just think that's a nice little motto for life in general. And be nice because the world is a small town and nowhere is the smaller than cyber. If you're an it'll come back to, you know, people will know about it. So, that's it. Any questions? >> That's rich. You did a great talk.

>> What did you say? >> I'm not the only for loads of time. Okay, cool. >> YAY. THANK YOU. I JUST ASK YOU A QUESTION. >> YEAH. >> HOW DO you find now working with techies? You know, are they the wild west for you or you know like hering cats like children are? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The the ones that I work with are generally they are lovely. Um and I've got what else am I going to say? Yeah. No, no, they are they are really nice people. And there's the something that I was scared of coming into this industry because I'm not techy and I hate it when a woman comes up say I'm not techy but I'm just it's not my

bag. I'm interested in people very much. So I love people but I'm not interested in what that lad was on about before. Not got a clue. It was brilliant and I loved him but I had no idea of the middle bits. But I thought people are going to like on me first year caps course I sat there and I cried. I was like, "Everyone's going to think I'm really stupid." And I sat and I cried. Um, but the more I've been, like I've been working in this industry probably a couple of years now. What I found is that it's not snobby. Nobody looks down the nose on you at all. It's quite a neurodyiverse, which suits me right down

to the ground. It's quite a geeky industry and it's very unjud judgmental. So, back to your original question on pen testers. They're not what I perceive. I thought they'd be condescending and the ones I've worked with, they're not. They're nice. They're just normal people and we've all got our different strengths and weaknesses. I think as long as people realize that, it's a good start. >> So, they're easier to work with than car. >> Oh, the camera's still on. >> I'll talk about that to you later, but hell yes. Harriet, >> just an observation is I guess I did was a career changer as well back in the day. Um, and what I used to really love

in my the early career of security was sitting with the techies when I was at MoJ, you would learn something new every day, right? And that willingness to actually talk and explain it to you so you can then go, "Oh, yeah, I can go and talk to the next person." So, I think I can totally relate to your journey. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I completely agree with you. Like I know what a pentest is. I don't need to know all the nuts and bolts. I know what the different types are and I don't pretend to. That's why the pentest is with me. I say, "Right, talk to them." So, yeah. Thank you very much, Har. Hi. Hello.

>> Hi, I'm Kim. >> Hi. I'm interested in your journey as like a parent in tech as well. Like how do you maintain your confidence and your energy while being >> It's all naked morning of coffee and adrenaline. So yeah. No. Um, >> how old are you? Have you got kids? >> Um, I haven't got kids. >> What do you think the future? >> I'm getting married in October. >> Congratulations. >> I'm currently at the stage in my career where I work as a software engineer lead. fantastic team. I've eaten the dog food. Delicious. But it's kind of scary to think that, you know, like in a year or two's time, I have to step back for my career, you

know, go return to leave and all that jazz at a point where I could, you know, know that I can push. >> Do you know what I >> push and push and push? >> Sorry. I would say if the the company aren't supportive of you, they're not worth working for Christ. We We need the Cuban population to live on. So if they're not empathetic >> and there's no now I do sound like a cheese ball. There's no greater joy than being a mom. But it's true that is the most important job that you can do in the world. So for me that can just wait and your employee I know Rosie would you know it's they should be empathetic. I'm

sure they will be. I reckon Harriet could answer that. Sorry to put you on the spot. Whilst you're here, what are your views? >> All I can Did you say having to take a step back? So, I've had two children. Um, I just did a talk about my career and um I think it's it's not a step back. It's it's you're making a choice to prioritize one thing and remember that your family and your friends are are people that need you as well. But, you know, it's a challenge for women that you sometimes have to take a chunk of your career that you know, you might have to slow down, but that doesn't mean that you're not going to get to the

destination. And I think that just means that you have all those other wonderful experiences. And like Lisa said, if you've got the support from your company to bring someone in that can hold the for you and cover all of that stuff, there really isn't much of a delay or impact to your trajectory to where you're going. And and are there lots of other ones within that company that you can kind of see what's happened because I know obviously your environment is going to be really supportive. You got Rosie. >> Yeah, it's really great. >> I think it does come down to like you know how how it's set up. >> Yeah, it's quite a young company. So

there's only a few like one or two people that have just started maternity leave. So um I think the policy is pretty generous because the founders have become parents themselves and all of a sudden they're like whoa. So I think that's good. I think also I think it's like a confidence thing of myself as well. like so far like >> like the next thing the next thing the next thing and it's like whoa actually I can focus on other aspects a career is always going to be there forms it's kind of having the confidence to step back and go no step side step and be like you know what it's okay like I'm not going

to suddenly lose my tech skills you know like I think that was my fear like be coding so much. What would happen then? Well, they just >> remember that all parent parents experience sleep deprivation which carries on a long time after maternity leave. So the dads as well have to go through a degree of sleeplessness and stress as well. But you can also share

probably.

>> Thank you, Kim. Has anybody got any questions? >> Hi. >> So, you're from up north, like a couple of others. >> Yeah. Where are you from, Ross? >> Um, sadly, I'm from Pol. I apologize. >> Oh, no. My brother lives in Holl. I love it. Yeah. >> She's from It's >> Yeah, it's all >> That makes sense. That makes sense. >> I mean, I should have got stones. I was >> I was just going to say I was going to say are you planning on going back now or you going to stay down anywhere? It's nice. >> Well, I'm surprised. What can I say? >> Can I just say that? >> No, you don't put gravy on everything.

Are you doing >> absolutely >> conversation from last time? >> You know what? Fish and chips and gravy. Shut up. >> It's good. >> I agree. Any anyone else? >> Can I get a picture of me doing that with you in the background? >> Would that would that be okay? Thank you. >> I've already taken a turn to center Rosie, so why don't >> Thank you. She said get a lotus picture. >> Do you want to take it?

>> Should we all do this? Come on. >> Nice and cheesy everyone.