From Breaking Into Cyber To Breaking Down - And Beyond! by Natalia Semenova

uh so uh hello everyone my name is uh Natalia simova uh just a brief introduction uh originally from Finland I graduated as a PhD in mathematics and I worked for a bit in academic environment as a cryptographer uh for Nokia uh but later I moved to more commercial sector I started my career in cyber security Consulting I've done projects for Deo for Microsoft uh Google cloud and most recently uh I started being interested in automotive security self-driving cars and uh machine learning security uh my most recent project is with Mercedes uh so I've been in cyber security for quite a while and um what I've noticed that there are lots of New Bright folks coming to work in cyber

they selected their career path because now it's a bit simplier um nowadays you have like sock analyst you have pentester you have Junior consultant so a lot of different things and a lot of different study passs on online that you can um use to gain your entry level employment so you get your first job you got trained uh you build some relationship at work and uh looks like okay you are succeeding uh however at some point maybe after one year maybe after two years you feel like you start losing traction losing motivation uh you don't see how you can grow from this junior sock analyst or some Junior pen tester who is just writing reports for some

other testers or just I don't know running burp Suite in fully automated mode to something else and uh for bigger companies also true you have too many meetings uh 80% of your time are meetings and uh the certain dread like AI is coming for your job because you are too uh beginner level uh and I I got lots of uh questions about this uh and uh uh like the very quick takeway from it what I generally recommend to people first of all know your value uh you should understand that uh if you are thinking like a human AI is not coming for your job uh then uh you should realize that there is always way to grow so as long

as you want to grow as long as you want to stay in cyber security uh is just a matter of search before you find your own way and uh important important thing is to uh uh that growth uh is uh directly connected to how you are building your relationship uh in professional sphere uh and uh first and foremost of course with your colleagues and your manager who is one of the most important figures in your uh in your professional life uh of course you have to get new knowledge there is no such thing that you have educated in cyber security with this six months boot camp and you just uh keep going with it so of course not

uh then uh Professional Network because sometimes the first job you got is not always the optimal um so maybe it's just not you losing motivation maybe it's just uh like the job not psychologically safe or um maybe the motivation of the company doesn't fit into your system values um and finally uh uh you should start working on your professional brand almost from the day one when you decide to get into cyber so uh uh in the rest of the presentation I would uh briefly go uh a little bit more details into those seven uh points so first thing first and uh it's to know your value and and to not to get uh discouraged by anything that you

experience because uh indeed uh there could be some weaknesses that you feel like are preventing you from being really good at the job that you're currently doing let's say you are a sock analyst but you have troubles concentrating on reading logs um this could be um maybe you are better suited for being a consultant because there you have to switch your attention quite uh uh quickly and what is your weakness as a sock analyst will become your strengths as as a consultant uh also sometimes you feel like you are in some kind of uh negative environment um but it's important to remember that most people are actually not evil they have their working Styles um they maybe have their set of values

everyone has their own personal bias um so if you if you see any training just everyone has bias it's okay it's just uh important to be aware about this um and also there are such people who are not evil but they are just negative maybe they burned out maybe they have something going on in their life but uh every time you approach them with some advice uh like asking for advice or anything you just hear that everything is bad Market is awful and be happy with what you have otherwise you go um I don't know doing anything even worse that you are doing now um and imposter syndrome of course uh sometimes you are actually good at

your job but you are not getting a feedback or maybe you are not asking for it and you exist in your own head and uh uh you you feel like no you're the the worst possible um candidate for this job so those kind of things that are not productive so if you don't uh get the hold of this impostor syndrome you will certainly not grow uh first uh first step is to understand uh nobody is perfect and that's why we have space to to grow and you are as much deserving for the uh empowering job for the better uh uh Team for the better manager as anybody else so those are like first thing first and you may uh um ruminate

and backlash yourself that why did I select a the sock analyst and I spent a year to train and another year to work and uh I should have uh uh selected this consultant and that my bigger mistake I'm not able to uh to analyze my own career so to say it's okay many people change their Direction so there is nothing wrong with it um and uh it's anyway easier to switch from one cyber security area to another than to just get into cyber so if you got there in the first place um then then you are already doing great and also there are those LinkedIn influencers all the time who are like I just uh uh studied for

two weeks I don't know how to code I I all the time use Jud GPT and I got a six figure F salary well that is something you can write yourself if you want because uh it will be uh as untrue as uh their posts unless uh you have some uh good relative who is working at some uh good company uh important to find somebody who would support you so some somebody who could serve a role model as a mentor ideally I would talk a little bit more about mentors later and um again do not be ashamed it's it's your superpower that you were able to understand you need to move a little bit uh sideways on your

career path uh because I never thought that that mathematics would be so useful outside of cryptography for me and now here we are all this machine learning and uh uh it saved me lots of time um having this PhD degree in math uh you never know so uh like a little bit about getting noticed um I think uh you already heard many times that you have to grow your uh LinkedIn Network because right now it's almost the tool to go for advertising yourself as a professional uh so the healthy amount of connections of meaningful connections would be at least like 200 um maybe like 400 it's quite easy to achieve if you are going to like

conferences if you are following people who are writing some uh good content that you would like to learn from um and that at that rate of contacts you will start being noticed by recruiters um and also make sure that your profile is valuable that you are posting some content that other would read uh so actually people are seeking to connect with you themselves uh don't make it a oneway job so if you done some CTF if you solved some issue at work if you solved some uh challenging task at I don't know TR hack me haug the Box just write about it uh don't be shy because that is how other evaluate you they they

don't know otherwise anything about you uh get certificates uh add them to your profile because it would uh serve as a keyword generator for uh recruiters um uh ask if you have a mentor ask them to review your profile usually they would be happy to do this just important that lots of some scammers that are asking money for reviewing your LinkedIn profile I strongly discourage this because they uh they would just um at the best they would pull it through some AI Tool uh which would produce some random result and that would maybe optimize your profile for some particular job position but that about it it will uh lack human touch and I believe in the age of AI we

all value human touch um and yes keep it professional so LinkedIn is uh not your uh like Facebook so try to to stay on the topic just a brief notice um don't forget uh with all this LinkedIn that uh the work you currently have is a most valuable source of uh connections so uh if you are if you like small talk try doing some uh um maybe small talk but uh what works for everybody is to discuss some hobbies to discuss some common interest after all you are all in cyber security so maybe some events uh if your job organizes some hackaton also be initiative um um because it helps uh building your brand uh it helps you to get to know new

colleagues and they uh maybe some your colleagues move to a better job and they will uh recommend you uh uh like that is how I got my projects with Microsoft and uh with Google and not because I'm like super smart um just like a side note and uh of course uh try to uh keep if there are any bullies hopefully you will not meet any but if there are any just just ignore them do not let it affect your uh um like your uh feeling of selfworth so to say uh briefly about getting trained um not much to say here there's enough of like uh uh free training yes this symbolize like this constant push of

those new technologies and you have to be a little bit uh faster or at least you have this feeling that's why a burnout in cyber is real um so it's not a problem to find any training or even free training the problem is always to find uh uh a good training that would uh push you towards uh where you want to be so um uh if you have trouble selecting training try to join some meetups or maybe local cyber security chapters like oasp uh depending if you're certified the certification related uh chapter uh use um uh peer system so maybe you find some people who want to study the same um and uh it's a very like if you

live in a very small town there are sometimes training available through libraries like in Toronto Public Library we have access to O and some other books that otherwise are quite costly uh the cloud so if you haven't done so already I believe the cloud skills are essential right now you may don't like the cloud you may say it's somebody else computer but that is what uh is in demand right now um so you may opt for two more popular options like uh Azure or AWS because Microsoft certificates are the cheapest and they are free to renew or you may uh put some effort into Google Cloud which is now uh uh growing so it's slowly catching

up um but keep in mind that both AWS and Google have a fee for a certification that you have to pay every two years uh to stay current uh then finally about uh getting a mentor so there are um uh lots of free mentorship programs available uh there are also some paid options uh through certain sites I will not advertise any sites here because I have no affiliation uh but I would say that free mentorship is usually in groups and the drawback of it that the mentor doesn't select their mes and mes cannot select their uh Mentor so sometimes there is just a mismatch and uh uh if the mentor is professional uh they would just maybe

recommend you finding uh another group um if you have um the paid Mentor usually you can have some um probation uh session with them and if you see they are not what you are looking for you may uh go and uh search another and ideally free and on the point is if you find somebody from uh the same uh company or the same type of job who just enjoys uh uh like teaching you and that it would be like win- win for everybody uh but uh uh one uh thing I would like to warn about sometimes people uh uh look for a mentor just with one goal to get the referral I got that a lot uh when I worked for Google that

when people after two sessions didn't get a referral from me they just stopped showing up so uh that is not how I expect that at least I personally not how I expect to collaborate uh mentorship is uh um it's a process it may take maybe like two three months uh to get to know each other um and if I see that there is no goal to train there is only a goal to to get the referral from the person I don't know then it's better not to uh uh apply for um me and as a as a mentor and finally like the reasons AI is not coming for your job I think for you uh

they should be obvious because AI can only um so to say uh look for some common patterns it's the same like people with um uh traumatic disorder they see there is a person in Orange sweeter it was mean to you yesterday and to today there is another person with orange sweeter who is also mean to you and you start to be veryy of uh orange sweer persons so that's how AI work so as a human you can overcome this and you can think of some other reasons why people can be mean maybe they didn't have their coffee um so that makes you better than Ai and that in the long perspective allows you to thrive but it doesn't mean that you

don't have to learn how to use the tools so the co-pilots can be very useful in compiling large sources of data uh text to speech or speech to text software if you are have to communicate in the language that is not native for you it's it's a really good thing uh mock interviewer chat Bots that you can keep conversation flowing and it helps you to get rid of some interview anxiety um and all kinds of assistance especially if you have a lack of uh uh like ability to concentrate it's really helpful I may say I very dependent on my smartphone not to miss uh speaking sessions and meetings um and uh the main thing also

always remember so there are lots of entry points it is just one example and from each entry point there is always possibility either to go to another entry point or to level up so if you are let's say network security engineer you can become consultant you can become architect um you can start training other people uh from sock analyst you can become a forensics analyst or a malware researcher so there are lots of lots of jobs if uh The Chosen entry point for some reason doesn't work for you uh there is a multitude don't just stop here and uh finally like as I said uh at the beginning of your career sometimes it's easier to grow within one

company uh because uh it's people who know you and uh right now you don't know so many people in cyber uh but sometimes um it's just not your not your environment not your culture not your values and um it's important to to let um to let it go so to say so uh your Mentor or your coach can be also helpful and understanding that it's time uh even though interviews are stressful for you uh is just uh it's just uh the way it it is um um so start networking and stand there is life outside of your company even if it's some uh Big Brand um sometimes you feel like you are some special just because you are a

Microsoft just because you are Google but if it doesn't bring you happiness uh um it's it's just all about some labels don't get stick to labels um so try to overcome interview anxiety and talk to new people if it's hard for you to start talking try to approach them on LinkedIn in written form uh because not all people like uh when somebody starts talking to them they have their own anxiety so maybe they would be grateful hey I remember that uh that guy or girl um she approached me on LinkedIn instead of just uh like approaching me on some conference so probably it's a good person yeah and the final final slide just no matter what you do no matter how your

career is developed uh get enough sleep uh mind what you eat and just do not overwork it may seem very easy when you are 20 something to work uh 24 hours to get your ocsp or whatever but your 30 something would not say thank you to your uh to your Corrections so keep this in mind and in all together that would be a key to a healthy uh successful career thank you and any

questions we have like three minutes right yeah we've got about like three to five minutes for questions so um does anyone have any questions for Natalia yes in the front do you have advice for for senior employees who who would like to be mentors or advice on how to Mentor or how to find mentees uh so there are some ways there are some uh nonprofit programs uh they are usually specialized into certain category uh like I worked with uh woman and cyber security for example now I work with cyber girls uh that is a program for uh uh those who are located in Africa uh I'm really enjoying working with it or the paid mentorship sites uh you can

find them I just don't want to advertise them but there are uh sites that where you can register your profile as a mentor and you can uh start accepting requests usually you advertise it also on LinkedIn uh you will get the nice button in your profile book a mentorship session with me and uh that is how you find it maybe you would even earn something I don't know I just don't do much paid mentorship well I have a question I might put you on the spot with this question but um I noticed your you you said a little bit about impostor syndrome um earlier in the talk I was wondering do you have a time when you

felt impostor syndrome and how you overcame it for yourself I think yeah um most of us have this poster syndrome all the time for me so it's just the level of uh of severity of this syndrome uh so like if it just I could do a little bit more uh maybe that's okay but uh if it's just I will not talk on the meetings I will not ask for a race I will not ask for this promotion that is self destructive so it's important to understand to tell yourself that you are deserving uh this and uh I like I personally like posting things on LinkedIn and I see how many people react or when I'm talking

and then some people contact me and saying hey you said something inspirational or useful and uh that uh that helps me to understand that my experience is uh is uh uh has a value yes so putting yourself out there has helped you with with uh dealing with that how about the rest of the audience I'm curious who hands up who's who's got impostor syndrome like big time oh yeah it's quite a lot of you over 50% okay uh any other questions yes

uh I found that most uh uh job positions are generated by HR and the source of some keywords and now with AI as well so it's good to reach out to the hiring manager talk to them understand what actually they want because in 90% of cases it's not even that bad yeah so the question was around um um a cyber security positions posted are unbelievably long and complex with a lot of skills requested that was one and then the other one is even being in cyber going from one path to another in cyber you found challenging yeah so talking to the hiring manager and actually getting the real dirt on what they're expecting rather than um rather

than what the HR team is expecting I think I just have a very very quick example so once I talk directly to hering manager they liked me and they invited me to apply and I followed the standard process and First Step was HR and there was some lady who looked at my uh CV and said what the like actual uh I would have never called you back I don't know why the hiring manager asked me to even talk to you and then I got rejected and then I called this maner I had his number and I said why and he said I don't know no and I got and I got this project in the end so just HR just

clicked reject on me because she didn't like me but the hiring manager liked me and he hired me