There Are Many Paths Into InfoSec And Almost Any Background Is An Asset

Welcome to a new episode of An InfoSec Life on ITSPmagazine! Today my guest is Sarah Young, Azure Security and Compliance Global Blackbelt at Microsoft, to talk about her non-linear journey into InfoSec.

Many people, particularly those who’ve just graduated high school and are told that they need to figure out the whole rest of their life right NOW, can get overwhelmed or confused about getting a job in cybersecurity. That’s not surprising, because there are tons of roles and specialty areas and not every job requires you to be able to code. So anyone who tells you that you need to take a specific path into the security field is not giving you the full story.

There are plenty of ways into the industry and almost every background – librarian, English major, psychologist, physician, historian – I even heard of one fellow who came from stand-up comedy – can be an asset.

Sarah is one such person. She a history major who worked as a school helper and wound up doing a lot of IT tasks – and that experience led to an eventual career with Microsoft as a Cloud Security and Compliance Specialist.

She is a fun and compelling speaker, so listen in for lots of entertaining stories and super helpful nuggets of advice, including mentoring, studying, getting hands-on experience, attending or volunteering at security conferences, networking, etc.

Enjoy!

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