Growing up with no internet!

I went to grade school and high school mainly in the 1970s.

As I look in the past at all my decisions growing up, I realize that right from the beginning I was meant for this Cybersecurity career. I remember as far back as the 4th-grade loving math and finding it fun. In fact, I liked math so much, that my brother and I would make playdough hot dogs and hamburgers just to figure out how much we would pay in bulk for the ingredients and how much we would sell individual items for to make a profit. We did this in the basement of our 1970’s split level for fun.

Later, in middle school and high school, naturally, I joined the Math Competition Team and loved it. I took algebra and trigonometry, but not calculus. I was also yearbook editor, a literary magazine editor; all those nerdy things. These were my people.

You would think I would be dreaming of a career in math or in engineering, but being the 1970’s, I thought of engineering as something physical and never knew much about it. On the flip side, I thought of law as the ultimate “problem-solving, detective-like” career, one that fascinated me. All through high school, there was no doubt in my mind that I would become a lawyer. I love to problem solve (math) and I love to talk (trust me, those who know me will tell you it’s true).

Defining Lesson? Your PASSION often comes after you excel at something. Rarely will you find something you are passionate about until you excel at it first and that will become your passion. And be open to changing your mind when you excel in an area you didn’t think you initially would.

Nothing ever quite works out as we expect. The reality was that where I would go to college depended on what I could afford. The only school I initially applied to was Notre Dame. I had no interest in other schools. My mom recommended that I apply to at least one other, so I applied to University (sic) of Georgia and got in there but not Notre Dame. I was devastated, and so was my Dad who stopped watching Notre Dame football for at least a season. This was 1981.

I accepted the University of Georgia, but at the last minute made the highest SAT score in my graduating class (a small class of 500+). It wasn’t that high of a score, but it was enough to get a free scholarship to a school called Shorter in Rome, Georgia. The scholarship was for tuition, and that combined with a small student loan was a no brainer.

It was a good school. I majored in Business Administration (the other choices were Religion and Music — I imagine the majors have broadened since then). While there, I came to my first defining moment — I TOOK CALCULUS. I loved it of course. I asked what was next and was told there was no “next”. That was the only advanced math course the school offered. At all.

I went to Georgia Tech right away and asked to transfer the very next quarter. Initially, Georgia Tech said, “No, we’ll take you after two quarters.” Well, my college was semester-based, not quarter based, so we’re talking another six months. I pushed. I wanted to be the exception. They had me get a letter of recommendation from current and future calculus professors (found one on campus) and I was in.

Why was that a defining moment for me? I learned that any rule can be broken. I learned that following the rules exactly doesn’t always add value for myself, for the institute, or my employer. You are special and outstanding in your own unique way. Know it. Say it. Don’t accept what is routine for others. Are you someone special who will be a shining example of the perfect female Georgia Tech student? Then don’t take no for an answer on a rule that makes no sense to your situation.

Defining Lesson? Be the exception. You don’t have to follow the rules. Should you be the exception to that rule? If so, then say it and believe it.

Georgia Tech found me a job with IBM as a co-op student (cause no more scholarship) learning and doing COBOL and RPGIII programming. It was my first exposure to programming, and given the complexity, I loved it.

I’d love to be able to say that I went on to be that shining example of a great Georgia Tech female student (any gender student for that matter), but I did not. Briefly, I majored in Engineering, was living on campus, in an environment where the ratio of guys to girls was 9 to 1. I was outgoing and enjoyed a good time, became a little sister at a fraternity, and basically ended up flunking out after a few years.

I did get work as a receptionist, moved up to a secretary, moved up to a DBASE-IV administrator (think old SQL) and… was laid off. Finding a job after a layoff was another defining moment. It became obvious to me that finding a job in a technical field was not going to be easy without a degree.

I found the next job, maintaining a complete system for a real estate development company that included General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Payroll, Property Management, all developed with Basic. Not any fancy Basic, just Basic. The best part was that I negotiated 30 hours a week around my class schedule and was able to go back to Georgia Tech and finish, and finish I did. I immediately worked from home for my company, twenty hours a week now, so I could be home with my baby.

Georgia Tech took me back with the stipulation that I maintain a B average. This meant I was going to school, working, eventually married, pregnant and still going to school while not even able to fit in the standard desks (used my stomach as a desk eventually). When I graduated, I actually walked across the stage four days after having my baby.

At this point, what was I? A programmer basically, probably best skilled at Basic honestly, with COBOL far behind.

And still, understand we are in a NO Internet world at the time.

After baby two, I stayed home for three years as a full-time Mom. It was tough. My life since 1981 (age 18) was in my hands, success and money came directly from what I did. Having success defined by my husband (now ex) was hard and inaccurate. He came from a machismo background and had a lot of expectations of how a wife should act. We clashed BIG TIME and after almost ten years of marriage, it was time to leave. Thus started my search for my next career.

So how do you find a job before the Internet? The library. I found every company (about 100) that existed in my city of Montgomery, Alabama remotely related to computers or programming and sent a COBOL programmer related resume to all of them. Inside that resume, I mentioned the Novell network I supported — add users, modify users, delete users was the extent of it.

Defining Lesson? Don’t only respond to job postings, also look at companies and send your resume, even if there is NO job posting at that time. You’ll be at the top of their mind for those recruiters when a job posting does come around.

I got three calls. Two were for COBOL programming jobs and I didn’t get either role. The third was a job supporting the Air National Guard networks including Routers, Switches, Firewalls, DNS Servers and Sniffers. Believe me, I know what ALL of these are now, but certainly didn’t know what ANY were back then. Who would know what firewalls were in the days of NO INTERNET?

They had seen Novell on my resume. When I interviewed for the position, I told them I was not qualified. A week later they called back, desperate. So I said yes. What did I have to lose? I didn’t even know what an IP address was when I started.

Defining Lesson? You don’t have to fit a job posting 100%. You probably never will. IT DOESN’T MATTER. It’s generally a wish list, not a “must have” list. Don’t doubt yourself — apply. And on that note, take a job you aren’t qualified for if it’s related to work you love.

A year later I was the “Firewall Fox” and have been ever since. I added things like Snort (IDS/IPS), Nagios (monitoring), custom built log aggregation and parsing utilities — everything I could make a RedHat Linux server with multiple interfaces do.

Defining Lesson? LOVE your career. It should be fun. Yes, sometimes it’s tedious but really, being in the Cybersecurity world is FUN!

Thirteen years later (internet showed up somewhere in here), Palo Alto Networks was looking for someone in the Montgomery, Alabama area to support Air Force Networks installing Palo Alto Networks firewalls. I applied and got that job.

I have been in Professional Services with Palo Alto Networks now for six years, Professional Services Engineer (PSE), then Senior PSE, then Principal PSE, then Breach Response Engineer, then Global Practice Lead for Threat for Professional Services.

Defining Lesson? If offered a job that has never been done, accept it. In my job as a Breach Response Engineer, I was told, “we don’t know what it will look like.” I LOVE that!! Talk about having input into how things are done!!

You’re hard to ignore when you’re the best at something. Your gender, your background, your status is irrelevant if you are the best at something. Become the best at something. Be passionate about what you do and drive your skills to match your passion. When I interviewed for the job with Palo Alto Networks, they interviewed two others in Montgomery for the same position. The other two were men. I was the obvious choice due to my skills. Gender became irrelevant. BECOME THE BEST AT SOMETHING.

And believe it or not, it all started with playdough hot dogs and hamburgers.