From salon to security
Takeisha spent a good portion of her career in the beauty industry, but thanks to McDonald’s Cybersecurity Apprenticeship, she’s pivoting her career to a growing industry full of opportunity.
This month marks Cybersecurity Awareness month — an entire month dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of cybersecurity. McDonald’s Technical Blog is focusing its content during October to cybersecurity topics.
by Jessica Herzfeld, Manager, Operations Excellence — External
Earlier this month, we introduced you to Bianca Harmon, one of three apprentices who are part of McDonald’s new Cybersecurity Apprenticeship program. Today, we’d like you to meet another apprentice — Takeisha Hamilton.
With a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Takeisha had spent a good portion of her career managing a local salon. She oversaw everything from salon compliance to marketing and supply procurement — plus, as a licensed cosmetologist she provided cosmetology services to clients.
But as the economy experienced ups and downs, clients had less disposable income, and were taking care of their needs themselves.
“I knew it was time to make a switch,” she said. “I also wanted to reinvent myself and challenged myself to learn something new, so I set a goal.”
Takeisha put together a comprehensive career plan and connected with her friends who worked in the tech space — an area that had always interested her. But technology is a broad field, and she needed to narrow down her focus.
“I consider myself to be a proactive person,” she said. “With cybersecurity, you must be proactive. You can’t be complacent. So, that really resonated with me.”
While there were several ways for her to approach the career change, Takeisha opted for the Cybersecurity Program at Wilbur Wright College, so she could learn the field from the ground up and build a strong foundation, beginning the program January 2023.
Around March, the school shared some apprenticeship opportunities with students in the program, that would provide hands-on field experience.
Takeisha applied to two programs, but her first choice was McDonald’s Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Program.
“McDonald’s apprenticeship outlined more of the cybersecurity skills that I desired to acquire. It also offered the opportunity to have a more hands-on experience,” Takeisha said. “The other opportunities were more aligned with data analyst or assistant roles.”
As good luck would have it, McDonald’s selected Takeisha for one of the apprenticeship spots, and assigned her to the Offensive Security team, where she is focused on helping to ensure there are no vulnerabilities in McDonald’s systems.
“Every day, I learn something new, and the team has been great with helping me,” she said. “The classroom theory is helpful, and having hands-on experience working with the platforms and doing the day-to-day work really elevates my understanding.”
Beyond the apprenticeship and school, Takeisha is a wife and mom, and appreciates the flexibility of the program.
“McDonald’s really cares about our education and makes sure we have dedicated time for both work and the classroom, which is so important to me,” she said. “They make it easy for me to focus on my career and my family.”
