Reinventing my Career: Week 1 at SecureSet Cybersecurity Bootcamp
CORE Graduate, Kimberly Decker, shares an authentic student perspective of her experience and growth at SecureSet Academy.
If you’re looking at SecureSet Academy as an option for cybersecurity education, checking out our website and free events is a great way to start. Both will give you a better look at our immersive education model, as well as our overall mission of securing the future. But what if you want an inside, student perspective on Academy life? What is taking an immersive really like? SecureSet Academy alumna, Kimberly Decker, is ready to give you the inside scoop.
Kimberly Decker is a CORE program graduate, who documented her time at SecureSet Academy during her 20 week immersive. Kimberly’s goal was to give “an authentic student perspective of her experience and growth at SecureSet Academy.” We’ve decided to compile Kimberly’s blog posts and publish them in a series, giving you a behind the scenes look at what it’s like to take an immersive at SecureSet Academy. If you’re looking to find out what academy life looks and feels like, you’ve come to the right place.
Week 1
On January 15th, 2018, I took the first step in re-inventing my career and started a challenging, full-time bootcamp program at SecureSet Academy in Denver. I am not your typical student, so I carefully considered the different formats of available cybersecurity programs before deciding that SecureSet’s CORE program was right for me.
I have many years of experience working in the software industry, but I also have undergraduate and graduate degrees in science and spent more than 8 years conducting scientific research. I am an adult student that did not need another degree on my resume, not the debt associated with university courses. Simply put, I needed targeted knowledge and experience that would prepare me to step into an entry-level cybersecurity job for a manageable price!
Before making my final decision to enroll at SecureSet, I attended several cybersecurity-related meetups, enrolled in SecureSet’s PREP course, and independently studied a variety of relevant subjects (as recommended by SecureSet’s instructors). My prior IT knowledge was very broad, but not particularly deep in any one area. However, due to my extensive experience in research, I excel in the areas of critical thinking and problem-solving — generally thinking outside the box — so I felt confident that strengthening my depth of knowledge in areas such as networking, systems and programming languages would prepare me well for the program. We shall see!
About the Author
Kimberly Decker graduated from the SecureSet CORE immersive as part of the Spring 2018 cohort. Before her time at the academy, Kimberly earned her Ph.D. in molecular biology at the University of Colorado. Kimberly spent years conducting scientific research, as well as working in the software industry. Kimberly has seen several job opportunities come her way since graduating from the Academy, currently working as a security program coordinator at Ping Identity, in Denver Colorado.
If you’re interested in starting a career in cybersecurity, our CORE, HUNT and PATH immersives can get you there in less than a year. Visit secureset.com to learn more about our cybersecurity workshops, immersive programs and free cyber events.
