A Narrative Story about my path so far and what drives my passion for my career.

Personal Narrative 

Caleb Mayo 

Old Dominion University 

IDS 493 

Instructor Kathryn LaFever 

11/2/2024 

From an early fascination with technology to overcoming the hurdles in my field, my journey to becoming a Senior Cyber Security major has been filled with moments that shaped my ambitions. This paper will be my personal narrative giving a roadmap of every experience, hardship, and achievement that led up to me being where I am now, a Senior Cyber Security Major pursuing a career of being a cyber analyst and one day hoping to lead my own team in a Cyber Security Project or Consulting. My narrative will have some key details and build relations to the artifacts in my resume and important parts of my life that hopefully someone in a similar journey can use to help drive them towards success as my personal moments does for me as well. My path began with a spark of curiosity, growing from a fascination with technology into a purposeful pursuit. 

Finding the Goal Post 

I was always fascinated with technology from a young age, especially because my favorite superhero was Iron Man. The idea that someone could use technology to achieve goals and help people motivated me and drove me to switch from my high school’s dedicated entrepreneur development program to go to a dual enrollment IT and Networking technical program in my Junior year of High school. It was great to be able to get hands-on experience working with computers, understanding them as well as managing ad maintaining networks at a young age, but as I was in the program I felt it wasn’t my calling, and got discouraged many times due to a lack of challenge. Little did I know, the real challenge was coming. Being in that IT and Networking program, I was able to attend my first Cyber Security Capture the Flag known as CyberPatriot. In the CyberPatriot CTF, I was split into teams with other students in my class and competed against students around the world in securing virtual systems. I had very little experience with Cyber Security and studied and done my research and tried my best to help my team win. Even though I was easily one of the weakest links on my team, it was an amazing experience as I was challenged in ways I never knew I could be: forced to think outside the box, think like a hacker, and see every angle to securing a system. As my dad drove me back home, I could not stop talking about how I was going to apply to an amazing college program and become a cyber security professional, and he was proud to watch me grow and knew whatever college I chose, I would do great. I would call this the moment when the goal post was set, where I knew how I wanted my life to look like in ten years, and was willing to take the steps to get there. Once the goal was clear, I understood that this journey would demand continuous learning and resilience. 

Never Stop Learning 

One of the first hardships I had on my journey to becoming a cyber security professional is that I had to continue learning more about my field. Initially I started by learning more about computers, how they work, what they are used for, and how I should use them to better myself. This would normally be a problem for me as I was very busy in my Junior year of High School, but when the COVID-19 Pandemic was in effect, I no longer had school or as many social events to go to, so I spent my time working and studying for my CompTIA A+ certification which went a long way in learning basic computer hardware and software fundamentals. Not only was it a nerve-wracking exam, but after I passed it, I felt the most accomplished I had felt in a long time as it was something I was able to do myself. After that, I went on to attend Old Dominion University Post-High School Graduation and used what I already knew to help me in my early courses. Eventually I would study and pass my first Cyber Security certification, the CompTIA Security+ developing my knowledge in Network and Information Security. Even though I had a decent amount of education and learning in my coursework as well as my certifications, it would not be enough. Cyber Security is a continuously growing field and as new threats arise, I as an aspiring cyber security professional would be hindering myself to not be on top of it. So in addition to my formal education, I took on cyber security research and did my own side projects practicing against threats and using the latest tools so I would not be vulnerable when it was time to actually go against them. While technical skills are crucial, I soon realized that breaking into the field required something equally important—confidence and perseverance. 

The Struggle for Confidence 

After gaining the skills and the knowledge needed to excel in my field, I came face to face with the hardest challenge I had so far, getting jobs and internships. I did everything I could to make myself seem like an asset or a pick above other candidates including going to resume workshops, attending conferences and networking events to just cold-calling recruiters. And it would be annoying, discouraging, and at times frustrating to hear that I was not selected for these opportunities. And I would feel like I wasn’t doing enough. The tipping point was coming however, as I spoke with my brother Brandon, who also worked in tech, going from making as little as 30,000 annually to 127,000 at is networking engineer job. He encouraged me to not give up, and that ‘luck is where preparation meets opportunity’. I took from that idea that all I needed was for someone to give me one chance to gain the experience, and show the work that I put in so far that makes me a fit for these roles. Eventually, it finally happened, I got my first internship at the Library of Virginia where I worked on information security policies and security best practices for a state agency. This propelled me to gain new opportunities I would never think possible such as my internship at Mars Wrigley where I traveled to Chicago to conduct Security Assessments at the age of 21. After overcoming the hurdles to gain real-world experience, I felt prepared to move forward with clear goals in mind. 

Where I am Headed 

Now that I have put int the work and I have the connections, knowledge, and experience for me to become successful, the next steps on my agenda are to become a Cyber Security analyst at an awesome company. Armed with experience, knowledge, and a network of supportive mentors, I envision building my own consulting firm, a space where I can foster talent and share the lessons that shaped my path.