I have reached the 200 hour mark on my internship with Apple Federal Credit Union. I’ve been exposed to various different types of problems and requests recently. I have focused on really trying to take on more in-depth and challenging issues. One of the most challenging issues I recently finished had to do with the deployment of a new desktop for one of our virtual tellers. This required me image a new desktop and set up all of her job specific applications. While setting up one of the critical apps for her job she ran into multiple server related issues with her account. From this I was able to learn about the registry editor and how to contact vendors for support. Overall it took almost a week to get the deployment fully working properly with the help of my team and vendor support.
Speaking of the team, everyone on the IT team is very helpful. Better yet, they are all funny and relatable people who I can joke around with. I believe that I landed a very good internship that I am very lucky to have. I have already learned so much in the first month working here that I already think it has been worth it.
Management wise, my managers are very active about helping me learn all I can during my internship. They have a weekly meeting with me where I am allowed to ask about any questions I have or about what responsibilities I would like to have next. They increase my responsibilities every week and so far it has been a smooth ramp up. I don’t feel under or overwhelmed by the amount of responsibilities that I have.
For the next interview I will speak with a tier 1 service desk engineer who is currently receiving cross training with cyber security, Hunter Chapman
Q: What skills and experiences transfer well into Cybersec from IT?
A: Everything. Everything that you learn in IT can help you understand how the system works as a whole. It helps you with knowing what to protect and what angles are vulnerable. It is very common and important that you have IT experience before jumping into cyber security. Get your feet wet before you dive in.
Q: What made you want to begin cross training with cyber?
A: Cyber security has always been my career goal. Now that I have built my foundation strong with the IT service desk I want to start moving towards my goal of getting into cyber security.
Q: How did you start in IT?
A: I was very self-taught in the fact that I did a lot of home labs and CompTIA certifications. Then I started applying for jobs and got the job on Apple’s service desk. It is a great company and there was never any reason to leave. Especially because they allowed me to start cross training into cyber.