Program Reflection
Introduction
Prior to attending ODU, I retired from the United States Coast Guard, where I served as an avionics technician and aircrew member on fixed-wing aircraft. Although I took a smattering of classes over the course of my military career, I never had a full academic schedule or access to the facilities, support staff, and supportive learning environment of a university. The privilege of attending a real university as a full-time student was surreal to me. For the first time in my academic life, I was free to focus on my studies and explore many subjects that had never been available to me before. Although I have developed many practical and soft skills since high school, I am now approaching graduation and find myself a more well-rounded person with a fresh perspective on the world.
Program Reflection
The skills I value most from my coursework are the most practical ones. Learning to use command-line interfaces in CYSE 270 (Linux System for Cybersecurity) across Windows, Linux, and Mac terminals was akin to turbocharging my speed and efficiency when running programs, navigating folders, and creating and deleting files. During CYSE 301 (Cybersecurity Techniques and Operations) I enjoyed using Kali Linux for ethical hacking skills. Learning about the tools criminals use to inject malware and scripts to access/intercept data was fun and informative, and it gave me foundational knowledge of cybersecurity tools.
One obstacle I encountered in my learning experience was self-induced. I tend to resist outside help when I encounter difficulties and prefer to take problems on alone. Precalculus I, as a student who struggled with math in high school, nudged me out of my comfort zone and into the math lab for tutoring. The access ODU gave me to graduate students who were in the same place as me, far more recently than my professors, was a godsend. The simple act of walking into the math lab and gaining more learning resources made me realize that allowing others to help was the best path to success and convinced me to put my ego aside. In other words, I learned to get out of my own way.
My course in Windows System Management and Security served as a gateway between the academic and “real-world” aspects of cybersecurity. In that course, we studied various data breaches and attacks on networks and infrastructure and learned how various tools and social engineering skills are used by criminals for political, financial, or “clout” gain.
IDS 493 Reflection
IDS 493 is an opportunity for students to present the knowledge, experience, and skills we have gained during our academic careers. My work in this course began during my first few cybersecurity courses, when we were required to start our portfolios and add coursework as graded assignments. The practice of organizing coursework and saving it for future use and reference is a valuable habit for anyone.
I believe my portfolio effectively details my past professional experience, my future professional goals, and how my coursework at ODU strengthened my knowledge and skills to meet those goals. If I could point a person to only one thing in my portfolio, it would be my personal leadership philosophy paper. I believe this paints the full picture of who I am, what I believe, and the effect I want to have on the world.
One hurdle I had over the course of IDS 493 was finding a decent cross-section of coursework to illustrate what I have learned without overwhelming a reader with too much information. I cleared the hurdle by asking myself what I would want to read if I were an employer looking for candidates and culling my included assignments for readability and relevance. Over time, I would like to find relevant media (mostly pictures or graphics) to add interest to the pages in my portfolio.
Conclusion
I grew significantly during my time at ODU and became a more well-rounded person than I likely would have been had I not attended. The coursework I mentioned in this paper covers the career-focused aspects of my academic career, but the general education and elective courses I took expanded my worldview and regularly pushed me out of my comfort zone. Courses in art, public speaking, oceanography, literature, and my elective minor in electric bass performance all pushed me into realms of academia to which I had no prior exposure. To me, this is the true value in a university education. Interdisciplinary studies are most beneficial when a student is exposed to as many disciplines as possible. I have defined myself as a lifelong learner for as long as I can remember, and my time at ODU has given me a wealth of new subjects to add to my world of knowledge.