Course Description:
This course allows students to volunteer at an organization related to cybersecurity. Students must complete 50 hours per credit, along with assigned reflections, a final paper, and documentation of tasks completed during the internship.
Course Materials:
Using Course Understanding
My internship with Oeson Learning let me put what I had acquired in class to use in the workplace. Not only were ideas like network traffic analysis, vulnerability scanning, and risk assessments something I learned; I actually got to utilize Wireshark, Nessus, and pfSense to implement them. Seeing how everything relates in real-time made what I studied in past courses more logical. Rather of concentrating on case studies, I was producing reports like someone truly working in the field and solving real-life issues.
Learning Skills
This internship gave me soft as well as technical development. I discovered how to look at odd network behavior, spot vulnerabilities, and divide security concerns into reports others could grasp. I improved in time management on my own, job organization, and clearly documentation of outcomes. Since I had to justify difficult concepts to non-technical readers, I also developed my technical writing. By the conclusion of the internship, Nmap, Nessus, and Wireshark were second nature. My final paper’s appendices include a few work examples illustrating this: phishing training draft, firewall analysis, and breach report draft.
Human Growth
This experience clarified the type of cybersecurity job I prefer and where I see myself pursuing after graduation. Even in a distance, I developed my ability to work autonomously, rely on my judgment, and interact with a team. I also noticed how my manager spoke; expectations were always clear, which gave me confidence. I personally saw how much production vary depending on different leadership philosophies and open communication. I also become more conscious of the need of adaptation and staying focused even in cases where the solution is not clear.
Now that I’m ready to work in this industry, I’m glad of how much I’ve developed in terms of professionalism as well as in terms of knowledge.