Katie Avalo
Professor Duvall
Cybersecurity Internship
07 July 2025
Interview with Software Developer Architect, Bret Ewin, Owner of Laconisoft. July 27th,
2025. Interviewed by: Katie Avalo
Throughout my internship, I had the privilege of working alongside Bret Ewin. Ewin
formed Laconisoft in 2006 to provide custom services to the federal government. As I worked
with him, I was able to see how passionate he is about his craft and the devotion he has for
providing solutions to complex problems. I chose to interview this person because I admire his
work ethic and accomplishments. I feel that if I want to work in this field, I want to be like him.
Ewin was originally in school to become an accountant. As most college lowerclassmen
are, he did not take his studies seriously which led him to now get into the school of business and
the University of Maryland. In the 80’s his grandparents and mother introduced him to
computers, even sending him to computer camp. He decided to switch his major to Computer
Science, fell in love, and truly found his calling. Little did he know that door shut in his face,
opened the door for a brighter future.

He started working his first just while still in school, working for a computer science
corporation. Post-grad he switched to a company called Proxicom. What he did was build
companies from scratch throughout the 90’s. This field was still relatively new, and the same
developers had to ensure the security of the websites. When asked about this, he emphasized not
trusting tools when you can do it yourself.
As the internet was growing and still a relatively new thing, he helped in getting
companies on the internet. When 9/11 happened, his nationalist heart yearned to fight for our
country one way or another. As a husband and a recent father, the battlefield was not an option.
He decided to defend his nation the only way he knew how. Many of the systems he built are still
being used by the government today, over 20 years later. After years of working for contractors,
he became a software developer architect. This is his “from .com to .gov” story.

When asked about the most important knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by someone
in this field, he said to never get pigeonholed. Cybersecurity is a big field that requires a lot of
technical knowledge and skills. During our internship, he was heavy on the importance of
digging into software development. If he had to get specific, he said to know how to code and
understand how code is compiled. That I should know how things link together dynamically. To
understand how protocols are transmitting information, knowing frame by frame, Ethernet, IP,
TCP, TLS, HTTP and how they interact. Lastly, he said to know and understand data formats.
He viewed this as all important skills for someone securing the cyberspace.

In his years of working in this field, he said that the most important soft-skills are
inclusive leadership, continuous learning and being able to give accessible explanations/teaching.
Inclusive leadership to him means, being a leader and responsibly having other helps. This is not
just teamwork or collaboration. A quote he shared was “success has many fathers but, failure is
an orphan”. It is important to responsively choose those you are involving in your projects. As
mentions before this field is huge and filled with continuous learning, whether it be new tools or
different languages. Being able to explain things in layman terms is very important. You will not
always be in a room full of tech people, you might have to explain a situation with someone in

HR or in Finance. After all, if you can perfectly explain what you are doing and how you are
doing it, it demonstrates you grasp this concept very well.
The technical skills he found to be most important in this job/position is software
development. This was something that I lacked as I came into the internship. During this
question he once again expressed the importance of not getting pigeonholed. Even though there
are specializations in cybersecurity, versatility and extensive knowledge will make me a resilient
candidate. There is a vast landscape of things to understand and secure. If most attacks are coded
how can I understand them with no software development knowledge?
There are a couple different entry-level jobs he recommended before landing a job as a cy
cybersecurity professional. Software engineer or a junior software engineering role could help
strengthen my knowledge and understanding of software development which he believes is
important for someone in this field. If I did not want to go that route, he recommends system
administration, which overlaps with cybersecurity. I would be responsible for managing the same
systems and networks I would one day be monitoring and securing. This job would also give me
hands-on experience with implementing security measures. Both jobs will provide me with the
space to grow into an ideal cybersecurity professional candidate.

One of the things that I admired about Mr. Ewin is how serious he takes his job. He
understands that this is not only a tech role. His work provides protection for this nation. As I
strive for my goal of working as a Cybersecurity Analyst for a healthcare company, I know that I
will bring that same passion to secure and protect patient information as well as ensuring that the
systems that need to be running, are running. At the end of the day this field gives you the
platform to help and protect those that need it.

The same way that he felt the inclination to protect this nation with his knowledge, I will
strive to do the same. This interview shed light to the things that I can start doing to get one step
closer to my goal. I appreciate that Mr. Ewin did not only tell me about his recommendations but
shaped the internship in a way to provide me with the skills I will one day need in the future. As
I move into this field, I will practice inclusive leadership, teaching, and furthering my skills in
system administration and software development.