I am grateful for the chance to intern with Dollar Tree in the Information Systems department. I have learned a lot about office life, customer service, and hardware. Still, at times I wonder if I should do more in my internship to prepare myself for my future cybersecurity career better. There was a sense of lacking and not being able to ask the right questions. My biggest worry was that I was not getting the right or relevant experience in the internship for cybersecurity. Just then, I received an e-mail from CompTIA, Getting into Cybersecurity: Why it is Great to Start at the Help Desk. The article could not have come at a better time; it was informative, perspective, and reassuring.

           “Landing a cybersecurity job comes down to how mature the company’s processes and procedures are” (Marshall). Now that I have been with Dollar Tree and know how the departments are organized and had had an interview for a smaller company, I can coincide with the article. Smaller companies tend to want to squeeze as much talent into one individual; it cuts in cost. In contrast, larger companies have the budget to have multiple IT departments that concentrated on specific functions. For example, at Dollar Tree, there are several floors of IT. The department I work for is mainly for IT support and also a “help desk” center for both Dollar Tree employees and customers.

           “Some have college degrees, some have certifications, but many people I have encountered have no experience in information technology at all, and I think this is a huge step that people try to skip” (Marshall). In my first interview with Dollar Tree, both Dollar Tree representatives said the same thing to me. They said they were looking for a fitting personality, knowledge, and familiarity with IT systems are essential but only second to personality in connection to customer service. I know a great cybersecurity specialist is both proficient technically and has many soft skills, which is vital to know how humans work.

           “The help desk, too many, is a stepping stone to a different path” (Marshall). Now that I am familiar with all the Techs in the department and have questioned them on their IT/cybersecurity background and education, I am aware many have more significant and different plans. Many, if not all, wish to stay in the company and move up. Some want to be self-employed IT consultants or similar. A few have a bachelor’s degree, and others are working on a bachelor’s degree. Some Techs have certifications, and others are working on getting certified while others do not have any certifications and are not interested in getting any. However, as mentioned before, 99% of the Techs are using this IT/IS position as a steppingstone.

           “The goal is to protect end-users and to have an open line of communication with the people who are most impacted by cyber-criminals is crucial” (Marshall). The Techs in the IS department at Dollar Tree are only seven. Still, all seven Techs are familiar and have a friendly rapport with all the non-IT employees in the company of over 5,000 people, which comes in handy when there are new policies rolled out. Communicating why and how the new policies are meant to protect the employees, and the overall company is crucial for productivity because sometimes security posture kills productivity. Overall, what I took away from the article was “knowing how a company runs from different viewpoints is extremely important” because knowing what is important to the end-user should direct security procedure development.

Work Cited

Marshall, Kristoffer. “Getting into Cybersecurity: Why It’s Great to Start at the Help Desk.” CompTIA, 5 Mar. 2020, www.comptia.org/blog/getting-into-cybersecurity-why-it-s-great-to-start-at-the-help-desk.