Introduction

When it comes to choosing which career to follow, many influences and experiences have dramatically shifted which career I ended up choosing. The influences that allowed me to choose a career path ranged from many settings like at home, school, and work. The home influences included people like my close family, which were my dad, mom, and friends. When comes to influences academically, I had a few high school teachers, as well as college professors that impacted my decisions. The work influences were acquainted with the managers that I had when I worked in retail during my high school years. These influences not only granted me a separate environment for me to choose a career path, but also granted me valuable experiences that heavily influenced which path to follow. Both the influences and the experiences that I gained from each setting allowed me to eventually follow a career path in cybersecurity. 

My Career Path before Cybersecurity

While I eventually decided on a career path within the likes of cybersecurity, it was not always the first career path that I pursued. Backtracking to the past, every kid had many ideas of what they wanted to do when they grew up and I am no exception. It was not until I reached middle school that I took a strong interest in a career path. The career path that I pursued first was a path in meteorology. One of the major influences that drove me to follow a career path in the field of meteorology was the location of my high school. For starters, I lived on Chincoteague Island, therefore I went to Chincoteague High School. This is significant since there was a NASA facility located just a couple minutes away. Being in close proximity to a NASA facility presented me with an opportunity to obtain a career path in meteorology. At the time this thought drove me to become more interested in the field of meteorology and take more passion in learning about the weather. During my high school years, I also learned that meteorology is only one of the many professions within a NASA facility. This new passion drove me to learn more about how important meteorology is in the success of operations, especially during rocket launches. On top of examining the importance of meteorology within NASA, I also did some research on the skills that are needed to become a meteorologist, especially within a government organization. After researching the many skills that are needed for meteorologists, I found that I would be able to obtain these skills in the future, but there is one skill that presented itself as challenging. The skill that presented itself as challenging was sociability. While I do not hate to socialize, I have always been very shy when it comes to talking to new people or when it comes to social environments. With the impact of social skills and how much they play within the success of a meteorologist, I started to shift my focus to a different path. 

A Shift from Meteorology

My decision to shift from a career path within meteorology was something that I regretted, but at the time I believed that it would be best to find another career path. Once I graduated from high school, I still had a liking for meteorology, but eventually decided to shift towards a career path in engineering. The influence that shifted me towards a career path in engineering was the simple fact that this career path was universally available and always needed. With a newfound career path in engineering, I chose to make this my major in my first and second years of college. During my first and second years of college, I attended the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). During my time at UMES, I completed my general courses on top of some engineering courses that were required for an engineering degree. During my first year at UMES, I enjoyed the selected classes that were associated with engineering and started to gain traction within this field. Just as things were going well, I ran into a problem during my second year. While the engineering classes during my first year were easy, the second year presented multiple mathematics classes. With my major being engineering, these mathematics classes were needed to become a successful engineer. These classes were heavily influenced by the presence of calculus and even though I was able to pass these classes, I learned that when it came to math, especially calculus, I was not able to perform the way I wanted to. With my previous encounter involving these calculus-heavy math classes, I looked to see if there would be more required math classes. The result of these findings was that there were going to be more math classes since engineering is heavily associated with math. So, I decided, during the middle of my second year in college, that I would change majors. At the same time, I also decided to move colleges, in which I transferred to Old Dominion University. 

The Influence of Cybersecurity

While I shifted away from an engineering major, I was presented with the task of finding a completely new major. During this time, I talked to my family members as well as some close friends just to gain insights on what I should do. I am glad I took the time to talk to family members and close friends because they allowed me to choose my current career path which is cybersecurity. The choice of cybersecurity was heavily influenced by one of my friend’s moms who worked with in the field of cybersecurity. She was able to persuade me towards a career in cybersecurity through the knowledge that this line of work is becoming ever so important, especially with the world becoming so dependent on technology. With my final career path set, this led to me changing my major to cybersecurity. Changing my major to cybersecurity resulted in me transferring colleges because UMES did not offer a degree in cybersecurity. I was able to locate another college named Old Dominion University which offered a degree in cybersecurity. Once I transferred to Old Dominion University, I was nervous about being a part of a new college as well as pursuing a new major, but fast-forward to the present, I am grateful that I took this chance. During the latter part of my second year as well as my entire third year I studied many exciting cybersecurity classes. I especially enjoyed the classes that involved coding such as Cybersecurity Techniques and Operations (CYSE 301) and Windows System Management and Security (CYSE 280). CYSE 301 taught me the beginning of coding as well as the techniques that are required and needed to protect against cyber threats and attacks. CYSE 280 was less broad and tackled coding within a specific system, which was Windows. While all the cybersecurity classes I completed at Old Dominion University were beneficial, CYSE 301 and CYSE 280 strengthened my passion to pursue a degree in cybersecurity. 

My Future in Cybersecurity

When it comes to my career path, it can be seen as one big, jumbled mess, in which it took three times until I found a career path I stuck with and had to transfer to a completely different college to pursue a career in cybersecurity. However, while my process of finding a career path was long, it eventually granted me a career path that I can say I look forward to finding a job after college. When it comes to my overall future within the field of cybersecurity, I plan to finish my fourth year of college and obtain my bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity. Once I obtain my degree, I hope to find a job for a company in which I can protect others against cyber threats and cybercriminals. In the end, while cybersecurity was not my first pursued career path, I am glad it ended up as my major because it brings the opportunity to learn from experience as well as the ability to protect the society around me.