The overall experience that I had at Old Dominion studying the cyber security program was a positive one. I learned many valuable skills in order to achieve the goal of starting my career. The skill that I found the most valuable is the networking portions of classes that went in depth on how communications work. I also took other courses that gave me knowledge on topics like security software, server management, traffic analysis, Linux and many other disciplines in cyberspace.

The biggest challenge that I encountered while at Old Dominion would have to be my networking security course. I had the biggest challenge understanding it at first but after rewatching lectures and taking notes I passed the class with ease and applied that knowledge in my career daily.

The IDS 493 course tied everything perfectly together as it gave me a chance to showcase all of my skills in order to show future employers and recruiters. Without this course I most likely would have forgotten all of the hard work that I put in during my time at school.

The IDS 493 course has taught me very valuable lessons when it comes to advertising myself to future employers and recruiters. The course preaches on clean and easy to use web design in order to keep your viewers informed and attracted to your website. A significant skill that was learned in the course would be the act of designing the visual theme of a webpage. It keeps people interested in your page as they have something calming to look at.

My perspective on portfolios have changed over the months of this course. I now understand the importance of your overall presentation. You can have all the information and skill to display in your webpage but, if it is not visually appealing people may dismiss your webpage.

My future application of skills from this course will be used whenever I need to make a personal website for myself. The skills of using proper themes, accessibility functions and connecting all the information together into a cohesive webpage will always be used.

In conclusion, cybersecurity is truly an interdisciplinary study. There are so many different skill sets you can learn in order to craft your own career. For example, I have been studying to become a security analyst and have taken the proper certifications in order to obtain that job. I will be starting my new position as an IT security analyst at the start of next year at Old Dominion and will use all the information I used at school to start my career.