Chapter 13: Final Thoughts

In this chapter, we (the authors) share our final thoughts and advice on cybersecurity interviews and careers.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Chris Foulon's final thoughts and advice
• Tia Hopkins' final thoughts and advice
• Ken Underhill's final thoughts and advice

Chris Foulon's final thoughts and advice

Congratulations! You have made it to another milestone on your journey towards your cybersecurity career. Notice that I didn't say that you arrived at the end because it is not the end; it is just the beginning! This milestone is just the beginning of what I am hoping will be a long cybersecurity career journey for you, where you learn daily, give back to others even if you are only a step ahead, and help make the world a safer place. I am hoping you will take the lessons learned from this book to help get that role you are looking for and positively impact those around you!

Cybersecurity is such an evolving field, and we need people from various backgrounds and diverse points of view to tackle the growing cybersecurity problems. Take the passion you have and share it with others, whether that might be at your child's PTA group, group of friends, or just your local school system. Please help the next generation prepare for it as well!

In writing these final thoughts for you today, I say you can do it! I received this message from a connection of mine that also demonstrated my journey:

"Chris - I hope all is well. I have been following your journey since we connected back in 2016, and I commend your persistence and intentionality in going after your career goals. You willed yourself into cybersecurity and are now a thought leader in the space.

Best,

James Jackson"

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophefoulon.

Tia Hopkins' final thoughts and advice

You made it to the end of the book! Nice! There's no greater investment than the investments you make in yourself. I'm sure Ken and Chris will give you some incredible tips and words of encouragement to take with you, so I'm going to do my best to keep up with them by leaving a few of my personal mottos and beliefs I'm hoping will help you throughout your cybersecurity career journey.

First, know your why. Before you go down the path of investing in education and certification training, go back to step zero and ask yourself, Why am I here?, Why do I even want to pursue a career in cybersecurity?, and Am I sure this is where I want to be and not just a career someone told me would be good to pursue?

Cybersecurity careers can be incredibly rewarding, but I won't pretend for a second that it's easy. Knowing your why will continue to guide you, balance you, keep you sane when things get hard (and they absolutely will), and motivate you if you get down on yourself and begin questioning your capabilities. If you don't know why you've chosen this industry, then you're allowing everyone else to define what your career should look like. For example, if you ask someone whether you should pursue a degree or certification, many people will give you an answer based on their opinion and personal experiences. But the right answer is, it depends. It depends on your desired outcomes and what you want for your career – not what worked for someone else in theirs.

My next point... I played tackle football for a number of years and learned a lot about the game and myself. I was at practice one night going through a linebacker drill and I was struggling with the technique. I tried over and over again to the point where I got so frustrated that I had to take a break. Finally, I took a deep breath, tried again, and I got it right. I absolutely nailed it! I was so happy. But when I looked over at my coach in search of a smile or some other sign of approval, he wasn't smiling. He didn't nod or even tip his cap. Instead, he looked at me and said, "Don't just do it till you get it right; do it till you can't get it wrong." Admittedly, I was incredibly annoyed at the time, but after practice, I thought about it and it made perfect sense. Since that day, I've carried his message with me, and even today, it influences my work ethic. So, my message to you is, when you're learning a new skill or concept, don't just practice until you get it right; practice until you can't get it wrong. Trust me when I tell you you'll stand out amongst your peers and be the go-to person in the room if you adopt this way of thinking. On the path to greatness, good enough should never be good enough.

Finally, I want to leave you with sort of an affirmation I created for myself a while back. Sometimes, we work so hard to achieve our goals that we are too hard on ourselves and push a bit more than we should. I'm guilty of this as well so I've recently developed the habit of reminding myself to give myself grace. From my perspective, G.R.A.C.E. is a package deal, and on certain days I have to embody some of these mindsets more than others, but the total package keeps me grounded. I'll share its contents with you:

• Grit:
  • Official definition: The passion and perseverance for long-term and meaningful goals.
  • Tia's translation: DON'T QUIT.
• Resilience:
  • Official definition: The ability to recover from a setback, adapt well to change, and keep going in the face of adversity.
  • Tia's translation: ALWAYS GET UP.
• Agility:
  • Official definition: The ability to think and understand quickly.
  • Tia's translation: BE QUICK ON YOUR FEET.
• Curiosity:
  • Official definition: A strong desire to learn or know something.
  • Tia's translation: NEVER STOP LEARNING.
• Empowerment:
  • Official definition: The knowledge, confidence, means, or ability to do things or make decisions for yourself.
  • Tia's translation: ASK FOR FORGIVENESS, NOT PERMISSION.

Your career is your choice and your responsibility. Find your lane, and if you can't find one, create one. Use this book as a tool to help you find and land the job that's right for you – because you said so. Good luck!

Connect with Tia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yatiahopkins.

Ken Underhill's final thoughts and advice

First, congratulations on making it to the end of the book. You have worked hard, and preparing for your job interview is just the beginning of a rewarding career. I have seen some people across social media telling others to fake it until you make it for job interviews. My advice is to ignore them because a hiring manager can always see through the lie. Instead, if you don't know the answer to something, just say you don't know but that you know how to go find the answer. Remember, nobody in cybersecurity knows every single nook and cranny of cybersecurity, so we all do Google searching from time to time.

Another mistake I see people making is not networking properly. Remember, relationships are a two-way street so it's important to give to the other person instead of just expecting to take. In the context of using networking to get job interviews, instead of reaching out to someone on LinkedIn and saying Please, please help me get a job interview, try instead asking whether they need help with any projects so you can build your skills, or ask them whether you can help them in any other way. Building real relationships will accelerate your career. In fact, a young woman focused on building a real relationship with me via LinkedIn and Zoom. She had applied to jobs for months, hearing nothing back, but when she connected with me, I was able to connect her with a company that was hiring and she aced the interview. She now works at a fantastic company with a salary she never dreamed of getting as an entry-level cybersecurity professional and this all happened within 2 weeks.

Regarding the debate on certifications versus college degrees versus just learning skills on your own, I will say it depends. I'm not a fan of certifications but I am fully aware that some companies require those or college degrees for jobs. I would suggest reflecting on what career you want to do and which companies you want to work at, then deciding which (if any) certifications or college degrees you need. The other thing to keep in mind is that almost everything in a job description is just part of a wish list. If you see that you have a few of the skills listed, then apply for the job. The worst-case scenario is that they say no or you never hear back about an interview. That is totally fine, and you just move on to the next company. Remember, every no is one step closer to your yes, and sometimes doors close in life because a really awesome opportunity is just around the corner for you.

I recommend you take the latest interview appointment time they have available, so you remain in the interviewer's mind. There is a concept called recency bias, which just means recent events in the person's mind are given more importance than past events. By having your interview be the last one of the day, you will be in the interviewer's mind as they make the hiring decision.

I also recommend that you create a short slide presentation for job interviews. This will help you stand out from all other candidates. The presentation should be about five slides maximum, and the first slide should outline your understanding of why they need someone (you) in this job. You will need to do research on the company and probably speak to some of their employees to get the information for the first slide.

The next three slides should show your 30, 60, and 90-day plans for what you are going to do once you are hired to help the organization reach its goals. And the final slide should have your name, a tagline, and a short bulleted list of the key skills that you have for the job. Creating this presentation helps plant the seed in the interviewer's mind that you already have the job and have a plan of action, plus it gives them a short summary in the bulleted list of why you are the most qualified person for the job.

When you reach the end of your job interview, the interviewer typically asks whether you have any questions. I suggest you then ask the interviewer whether you have given them enough information for them to make an offer. If they say no, then ask them what additional information they are needing from you.

The final thought I will leave you with is my technique for passing exams and interviews over the years. I would simply take a piece of paper and a pen and write out exactly what I wanted to happen during the exam or interview as if it had already happened. This may seem too simple to work, but it has always worked for me.

As an example, if I wanted a job as a SOC analyst I would write "The interview for the SOC analyst job went great. They didn't ask me any difficult questions and it felt more like a conversation with friends than it did an interview. I was excited to receive their offer within a week after the interview."

The people that consistently struggle to find their first job in cybersecurity do not follow this manifestation approach and the other information shared in this book. You can be like them and try applying to thousands of jobs and hope to hear back or you can take the road less traveled and apply the knowledge you have gained in this book to help you get your dream career faster.

The choice is yours.

Connect with Ken on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenunderhill.

Summary

Congratulations! You made it to the end of this book, but not the end of your career journey. In this book, you learned common interview questions for a variety of cybersecurity careers, you learned about the most common behavioral interview questions asked, and how you can hack yourself.