I saw a thread recently which asked people to share their “path” in cybersecurity. I’ve long maintained a few lists that sorta represent this path, so I decided to mush them together to create this simplified timeline of notable career events (e.g. degrees, job changes, certs and other large life or professional-adjacent events).
Timeline
- Pre-2010 My infosec path really begins in 2010-ish, but prior to then, I worked a number of IT-related jobs, which gave me some work history and tech-related experience
- 2010 (through 2013) Started new role as a Intern Software Engineer / Systems Engineer I (software developer)
- 2010 Started Bachelors degree in Information Assurance & Network Security
- 2012 Graduated with BS in Information Assurance & Network Security
- 2013 Achieved CompTIA Security+ degree
- 2013 Switched to security compliance role (First security position!)
- 2013 Started new role as a Security Analyst (First “technical” security role - e.g. Tenable, AppScan, Burp, etc…)
- 2014 Started new role as a Senior Consultant (Infosec)
- 2014 Achieved ECCouncil CEH certification
- 2014 Started new role as an Application Security Consultant
- 2015 Started new role as an Application Vulnerability Management Analyst
- 2015 Achieved Qualys VM certification
- 2015 (through 2021) Started new role as an Information Security Engineer (First “engineer” title)
- 2016 Achieved Tenable TCSE and Core Impact CICP certifications
- 2016 Started Masters degree in Cybersecurity
- 2016 Achieved GIAC GPEN, ISC2 CISSP and eLearnSecurity eJPT certifications
- 2017 Promoted to Lead Information Security Engineer
- 2017 Achieved eLearnSecurity eCPPT, GIAC GCIA, GIAC GPYC & GIAC GMOB certifications
- 2018 Achieved OffSec OSCP & GIAC GCIH certifications
- 2018 Started shellsharks.com!
- 2019 Achieved GIAC GSEC, GIAC GWAPT, GIAC GREM & GIAC GRID certifications
- 2020 Achieved GIAC GXPN, AWS Solutions Architect, GIAC GAWN & AWS Security Specialty certifications
- 2020 Graduated with MS in Cybersecurity
- 2020 Became a father!
- 2021 Achieved GIAC GCPN & GIAC GSOC certifications
- 2021 Started new role as Senior Enterprise Security Engineer
- 2023 Kid #2!
- 2024 Switched to a new role, Application/Infrastructure Security