#securitycryptogtaphywhatever President AI tier list from their recent bonus podcast https://securitycryptographywhatever.com/2024/03/23/tier-list/

1,000,000% worth a listen

I’m deciding to use this as a blog for my journey into the Information Security world. I am a little discouraged right now. I’ve had some great interviews but I never seem to actually get an offer.

So some        up to now:
I recently went back to school and graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science from an ABET accredited university. The fall before I graduated I was accepted for a position at NSA. I was told what my salary was, what my benefits would be, etc. I was extremely excited! I was so proud to be part of something that would actually matter and learn techniques and skills unique to them. However, since I was born outside of the country I needed to get rid of my dual citizenship—something that I only just managed to complete, again a year later. Because this processes was taking so long I was not able to get the clearance I needed. In August they let me know that I was being dropped from the program. I was devastated and now anxious for the future. I no longer had a promise of employment and I wasn’t looking for a job all of this time. I had no idea what to do and I started scrambling to pick up the pieces. I hadn’t been working on projects and I didn’t know even what kind of jobs to apply for anymore.
Later that same month, I had a couple of interviews and worked for a small company that I was amazed to see was still functioning. The company was the equivalent to riding a mechanical bull in a bar in the south—you know you’re going to get booted off; the question is how long can you hold on and can you when a free beer? So, sparing this post most of the details I quit since I was able to do my job do to lack of access (not even my own work email 8 weeks in) and I wasn’t even getting trained, or given promised access to material to train on, in Visual FoxPro, the language of choice for this company. After that I needed money still and I started working at a Bubble Tea shop which was terrible and extremely dirty so I just left that job too.

Looking towards the       :
  I would like to land a DevSecOps job since, from my understanding, you get the opportunity to wear multiple hats and are always sharpening your tools in multiple different areas. I am currently trying to work on some projects to showcase my abilities but staying self-motivated is a bit of a struggle. I am getting better and better by implementing techniques that I’ll share over time. I am also am working on some certifications and adding those to my portfolio. I will be applying for at least 40 jobs every week from now until I get a job offer. Interviewing won’t count. Until I have a start date somewhere I’ll keep applying!  

I would love to talk any of you all whether you’re in a similar canoe, still in school, a professional, or anywhere else in your life. Thanks for taking the time for reading this if you did :)