About. |
About Me (the short version)
I started my IT career as a developer and coded in 10 languages. I then started a data management and sales leads business with my business partner, that we moved online in the dot com boom. Protecting our client access to our web portal lead to my passion for Information Security.
We sold that business, I went to Uni to start a Masters of Information Security to get into InfoSec.
we started , I've held most InfoSec roles from pen testing, cybercrime research, security consulting, security architecture, security operations and security leadership; as well as a role as a part-time university lecturer in a Masters of Information Security course.
I started my IT career as a developer and coded in 10 languages. I then started a data management and sales leads business with my business partner, that we moved online in the dot com boom. Protecting our client access to our web portal lead to my passion for Information Security.
We sold that business, I went to Uni to start a Masters of Information Security to get into InfoSec.
we started , I've held most InfoSec roles from pen testing, cybercrime research, security consulting, security architecture, security operations and security leadership; as well as a role as a part-time university lecturer in a Masters of Information Security course.
About Me (the extended cut)
Some might consider this oversharing, but the reason for the #nofilter version of my life, is to show that you can overcome the challenges life throws at you and that you can achieve your goals with enough persistence, hard work and a little bit of luck and a touch of stubbornness.
I was a bright kid that did "OK" academically. By the time I was a teenager, I was more interested in the opposite sex than books. My grades reflected my desire for fun vs study. I managed to scrape into Mechanical Engineering at a Tier 2 university.
But at 19 I found myself the father to a beautiful baby girl, and I had to park any academic desires as I had to provide for my new family selling furniture. I was made redundant from that role not long after, and picked up a role as a office clerk for a direct marketing company.
One of my best friends at the time was doing a Computer Science Degree - I couldn't afford to go to University or even afford the books, so he would generously give the books to me at the end of each semester. I absorbed them and taught myself computers and some basic programming. By the time I was 21, I had become the IT Manager of that direct marketing company, where all of my employees had at least a decade on me. This is where I first learnt to manage teams... try being a baby-face kid and get adults to deliver to deadlines!
At the same time I bought a house for my new family, and the only way we could afford it was that my wife at the time worked full time, and I worked two 8 hour jobs. During the day (8:30-17:00) I coded up routines for processing data and at night (18:00-2:00) I ran giant printers in a factory. It was during my night job that an ex-colleague and I got talking about how we thought we could do a better job of running a direct marketing company ourselves. So we set-up a company, got $20,000 in seed funding from a generous benefactor that wanted little in return and set up shop. I quit my jobs and threw myself into the new business. It wasn't easy sailing and we grew incrementally, my business partner doing sales and pitching in where he could, and me pushing as much code and data as I could in a 16 hour day.
We grew into a business that can only be described as a pre-cursor to businesses like Salesforce. We managed and enriched client data for marketing purposes and helped build leads for big brands. We did some very innovative things like being the first to scan badges at conferences and update the attendance and interest at various booths in real time. We moved that business to be fully online during the dot com boom, and after 5 years we sold it to our biggest customer. During the 3 year earn out period I was trying to defend our client web portal from hackers. It was during this time that I decided I had a passion for Information Security that I wanted to pursue, and that continues to this day.
After 8 years running a very successful business with 30 employees, I walked away to go to University as a mature age student part time and made a subsistence living part-time fixing computers. During my time at University we had a guest lecturer from Industry... we joke about it now, but I social engineered that guest lecturer into giving me a role, albeit at less than 1/3 of what I was earning in my own business. He went on to be my greatest mentor, my manager multiple times in my career and a life long friend.
That's how I "broke into Security". Once I had my foot in the door, I have never stopped studying or learning. I've held most InfoSec roles from pen testing, cybercrime research, security consulting, security architecture, security operations and security leadership; as well as a role as a part-time university lecturer in the same Masters of Information Security course that I attended.
Set your sights on your goals, no matter how they might seem unobtainable at the time. Remember if someone else can achieve something amazing to youNever give up,
I was a bright kid that did "OK" academically. By the time I was a teenager, I was more interested in the opposite sex than books. My grades reflected my desire for fun vs study. I managed to scrape into Mechanical Engineering at a Tier 2 university.
But at 19 I found myself the father to a beautiful baby girl, and I had to park any academic desires as I had to provide for my new family selling furniture. I was made redundant from that role not long after, and picked up a role as a office clerk for a direct marketing company.
One of my best friends at the time was doing a Computer Science Degree - I couldn't afford to go to University or even afford the books, so he would generously give the books to me at the end of each semester. I absorbed them and taught myself computers and some basic programming. By the time I was 21, I had become the IT Manager of that direct marketing company, where all of my employees had at least a decade on me. This is where I first learnt to manage teams... try being a baby-face kid and get adults to deliver to deadlines!
At the same time I bought a house for my new family, and the only way we could afford it was that my wife at the time worked full time, and I worked two 8 hour jobs. During the day (8:30-17:00) I coded up routines for processing data and at night (18:00-2:00) I ran giant printers in a factory. It was during my night job that an ex-colleague and I got talking about how we thought we could do a better job of running a direct marketing company ourselves. So we set-up a company, got $20,000 in seed funding from a generous benefactor that wanted little in return and set up shop. I quit my jobs and threw myself into the new business. It wasn't easy sailing and we grew incrementally, my business partner doing sales and pitching in where he could, and me pushing as much code and data as I could in a 16 hour day.
We grew into a business that can only be described as a pre-cursor to businesses like Salesforce. We managed and enriched client data for marketing purposes and helped build leads for big brands. We did some very innovative things like being the first to scan badges at conferences and update the attendance and interest at various booths in real time. We moved that business to be fully online during the dot com boom, and after 5 years we sold it to our biggest customer. During the 3 year earn out period I was trying to defend our client web portal from hackers. It was during this time that I decided I had a passion for Information Security that I wanted to pursue, and that continues to this day.
After 8 years running a very successful business with 30 employees, I walked away to go to University as a mature age student part time and made a subsistence living part-time fixing computers. During my time at University we had a guest lecturer from Industry... we joke about it now, but I social engineered that guest lecturer into giving me a role, albeit at less than 1/3 of what I was earning in my own business. He went on to be my greatest mentor, my manager multiple times in my career and a life long friend.
That's how I "broke into Security". Once I had my foot in the door, I have never stopped studying or learning. I've held most InfoSec roles from pen testing, cybercrime research, security consulting, security architecture, security operations and security leadership; as well as a role as a part-time university lecturer in the same Masters of Information Security course that I attended.
Set your sights on your goals, no matter how they might seem unobtainable at the time. Remember if someone else can achieve something amazing to youNever give up,