SOC Security Analyst Tier 1 job offer

Rylee1246

Hi

all.

As some of you who have been following my WGU thread, I'm currently working toward finishing my Bachelor's degree, now in the CSIA degree plan.

Prior to my current job, I was a police officer and I wanted to get back into IT, specifically IT security.

I began my journey in October of 2016 by getting my A+ cert in order to be able to be admitted to WGU and start the IT Security degree plan at that time.

I was working on transitioning back to IT by applying for jobs for Help desk. I had previous experience in IT and in Information Security, but it had been many years, and no one seemed to want to give me a shot.

January 2017 I started my first semester with WGU. I got my Net+, Sec + and CCENT. As the second semester was about to start, WGU came out with the new CSIA degree plan and I knew that would be more focused on what I was wanting to get back in to. Unfortunately, I would be unable to officially transfer to that degree plan until January 2018. So, my second semester I planned to spend taking all of the remaining cross over classes between the degrees, so all I would have left is the new CSIA degree specific classes left.

In June of 2017 I landed a help desk job that pays pretty well with a company willing to give me a shot. After some training on their systems, I shot up to the top of their performance metrics, and I am consistently one of their best workers, every week.

In August of 2017 I went to a cybersecurity job fair, where I was able to speak with some potential employers and share my desire to get back into security. I had one recruiter tell me that he thought I would be a good fit, but my lack of recent experience and specific experience they were currently looking for would mean I wasn't going to cut it on the first wave of hires. So as the saying goes...."So you're saying there's a chance!?"

I pursued another position I was alerted to from the same job fair while continuing my excellence at my current job. While doing so, I finished up on my second term with WGU where I finished up my Project + cert, my html class, my python class and my SQL classes.

I couldn't seem to get any traction with the position I was talking with. They gave me a phone interview and that went well, they said they really liked me, but needed to wait for funding from a client. I was being patient, but I was wondering how long I might get strung along.

In November of 2017, I saw an email from indeed tell me that that first company seemed to be hiring again and I decided to shoot an email out to the recruiter I spoke with. Lo and behold, he responded! He told me that NOW would be a great time to see if I had enough knowledge for them to bring me on with the idea that I would need to be given some OJT.

I had a tech screen, and passed. The guy said I just seem to need exposure to their tools, but otherwise I knew my stuff.

I had a second interview with a manager, and he told the recruiter the same thing. He even said he would recommend extending an offer to me!

I ended up getting a formal job offer, that's pending my successful passing of their background check (don't see this being a problem.)

With everything being said and done, I should be starting my new position as a tier 1 SOC analyst next month! I'm so excited!

Prepare yourself. Always keep your eyes on the goal. Never give up.

mikey88

Congrats on your new role. Previous I.T. and law enforcement experience (employers like veterans) and bunch of certs I'm not surprised at all.

tl&dr: Network and follow up with recruiters and contacts. You never know when something may open up.

Lucasjack

Congratulations!

NEODREAM

Awesome. I see you are based out of SA as well. Lots of cyber opportunities here, glad you got one!

Madmd5

Congrats!

steelodon

Congrats! It is always good to see persistence pay off!

Cisco Inferno

job fairs are so much better than a blind application.
congrats!

Fulcrum45

Nice job, congrats on the job offer! That new job feeling never gets old....unless you're stuck in fast food maybe, lol.

coffeeluvr

Congratulations!!