I was always interested in Cybersecurity roles when they were listed on the OWN IT emails, but I never applied because I didn't meet the essential criteria as I had no experience in Cybersecurity.
When the opportunity was presented to apply for the Cybersecurity Reskilling Program I immediately applied. I was delighted when I was shortlisted for interview and then again when I was successful in getting a place on the program.
The training ran from November — January. It was excellent from start to finish. During this time, we had scheduled training days and exam cram sessions on regular intervals on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
We initially covered the topics needed to get us a good understanding of the world of Cybersecurity and to get us ready to take our CISMP exam at the end of November. We then started into training for the CompTIA Security+ exam at the beginning of December, which was a big undertaking!
Throughout our time on the reskilling program, we still had our current jobs to do. My manager and team were very supportive and although it was challenging time wise, it was worth it. Getting the balance between my day job, the reskilling work, study, being a mum, my work/life balance was put to the test for a few months, but I can honestly say that I am so glad that I took the leap of faith in myself and successfully completed the program at the end of January.
I started on my new team in my new role in the Cybersecurity Metrics, Strategy and Business Intelligence team on 13th March and I am enjoying it and looking forward to delving deeper into the world of Allstate Information Security and continuing my path of learning.
*OWN IT is about embracing and investing in your strengths, looking to the future and preparing yourself for a long and successful career. At Allstate Northern Ireland we are committed to helping you develop a career path suited to you. It's your career and we want you to 'OWN IT!' To help you do that we have our OWN IT email which is sent out every Friday. This email includes different jobs which were posted that week with learning opportunities included in the email also!
