From Web Bugs to Cybersecurity: A Self-Taught Journey Through IT
Picture this: It's a typical day at work. You're clicking through the register software, attempting to process your queue of tasks. However, the persistent lag of the software is slowing your workflow. Annoyingly slow software is becoming a rather annoying obstacle to your efficiency.
As an employee with no formal tech background, armed with some knowledge of front-end technologies and Python scripting and a decade's worth of soft skills learned from the largest ER in the country makes you want to tackle this problem. This software irritation acted as a catalyst, sparking my journey into the world of IT, a path I never imagined I'd traverse.
First a bit of external networking
As mentioned I used to work at the largest ER in the country. I was dealing with human beings that were almost always having the worst day of their life and I had to make a few-second decisions from the reads I got from the patient's body language and way of their communication, will this encounter be friendly, hostile, life-threatening for the patient or the staff etc. After a decade in that environment, I started to look for something else and stumbled upon a job description on the authority that is overlooking the very thing I had been doing for more than a decade now. Applied for the job and with the amount of knowledge I was able to bring from the frontlines of healthcare to the table, I beat the odds over 30 other candidates....now back to the subject of internal networking.
Internal networking as leverage, my story.
As a nerd by nature, I was frustrated to use the software that was not too old at the time but still so slow when I started my new career at the authority. I was already learning some Python to run some automation scripts and data analytics so I decided to look into the web development stuff too. I had built several WordPress sites but this was a real deal uncommented spaghetti jQuery not some php stuff on CMS platform. Figured out some of the problems like pages built to load all the scripts first which were running queries to multiple locations on a monolith architecture making the pages suffer on speed. I had met the sysadmin a few times and we had clicked the nerd way, so I decided to pitch him an idea about maybe fixing this simple thing to get things going faster.
The sysadmin then addressed these exact bugs with the software developer team. His prompt action led to a significant improvement in our web application's performance. Soon, I found myself invited to join the QA test group, responsible for vetting the new features before they were pushed to production. Little did I know, this small yet significant responsibility would be the start of an unexpected journey into the world of web development, data handling, and beyond.
Over time, I began delving deeper into web development and Python programming, using online resources like Udemy, YouTube, Coursera, Mimo, Sololearn, DataQuest etc. to build my knowledge base. Curiosity spurred my self-learning, and soon I was writing scripts to handle various automated data analytics from reports from our reporting tools.
As I dug deeper, I found myself captivated by SQL and its potential to provide a wealth of data from our database. I secured the permissions, again by talking with the sysadmin, and with newfound SQL skills and his help, I started creating customized reports for my colleagues, enhancing our department's productivity.
It was around this time that a major update was announced for our software. The opportunity seemed tailor-made for me, and I couldn't resist pitching myself as a project manager for the register data migration and new feature planning.
To my delight and most likely due to my now more or less friend sysadmin giving me great references, I got the position and began working with a dedicated 3-person project manager team. I was responsible for data and user information and UX, while my colleagues oversaw architecture and the overall project. Our humble project gradually expanded into a large-scale, 2-ministry authority endeavor with close to 20 people working for us on multiple different delegated tasks to report to us.
In tandem with these responsibilities, I took a keen interest in machine learning, and about a year into learning that space from online courses the Ai revolution began and I discovered the power of ChatGPT. The potential of automating repetitive tasks and creating efficient workflow apps was too tempting to resist.
I began incorporating AI into my workflow, scripting applications that started grabbing the higher-ups' attention. Recognizing the potential of AI, they tasked me to head a small research group to investigate how AI could be integrated into our current and future workflows. You might ask how the top bosses even knew who I was. Well, I had been talking to them with our project manager team reporting to them for a little over a year now and my name, face, work ethic and captivating data visualizations had grabbed their attention.
This new project, alongside my regular duties, turned out to be a turning point. I found myself transferred to the IT department to fully devote my time to these projects. When talking to my new boss about my next goalposts he asked me if I would be interested in joining the cyber security team as an apprentice as there is a situation of experts soon retiring and they would rather have a motivated and vetted person instead of having to look for a random person outside the organization and lose a lot of time on security vetting and having the person learn all the work culture stuff and get them onboarded with all the softwares and what not. It took me less than a second to say - Yes, I am most definitely interested.
Throughout this journey, I had the constant realization that a formal tech degree wasn't necessarily a prerequisite to flourish in career growth. My strong background in healthcare honed my soft skills, which played a crucial role in navigating new roles and responsibilities.
Reflecting on my journey, it is clear that a non-linear path can often be the most rewarding. All it takes is a dash of curiosity, a pinch of determination, and a generous helping of willingness to learn.
Conclusion
Leveraging internal networking is something we rarely discuss in the land of networking in IT. The discussions and guides are always concentrating on how to write your resume, how to network on social media, what to study before the interview etc. But I would like you to look at your situation where ever you are now and whatever your skill level is, senior engineer or self-made impostor syndrome struggling aspiring self-taught web dev, or hacker wannabe. Dead-end job, Ok job, school or whatever. You might be standing on a pot of gold. Look at your company website, dataflow, databases, anything. Do you have any suggestions for making it better? Volunteer on QA testing, study the systems and see if you find something to fix. Or maybe even build a better version mock-up of the software or websites you use. Use your strengths, and expose yourself in the limelight. Don't seek for the pot of gold somewhere over the rainbow when you might as well be standing on one already.
7 Tips about using internal networking as leverage on career advancement
Recognize Your Current Role's Potential: Often, we overlook the growth opportunities presented by our current roles. Understand the skills you can acquire and apply them to pursue your career aspirations
Leverage Internal Resources: Your company provides resources that can be used for self-improvement. Utilize internal tools, training materials, or mentorship programs to expand your skillset
Build Strong Internal Networks: Building relationships with colleagues and superiors can open doors to new opportunities. Use these networks to understand different roles and their demands.
Volunteer for Cross-Departmental Projects: These provide an excellent platform to learn about other areas within your organization and demonstrate your versatility and initiative.
Showcase Your Skills: Make sure to highlight your expertise, especially those acquired through self-learning. Proactively demonstrating your capabilities can help you get recognized for new opportunities
Be Open to Learning: Show your eagerness to learn and adapt to new technologies or methodologies. This attitude can make you a desirable candidate for different roles within your organization.
Communicate Your Aspirations: Let your superiors know about your interests in different roles or projects. They can guide you or provide opportunities that align with your career objectives.
Thank you for reading! Now look down at your toes..you are at the starting line, time to get going! Good luck and have fun!
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