How I Decided To Change My Job And Career

First, what may seem easy now in your trying period may seem like one of the most challenging endeavors you have ever attempted.

But let’s take the story from the beginning.

I was working in a medium-sized telecom company where, within a short period, I managed to become a supervisor in a team of engineers. I then went through all areas of the company, giving my best and working at least 10 hours every day. However, although they were happy with me, they continued to assign me complex tasks (which other colleagues had taken on and had not completed) and did not proceed with any financial reward or change.

After some time and before a change in management, they decided to give me a pay rise and increase my responsibilities. Unfortunately, the new administration had no idea of the business we were running, and as a solution, they decided to micromanage. In addition to the endless hours in meetings they arranged for us, we were required to write unlimited reports, and on top of that, we had to have meetings. In these meetings, they wanted us to be able to convey to them in detail how the projects were progressing and how technically we were going to manage them. Most of the time, they couldn’t understand how the systems worked and using google, they asked questions.

In addition, with the new management, I trained three potential replacements who refused to accept my responsibilities, asked for a limited scope of responsibility, and ended up being employed on a fraction of what I did.

Seeing all this, I decided to start preparing for a job change. But this change was not easy for the following reasons,

1. The qualification I had acquired had a limited job market and
2. I had to ensure that my new salary would at least be the same as the one I had so that it would not affect the family’s daily life.

Therefore the solution I came up with was to make a three-year plan to turn what I had as a hobby into a profession. What kept me busy in my spare hours, as much as I had available, was cyber security. Unfortunately, in my country, this was still not a necessity in companies to justify a job, but an information security officer was a necessary role. Therefore, I started working on it. The career path I chose was,

1. To learn international standards such as ISO and NIST
2. Get certified in one of them
3. Give value to the company I am in through the certificate
4. Build my cybersecurity skills at the same time
5. Use my new knowledge to find a job
6. Continue to invest in my development in the security field

With this model, I became certified as a Lead Auditor 27001:2013 and immediately started the processes to get the relevant certificate for the company. After a year of hard work organizing the company on the standard, we successfully passed the audit by the independent body and became certified as a 27001 company. This process was my ticket to my next job; within the next year, I found a company that hired me as an Information Security Officer, offering me a higher salary and all the training I wanted.

Looking back now, I am halfway there; I have only traveled the part that gives me the peace of mind to achieve the rest. So the goal now is OSCP :).