Name: Kelly Karipidis
Title: Associate Cyber Defence Analyst
Company: Tesserent
Why do you enjoy working in the cyber security field?
There’s a whole bunch of reasons: If you’re someone who constantly wants to feel engaged in their work and has a thirst for learning, then the cybersecurity field ticks those boxes. You could be working in the industry for decades and you would still find yourself learning, adapting, and stumbling across something new. The people I work also play a part in why I enjoy being in this field. Having a community that helps one another, is transparent and can have a laugh is vital when working in such a fast paced and challenging industry.
What are your words of advice to encourage other women to work in the space?
If getting into the field is something you’d like to do but aren’t sure how or if it would be the right move for you then starting a conversation with someone who’s already in the field via LinkedIn or other platforms would be a low barrier way of getting some insight into some of your burning questions about the field. It might even get you thinking of other points of consideration about the field that you may not have thought of yet. You also don’t have to know everything right off the bat when applying for that job listing you saw. Employers and hiring managers value someone who is curious, driven and hungry to learn, yet might only be starting out in the industry, so they are aware this person’s technical or role specific knowledge might not extensive. However, they are willing to give that person a go because they see them as driven and are passionate about what they are learning. A good way to exhibit this is by dedicating some of your time to self study in the field and even starting out with some low cost fundamentals training on platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, Microsoft Learn etc. If you’re willing to invest a bit more, then taking the time to complete certifications such as those provided by CompTIA are also a great way to show hiring managers that you’ve put in time and work to develop yourself a solid foundation to build upon.
