CyberWire Daily - Jaden Dicks: It is never too early to start. [CyberVista intern] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: February 12, 2023

Jaden Dicks, a new intern at CyberVista, a company that merged with CyberWire to become N2K Networks, shares his story as a young man growing up trying to get into the cyber community. From a very young age, Jaden hoped to become part of the cybersecurity field, He recalls growing up constantly being surrounded by technology, and now with the help of Urban Alliance, Jaden was able to secure this internship with CyberVista. Urban Alliance is a nonprofit that connects young adults with paid work experiences, such as internships to help them bridge the gaps between education and the workforce. Jaden hopes that this internship will help him further advance his career and help him to pursue his goals of working in cyber. He also shares advice to younger people like him who are looking to branch out and start working toward your goals, even as a teenager, and what has helped him to find his rhythm. We thank Jaden for sharing his story with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Cyber Wire Network, powered by N2K. and VPNs, yet breaches continue to rise by an 18% year-over-year increase in ransomware attacks and a $75 million record payout in 2024. These traditional security tools expand your attack surface with public-facing IPs that are exploited by bad actors more easily than ever with AI tools. It's time to rethink your security. Thank you. Learn more at zscaler.com slash security. When I was growing up, maybe like in middle school, I've always had a passion for computers. And I didn't know what computers, I really liked, you know, stuff like VR, video games. My favorite player was like Sonic. I was really, you know, interested in computers. I was always, you know, curious of, you know, the potential of computers and what can get into it.

And I was really trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my future, and I need to know what high school can best benefit me career-wise. And one of my good friends told me about her high school. And I went over there, got interviewed, went through the whole process, and I ended up meeting the IT teacher. And he was telling me about all the opportunities in his field and why it would be a good choice to choose a school. So thankfully, I chose a school and I now attend the school and I'm on pace of graduating. I grew up with technology. Like as I was growing up, I was growing up with Instagram. I grew up with technology.

Like, as I was growing up, I was growing up with Instagram. Around my preteens, a musical that turned into TikTok, and that started becoming a big thing. And the thing was, I didn't even have social media back then. And in all honesty, I really wanted to experience it and to see what it had to offer or everything that I thought that I was missing out on. And when I finally got to it, it just grew my hunger for it even more so. So it all started off back in eighth grade. There was an after-school program for coding, and pretty much for about an hour, we just learned how to code pretty much. And they gave us cookies, we learned how to code.

And that's when my love for working on computers started. My first job was only one day a week on the weekend at a car wash. What I was supposed to do was customer service and I was supposed to sweep and mop the floors so it doesn't overflow because it was a car wash. So after a good three, four months of working that job, I had to resign for two reasons. Number one reason was because it honestly got depressing. I could not see myself doing something like that every single day. And the second reason why I had to resign from my job is because my grades were honestly slipping. I was really struggling to win my ELA classes, so I had to resign and give more attention to that. But after I got everything I need to take care of taken care of, that upcoming summer, I did SYEP, the Summer Youth Employment Program.

And basically, I was supposed to be an IT assistant, but sadly to say, my manager at the time, he wasn't doing his job correctly, so I had to be transferred to finance. And in all honesty, I've learned a lot of good things from finance because in the finance, we learned about how money can be managed, how, and that gave me just a taste of what the real world was like. Now, I'm in CyberVista through Urban Alliance. Now, Urban Alliance, they're pretty much a program to get kids in the D.C. region to good head start in the workforce.

What we had to do before we got into the workforce was go through an eight-week training us how to use stuff like Google Sheets, how to act at work, how to code switch, how to be professional, and also practice it during the eight weeks so they'll know whether or not we're trustworthy enough or whether or not we're ready

to take on certain jobs and certain roles. I stayed disciplined, I stayed professional, and I was pretty much doing everything that I ready to take on certain jobs and certain roles. I stayed disciplined, I stayed professional, and I was pretty much doing everything that I needed to do in order to secure my spot. Urban Alliance helped me set my goals by getting me connected with people and certain jobs that I didn't even know was out there. They opened doors for me that were nearly impossible for me to open for

myself. I've encountered plenty of challenges throughout the whole process of it all. One of the very first challenge that I faced was during COVID-19, because that's the year that I had to start taking IT Essentials, which pretty much was the start of everything. And that's supposed to be an in-person class. That set us back almost a whole year. We had to take the whole class virtually. So it was the big mess. I was struggling.

I was putting in a lot of extra work after school, just studying. And it was just a big struggle. after school just studying it was just a big struggle the second challenge I encountered was when we got back into school my focus shifted from my occupation to I'll be honest girls because I was in a house for way too long for way too long and I just shifted my focus a little bit, and I lost focus. I had to get my focus back on track. And then after I got my focus back on track, my goals started skyrocketing because things just started going better for me.

I started becoming, you know, the type of person I always dreamt of myself to be. and a young self to be. My advice to anyone who is young, ambitious, and wants to make a good living for themselves, the first thing I always tell anybody is look at your interests and what you like to do. Because one thing I've been advised by a really close mentor of mine, what she told me was, if you enjoy what you do, you won't work a day in your life.

Number two is you have to have discipline and you have to really want it. And this is coming from somebody who's still in the process of getting what they want. You have to really stay disciplined and hone in on everything that you want to get, whether that's electrical, whether that's construction, whether that's IT, whether that's anything, whether it's drawing, whether it's being a YouTuber, being a gamer, it doesn't matter what you want to do. You have to hone in on it and work hard at it. Last thing I would say is don't be afraid to ask for help. Never rely on anybody else for your success, but don't be afraid to ask for help because nobody does everything on their own, especially if you dream big. Even if you look at the most successful companies, Apple, Microsoft, Google, they all have a network.

They all have a team. It's not just Elon Musk. It's not just Mark Zuckerberg. It's not just Mark Cuban. It's not just Elon Musk. It's not just Mark Zuckerberg. It's not just Mark Cuban. It's not just Jeff Bezos. They all have people to work with and they all have a network. So don't ever be afraid to invest in yourself and to ask for help and to get guidance from somebody who knows more than you or has been in a predicament you have been. than you or has been in a predicament you have been.

Because his or her advice or helping you get to your stepping stone can save you maybe years of training. It's never too early to start. Hey, everybody. Dave here. Thank you. me. I have to say, delete me is a game changer. Within days of signing up, they started removing my personal information from hundreds of data brokers. I finally have peace of mind knowing my data privacy is protected. Delete me's team does all the work for you with detailed reports so you know exactly what's been done. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me. Now at a special discount for our listeners. Today, get 20% off your Delete Me plan when you go to joindeleteme.com slash n2k and use promo code n2k at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to joindeleteme.com slash N2K and enter code N2K at checkout.

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