CyberWire Daily - Megan Doherty: Conquer barriers in the workforce. [Technical Specialist] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: October 23, 2022

Megan Doherty, a Technical Specialist from Microsoft Canada sits down to share her story of overcoming barriers in the workforce to get to where she is today in her career. Megan started out being a mechanical engineer before making the switch to do something with more creativity and problem solving. She shares about her passion of working with a group Microsoft created called "DigiGirlz." As well as just being able to work with her team who she says helps her face the world of adversity in her career. Megan said "There's so many barriers, just even mentally that we put on ourselves when it comes to looking for a career change or even thinking of cybersecurity as your next career path." She hopes that she leaves a legacy of kindness and compassion behind especially in the industry she is works in. We thank Megan for sharing her 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. My name is Megan Doherty. I'm a security technical specialist with Microsoft Canada. I wanted to be a fine artist. I think a good part of me still wants to be a fine artist, but I ended up finding my way to originally mechanical engineering, actually, because I

thought engineering as well as being able to design cars would lead me into that realm of creativity still. I started my journey by beginning in mechanical engineering at the University of New Brunswick and that didn't last too long. I actually made the switch very quickly to software engineering as I discovered that creativity and problem solving within the lines of software development much more matched where I saw my future going. Then that happened directly out of high school. And then I spent five years working towards my software engineering degree, graduating in 2019. I think creativity is something you nurture.

I think as children, and I used to teach at a computer science education startup where I took over managing it afterwards, and you see creativity from the beginning. The ways in which child conceptualizes designing, let's say, a robot or maybe a computer game, or maybe it's just designing how they want a website to look is completely different from adults. The boundaries we put in place from allowing us to solve problems outside of traditional contexts and we really put ourselves into boxes makes creativity something that needs to be nurtured as we continue to develop ourselves into our careers. So I began working while I was still getting my academic degree, so within my software

engineering degree. And I had various odd jobs as a student, as I think everyone does. But the one that sticks out with me the most is working for a small startup that at the time was called Cyber Launch Academy. And that was a computer science startup that taught specialized education and courses to kids within various settings that allowed them to begin their computer science and technical journeys early on. I started with teaching the girls robotics class for ages, I think, seven to probably 11 for about two hours a week. And that took me to, I'd say, the end of my degree before I joined Microsoft, which was an absolute privilege. We taught within public and

private and Indigenous schools as well, which was amazing to see the reach that we had. From there, I actually got reached out to on LinkedIn. I thought it was a message to upgrade to LinkedIn Premium, but it was actually a recruiter looking for me to apply to a position that was previously called the Technical Account Manager. And I took that on and they hired me, which was amazing. So directly after school, about 10 days after I started my career with Microsoft. I worked with the various information systems teams and admin teams within universities. I worked within higher education, which is very much a passion area for myself. But I found myself not being challenged enough. And that's when I saw an opening on the security technical specialist team, which is the security sales engineers here within Canada.

And I said, I think that's the area that I want to pursue. DigiGirls is a program that was started 22 years ago by Microsoft that focuses on providing digital literacy as well as programming courses to young girls, which is definitely, I'd say, my passion area outside of graphic novels and cybersecurity. So every Microsoft office generally has a group who says, I want to do a DigiGirls event. And we will put on events, my team specifically, we focused on bringing it globally in order to reach those who are in more remote communities who don't get access to these types of programs on a regular basis. Whereas those in a big city might have a little bit more opportunity. Currently, I'm mentoring an individual right now, and they are in university getting their computer engineering degree. And one of the first things they said is, I was a DigiGirls, and I did that within high school. So seeing that direct correlation to how this program gave them the exposure as well as some of the confidence to say, I'm going to take on a technical education was phenomenal.

that we put on ourselves when it comes to looking for a career change or even thinking of cybersecurity as your next career path. I know for me, it was definitely a large blocker because I wasn't the strongest in school. I actually really struggled as a really creative individual within getting a technical degree. And I thought cybersecurity is only for those who have the 4.3 GPAs or who have 10 years experience. And I would strongly encourage anyone from maybe a non-technical background or especially a technical background that says, I think this is an area I could lend myself to, to take that leap, whether it's going through certifications to get yourself up to date or just having conversations with other security professionals who the majority tend to be fairly friendly about what that looks like for them. I think there's a spot for everyone within this

industry. dealing with adversity has come with different ways i mitigate it throughout the last five years of my career since joining my current team, a lot of it's leaning and relying on them. I'm a little biased. I do think I have the world's best team. They are extremely supportive and we almost have gender balance across the team as well, which is phenomenal. But being able to rely on them and understand based on their experiences how some days are better and some days are not within this industry definitely helps from a career perspective. When I was in school, a lot of it was just powering through. My mom always had this saying that you have 10 minutes to cry and then you pick yourself up and you continue going. And I think that as bitter as that sounds, it was great because you have so much more potential than just sitting there and feeling.

Feel what you need to feel, but don't feel sorry for yourself. There's always going to be people in a community around you who will pick you up and take you where you need to go as long as you're willing to put your foot forward first. As someone who is just starting their career within security, let's say the legacy I hope to leave behind is one of kindness and compassion. I think we don't have enough of that still within tech as a whole, especially within cybersecurity realm. And I hope it's one of being able to share experiences and also move other women up the ranks of cybersecurity. Hey everybody, Dave here. Have you ever wondered where your personal information is lurking online?

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