Kristin Strand: Transitioning to Cybersecurity from Military and Teaching

Kristin Strand's Career Journey

• 🎯 Kristin Strand, a Cybersecurity Associate Consultant at BARR Advisory, shares her unconventional path from aspiring teacher to military service, and finally to cybersecurity.
• 💡 She initially wanted to be a teacher since second grade and joined the Army to fund her college education.

Military Service and Education

• 🎖️ Strand found that approaching challenges by observing those who had already succeeded helped her navigate basic training and her army objectives.
• 📚 She pursued a degree in math education, teaching for six years, enjoying problem-solving but seeking a more lucrative career.

Transition to IT and Cybersecurity

• 💻 Driven by a desire for job security and a forward-looking career, Strand decided to transition into the IT field.
• 🚀 She utilized a Department of Labor program that connected her with an apprenticeship, a 12-week paid program that provided certifications and training in cybersecurity.

Career Advice and Perseverance

• 🗣️ Strand emphasizes the importance of setting firm goals and sticking to them, even when faced with alternative paths.
• ⚠️ She recounts declining help desk positions multiple times, despite suggestions to start there, to wait for a cybersecurity opportunity, which ultimately proved to be the best decision.
• ✨ Strand expresses happiness with her current role, highlighting the positive company culture at BARR Advisory and her satisfaction with her career choice.