Kristin Strand: Transitioning to Cybersecurity from Teaching and the Military

Kristin Strand's Career Journey

• 🎯 Kristin Strand, a Cybersecurity Associate Consultant at BARR Advisory, shares her diverse career path, starting with a childhood dream of becoming a teacher.
• 🎓 She joined the Army to fund her education, initially planning to teach physical education before switching her major to math.
• 💼 After six years of teaching, she sought a more lucrative career with job security, leading her to explore the IT and cybersecurity field.

Transitioning to IT and Cybersecurity

• 💡 Strand leveraged her innate tech-savviness and trial-and-error approach to learn new skills, previously working as a flight operations specialist in the Army.
• 🚀 To gain civilian IT experience, she changed her Army specialty to IT, though her role primarily involved antennas.
• 🎓 A Department of Labor program connected her with an apprenticeship, a 12-week paid program that provided certifications and training in cybersecurity.

Advice on Career Goals

• 📌 Strand emphasizes the importance of knowing your goals and being firm in pursuing them.
• ⚠️ She recounts declining a help desk position, even when offered twice through the apprenticeship program, because she was set on a cybersecurity role.
• ✅ Standing firm on her goal ultimately led her to her current role in cybersecurity, which she considers her best career decision.

Current Role and Future Aspirations

• 🏢 Strand expresses happiness with her current role at BARR Advisory, highlighting the company's positive culture and employee care.
• 🎓 She is currently training for a new specialty as a drill sergeant, which aligns more with her previous military experience in training new soldiers.
• 🌟 She sees herself staying with BARR Advisory for the foreseeable future, enjoying her work in cybersecurity.