Teaching cybersecurity

Let's cut to the chase: I've been hired as a part-time cybersecurity teacher at a local college. I will be responsible for an identity and access management evening course while keeping my full-time day job. Needless to say, I have to put the blog on hiatus for 3 months to make room for this new challenge.

Why? That's quite simple.

Every week, people reach out on LinkedIn asking for advice on getting started in cybersecurity.

I'm grateful to have this type of reach. My friends get spammed by vendors.

I always respond by bringing up my story. This is how I faced rejection and failures and ended up turning things around thanks to taking a risk on higher education and receiving a few lucky bounces.

But here's the thing: people contacting me are mainly US-based. They just don't have the same chances I had due to overpriced college degrees.

In Canada, we have affordable higher education.

I wouldn't have made it by only doing self-training. With kids, you need some type of external rigour to frame things around.

The main reason for starting this blog is to help people see security in a new light and inspire them to advocate for high ethics and integrity.

Given the education infrastructure we benefit from in Quebec and Canada, I believe joining these ranks is what's best to achieve this goal.

For $201 Canadian, our 20 students have 450 hours of cybersecurity class, plus a bunch of resources such as career advisors, wellness professionals, teachers with a network within the area, and, well, each other as peers. They get a diploma which is recognized by the government, helping them bust the "HR filter" wherever they apply. To me, this creates a path that minimizes people's anxiety and financial risk.

I'm both excited and terrified.

Did you have a cybersecurity teaching experience, either as a teacher or as a student? I want to hear your story!