Callum, 17, from Motherwell

Callum, 17, from Motherwell has attended the CyberFirst Defenders (2018), Futures (2019) and Advanced (2020) courses:

I’ve been heavily involved in STEM for the last 6 years, and so an opportunity for me to combine my passion for STEM subjects and my desire to work in the cyber security industry wasn’t one I was going to pass up. Seeing that the course was SQA accredited and run by the NCSC also gave me confidence that it was a brilliant opportunity to take advantage of.

GAINING PRACTICAL SKILLS AND CYBER SECURITY EXPERIENCE

Taking part in the courses helps you to improve on a number of skills that you never knew you had. From the group projects running throughout the courses where you get to build solid team working skills, to some of the more in-depth technical elements – there is always an opportunity to learn and improve. I left the courses with more knowledge and practical experience of some of the cyber security tools used widely in industry today, and I will be able to carry this knowledge forward into my career.

THE MOST EXCITING MOMENT WAS WHEN I REALISED THIS WAS A CAREER FOR ME

One of the most interesting parts of the weeklong courses was hearing from speakers in industry and understanding their routes into cyber security and what they now do for a living. It is a brilliant way to get young people inspired.

The most exciting moment across all of the courses that I took part in was at the end when we were talked through a presentation slide about all of the paths we could now follow into a career of our own in cyber. I realised that this really is a career path that I would like to pursue. I’d always wanted to work with computers but could never say in exactly what field, CyberFirst gave me the ability to say for definite, I want to work in cyber security.

THE CHALLENGING PARTS WERE THE MOST ENJOYABLE

The most challenging aspects of the courses were also the most enjoyable. These were the hands-on experiences using industry standard tools and solving problems set for you in a cyber security context, for example, using an array of open source intelligence techniques to gather information about a target individual. Tasks like this sometimes require you to think a long way outside the box, even finding individuals that match a description on mapping websites standing outside their homes.

A BRILLIANT OPPORTUNITY

Even for people who are not sure about what career they would like to pursue this is a brilliant opportunity to experience something new, and quickly discover how interesting it is. For the people already looking at a career in cyber, it’s a no-brainer.