Curious who’s on the other end of the phone or helping you through your Cyber Essentials certification? Find out through our Meet the Team series.
Q: What is your role at ID Cyber?
A: Cyber Essentials and Cyber Assurance Assessor
Q: When did you join ID Cyber?
A: July 2023
Q: Can you describe your role at ID Cyber?
A: Though I’m no longer the newbie, I am relatively fresh here! I am one of the Cyber Essentials and Cyber Assurance assessors at ID Cyber. As the business expands, I’m on the hunt for innovative ideas to inspire and develop training for new starts. I’m always on the lookout for ways to streamline processes or tasks ’cause… Why not make something easier if it can be?!
Q: What’s your favourite thing about working at ID Cyber?
A: Straight out the door, and I know almost everyone so far has said this but… it’s the team. The culture, the community. We’ve really got something special at ID Cyber. It’s the kind of place you imagine an office to be before you’re a “grown-up”.
By far, the best place I’ve ever worked and I’m practically just in the door!
Q: How did you end up working in cyber security?
A: I used to work as an insurance fraud investigator but the way my brain processes information makes me want to investigate everything deeper, deeper, and deeper. At 27 I thought it was too late for me to change careers or reskill. I was wrong.
I’d always regretted not going to university and then lockdown hit. Finally, enough time to focus on improving me! I knew I had to find something that’d engage my brain and activate that neurodivergent hyperfocus superpower. For me, that was cyber security!
Q: What advice do you have for anyone interested in working in cyber security?
A: It’s a daunting sounding industry and it sounds impenetrable from the outside but I’d start with local events, read things online, keep on top of what’s happening in the news. Or come along to Hack Thursdays [a monthly cyber security meetup in Glasgow] — come meet some of the people in the industry and listen to what they have to say!
Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?
A: What spare time? Ha!
If I was to list everything I try to do you might be reading this for a long time. I’ve got an amazing wee fashionable whippet called Fran who demands a lot of attention and cuddles (which I’m only too happy to give), I’m re-learning how to play guitar, I love going to the gym, I’m trying to cram as many different languages into my brain as humanly possible and my wife and I love to absolutely binge watch thriller shows. As the dark nights start to creep in I’m reading more books than I could possibly keep track of!
Q: What’s your favourite genre of music?
A: I truly love every kind of music but my absolute favourite is any form of extreme metal. Anything that sounds like a chainsaw in a bin, falling down some stairs… during a demolition. Pure, cacophonous noise. It sings to my soul!
Q: Who’s your favourite superhero?
A: THOR! The God of Thunder. I’m obsessed with anything remotely Viking related. Maybe it’s because I grew up by the sea… Maybe I just want my own Mjolnir.