## Instructions ``` Students will submit a 1-page (12-point font, single-spaced) reflection paper that addresses the following questions: 1. How did the work experiences and/or community involvement activities you submitted evidence of prepare you for a future career in Cybersecurity? 2. What skills did you use that are taught in your program?  This includes any core competencies required for the field of Cybersecurity. 3.  What [career catalysts](https://sheridancollege.libguides.com/Career-Catalysts) did you develop that would be important to a cybersecurity professional?  Utilize at least three of the career catalysts to describe your employability skills. 4. Please give an example of a situation you faced during your experience where you had to use your communication skills. What was the situation you faced? How did you use your communication skills to resolve it? What was the outcome/result? ``` # Reflection ## How did the work experiences and/or community involvement activities that I submitted, are evidence of how much it prepared myself for a future career in Cybersecurity? I believe the ISSessions involvement that I posted as evidence has prepared more than any other extracurricular activities I could do outside of school. I am able to attend many events, talk about the club, myself, my interests, and meet fantastic people in the process. I extremely enjoy coming to campus every two weeks to see the wonderful new and old faces coming to our session to hear about the news or our guest speaker. I cannot wait to be on campus next term to see these faces more than every couple weeks. I also am able to attend many security conferences, as well as competing in CTFs! Additionally, I believe my work experience at Purolator for the past 3 years, coming up to 4 years, has been instrumental in my development as a person. I have been put in situations where I am responsible for other people, what they do, and where they go. I have been given added responsibility on top of my normal job duties and still I am able to excel in all areas. I always offer help, and make sure others understand what they are doing or why they are doing it. This, I know, is essential in a team-based environment, which is what most cyber security jobs operate as. I believe these two pieces of evidence are more than thorough enough to prepare myself in a future in Cyber Security! ## What skills did I use that are taught in my program?  This includes any core competencies required for the field of Cybersecurity. While studying for interviews and potential roles, I would often practice on TryHackMe or HackTheBox, as I would love to eventually have a red teaming role, as a pentester! Along with learning more things about the red team, I practiced Cryptography, which was a hard class for me last term, but finished strong, and I have Advanced Cryptography coming up next term, so I wanted to practice that. I also pride myself for report writing, technical and non-technical, and I have all my writeups on my website online, for ISSessions presentations, personal writeups, or challenges! I also practiced OpSec and AppSec as those are my secondary choices for a primary role, if I have a choice :). ## What [Career Catalysts](https://sheridancollege.libguides.com/Career-Catalysts) did I develop that would be important to a cybersecurity professional?  Utilize at least three of the career catalysts to describe your employability skills. I think that I bring creativity into all aspects of my life, be it as a student or at a workplace. Once I have a little bit of experience working on a certain topic or at a certain job, I always try to find things that I can do to apply my thoughts creatively to positively influence an activity or requirement. I always try to find the most efficient processes for actions or job duties, or if I find something I do on a repetitive basis, then I try to improve it. I always try to include others if I am not working in a solo environment. I would say that my Digital Literacy is always at the highest it can be, as I constantly stay up-to-date with not just new technology but new ways on how we as people use new or old technology! I am constantly aware with how to critically evaluate technologies, be it websites, software, hardware, or even social media. I would say the final Catalyst that helps to make me employable is my Emotional Intelligence. Once again, I pride myself on how high my emotional IQ is. I am ***always*** aware of other's perspectives, views, and ways to approach a certain topic or situation. I can instantly read someone's emotions and start to feel how they feel. I understand how others feel in almost all situations and it is **extremely*** helpful, I cannot think of another personality trait of mine that I believe in as highly as this one. It has enabled me to connect with many of my classmates and team members. I am constantly told how easy I am to approach and have a conversation with. I truly believe this is a great employability skill of mine. ## Give an example of a situation I faced during your experience where I had to use my communication skills. What was the situation I faced? How did I use your communication skills to resolve it? What was the outcome/result? There was a situation I faced in an interview for Packetlabs, where I was asked a certain question about a topic and I was hitting a wall in my memory, so I simply explained to the interviewers, that while I do know of the topic, I am unfamiliar with the details, but would be more than eager to learn. I always try to show potential employers how much I can adapt to any role, and I pride myself on my soft skills. I am a fantastic people person, and I always find ways to break that barrier to show others that I am not just adaptable, but also someone who can use communication to achieve a fantastic result. I always make sure I explain what I am doing or how I came to that answer.