From Healthcare Physician to Sr. Cybersecurity Analyst: How Samy Transitioned into a Cybersecurity Career
Meet Samyuktha Anand, a senior SOC (Security Operations Center) analyst for a global SOC. Day-to-day, she is on call 24/7. Analysts on her team take turns working weekends to ensure round-the-clock care. Every alert is like a new investigation to determine if something is malicious or not or is affecting a system’s environment. Since Samy enjoys that investigative part, cybersecurity came naturally to her. She likes constantly having to learn and keeping herself up-to-date as things continuously change in the industry.
In college, Samy majored in neuroscience and earned a Master of Science in Public Health. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she did a lot of policy-related work. How expectations changed for her role in the healthcare industry took its toll. Things that she saw happening during COVID-19 really weighed her down. It also impacted her family, who saw her return home looking sad. Samy began to reconsider where she wanted her life to go. Eventually, her search led her to Evolve Security Academy’s Cybersecurity Bootcamp. Its reputation for a hands-on approach stood out to her. In the bootcamp, having interactive Teaching Assistants, excellent instructors, and hands-on, virtual labs helped Samy learn everything needed to work in cybersecurity. Samy found that redoing the labs helped her understand the technical aspects better. Those labs have helped her in her job.
Evolve’s career coach helped Samy prepare to look for jobs. As they worked, Samy ended up with several different cybersecurity resumes, one tailored for GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance), another for SOC positions, etc. Also, the career coach recommended she work and network on LinkedIn. Although she didn't secure her job via LinkedIn, reaching out to strangers through cold messaging and presenting herself helped her gain confidence during interviews. She sent out hundreds of applications and resumes before a recruiter finally reached out to her.
