How did you land your first job in Cyber? A North West Student Chapter Event

Updated: Jun 27, 2023

October saw us deliver our fifth North West Student Chapter event - “How did you land your first job in Cyber?”.

Bringing together over 100 students from universities across the North West region for a 2-hour hybrid event. The event allowed students to hear from industry professionals: Mathew Cowey, Cyber Team Lead - Cyfor, Jennifer Roderick, Cyber Threat Team Manager - National Management Centre (NMC), and Robert Hegarty, Innovation Engineer - National Management Centre (NMC)/BT.

“Amazing event today, I learnt a lot and the event helped me build a broader understanding of how to set myself up post graduation.”

The first speaker was Mathew Cowey, Cyber Team Lead - Cyfor

Each speaker covered their career path to date, how they broke into the cyber industry with their first role, and offered key insight into how students could develop in-demand skills. Following this, the students were treated to further insight from a panel of young professionals (and previous members of the NWCRC student cohort) including Maks Gotkowicz, Azure Security Engineer - Lloyds Banking Group, Amirali Rasaei, Information Security Analyst - The Hut Group, Saira Hassan, Security Consultant - NCC Group, and Shaza Al-Haddad, Cyber Security Consultant - Fujitsu.

Former NWCRC students Maks Gotkowicz, Amirali Rasaei, Saira Hassan & Shaza Al-Haddad

“The speakers were amazing. Gave a lot of information in a way that helped me understand a lot about, not just Cybersecurity but also life experiences.”

Students loved hearing from Jennifer Roderick, Cyber Threat Team Manager at the NMC

Each of the panellists was able to provide unique insight into their route into the industry, and each of their discussions highlighted the diverse range of approaches available for attending students, relating to Cloud Security, Penetration Testing, and Information Security. This information was incredibly well received by attendees, with 100% of them saying they would recommend the NWCRC Student Chapter events to a fellow student.

A special thank you to all of our speakers who made this event possible!

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