June 16, 2021
John Gates - From Car Mechanic to Lead IT Security Analyst
John Gates has always liked to know how do things work - and that has proven to be a beneficial trait. From his first job as a car mechanic to IT consultancy and education to his current role as a Lead IT Security Operations Analyst for a global food brand. He’s also an advisor and former board member at OpsecEdu, an organization educating technologists in state, local, and education agencies on security best practices. Throughout his career, John learned different skills along the way, from presenting security threats without sounding too technical to understanding lateral movement and user behavior.
John Gates has always liked to know how do things work - and that has proven to be a beneficial trait. From his first job as a car mechanic to IT consultancy and education to his current role as a Lead IT Security Operations Analyst for a global food brand. He’s also an advisor and former board member at OpsecEdu, an organization educating technologists in state, local, and education agencies on security best practices. Throughout his career, John learned different skills along the way, from presenting security threats without sounding too technical to understanding lateral movement and user behavior.
Quotes:
- The biggest challenge is making a business or an educational institution understand why they need what you’re presenting. A skill that you really need when you get into infosec is not talking on a high technical level but being able to explain risk, mitigation, and what you’re actually presenting, and how that helps limit risk for a business.
- Everybody that gets into infosec needs to understand how the technologies work from the ground up.
- It costs a lot more to build security into a product after its launch than to build it, to begin with.
- When you’re in K-12 education, most of your adversaries are already in your network, so the outside gets overlooked sometimes.
- Whatever you stand behind or push forward, you need to make sure it gets executed in its entirety and that it actually limits or minimizes the risk you presented.
Tips for transitioning into infosec:
- Having a relevant bachelor’s degree or information security certifications helps get an initial interview by getting you through automatic pre-selection.
- Be prepared to have multiple interviews.
- Know the common security frameworks. They will help you answer interview questions about risk and risk mitigations.
- The interview process also checks whether you have the fortitude to see things through.
LINKS
Commodore Vic-20: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_VIC-20
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johngates/
Breaking IN: A Practical Guide to Starting a Career in Information Security
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