As a security professional, I am used to new vulnerabilities and threats materializing every day, creating unforeseen challenges and a huge learning scope. It can be difficult, but that is what drew me to the profession in the first place.
I have been in the IT and security arena since 2009, working for five companies ranging from internet service providers to large corporates. Before relocating to Canada from Bangladesh to work as an IT security architect, I oversaw a 1,500-plus person workforce as a CISO and managed the security and audits for major global clients such as Expedia, Bloomberg, AOL, Triad, The Walt Disney Company and BBC.
To take on such challenges, I have had to be a voracious learner. In fact, I am one of the highest IT vendor certificate bearers (27 to be exact) in my country. These credentials were needed for different challenges and opportunities, and they helped me to keep pace with the evolving threats I encounter. Accumulating so many credentials has not an easy task. I always challenge myself to learn new things and manage at least an hour in a day to gather new knowledge. I usually study on the weekends for 8-10 hours for new certifications and free up my schedule for uninterrupted study sessions. To make that happen, I needed to give up social gatherings and favorite pastimes like traveling, writing song lyrics and jamming to music to prioritize studying at various points of my career.
It has all been worth it because the credentials help me greatly on a regular basis. In my work as a CISO for one of the best business process outsourcing companies in the world, the challenges of implementation were consuming, but I was able to succeed by drawing upon the diverse bodies of knowledge that I gathered. From completing daily tasks to excelling in meetings to overseeing deliverables, those certifications always helped me stay one step ahead. Still, I am craving more, and have a plan to go for all ISACA certifications within next two years, to add to my current Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE) credentials.
Through all these years, I still have a passion for what I do. In my current role, I am working with the latest security frameworks and managing risk management programs and performing IT governance work. My current company’s business is quite different compared to previous ones I worked for, so regular enhancement of my knowledge remains a must, and I do that with the utmost pleasure.