Morgan Zantua, Center for Cybersecurity Innovation Program Director
Welcome to week three. By now, if you are like me, I am reviewing my New Year’s resolutions and assessing which ones I can maintain. As a die-hard resolution maker, I take the approach, “if at first you don’t succeed, develop new strategies and try again.”
Here are tips, Brain Hacks[i], to help you realize your New Year’s Resolutions. First, try temptation bundling. Match something you like to do with something you “must” do. Getting your exercise routine completed while listening to a favorite POD Cast is one example. Second, break big goals into small achievable units. Studying for an industry certification can feel overwhelming. Instead of thinking you must study 50 hours to pass the certification, break study time into 30-minute daily segments. Third, make it fun! Competitions and gamification are proven ways to have fun and master skills. Whether you participate in the National Cyber League, the CAE Games, or Tryhackme, WhatTheHack, you are deepening your learning, building skills you can validate through competitions, and improving interview opportunities. Fourth, realize you are making an investment in your future success by dedicating your time to implementing these BRAIN Hacks. Realize that technology hiring managers look for candidates who go “above and beyond” to learn outside the classroom.
My final Brain Hack tip: focus on your successes. not your failures. Regroup and try again until you do succeed. Start your resolutions tied to special dates, birthdays, new year’s, or the start of a cycle to motivate change. The point of this tip is to never give up! The mark of a true warrior is she/he/them who can conquer herself/himself/themself.
[i] Retrieved from: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-but-better/id1028908750?i=1000591334408 15:30 seconds into the podcast.
The cybersecurity talent gap will remain an ongoing challenge in 2023, with organizations struggling to fill open cybersecurity jobs. The global cybersecurity workforce grew to 4.7 million people in 2022, reaching its highest-ever levels, according to a new study. However, the same study found that there is still a need for more than 3.4 million security professionals, an increase of over 26% from 2021. The demand for cybersecurity is greater than ever due to an evolving threat landscape. However, the available potential workforce is not keeping pace with that demand, largely because of a lack of interest from young people entering the job market.
The tech industry often blames the lack of interest in cybersecurity among current college students and recent graduates on an insufficient STEM curriculum. Too many current and former students lack adequate skills in math and science, which prevents them from qualifying for advanced programs in technology that could steer them towards cybersecurity careers. As a result, many managers report that the main problem with closing the talent gap has more to do with skills rather than with the recruiting of cyber professionals. Too many organizations hiring cybersecurity talent are looking for candidates who are able to check off every single box on the application form.
The City of Everett is accepting applications on an open/competitive basis for the Civil Service examination process for SECURITY ANALYST II. This position is responsible for data security, disaster recovery, firewall and web security, and change control management of the organization’s IT systems.
https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/everettwa/jobs/3888290/security-analyst-ii-operational-technology
2023 NICE Conference and Expo Scholarship Opportunities
We are happy to announce that we will be providing sponsorships to a select few higher education students that will cover their registration cost, travel, hotel accommodation, and some meals. This opportunity will provide students with the ability to attend the conference with the goal of gaining new knowledge, sharing their work, and engaging with cybersecurity practitioners from academia, government, and industry.
The selection is competitive and only a small number of students will be accepted. Students must be prepared to submit their basic personal information, an application essay, a resume, and a letter of recommendation. Students will then be selected by our 2023 NICE Conference Washington State Academic Consortium Committee based on the criteria that were requested. STC students are encouraged to apply. Click here for the sponsorship application. To be considered students must fill out the application prior to the deadline on Sunday, February 5, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Students will be notified if their application has been approved or denied by the end of March 2023. For additional information contact zantuamorgan@cityu.edu.
STC has access to scholarships developed through The Center for Cybersecurity Innovation. We need your help to get the word out about these time-sensitive scholarships. Presently, all scholarships require applicants be US Citizens or Green Card holders.
Department of Defense Cyber Scholarship Program (DoDCySP): apply for an opportunity for a full tuition undergraduate (junior & seniors)/graduate scholarship for service with a stipend and employment component. Candidates will demonstrate understanding cybersecurity competencies.
Become a Cybersecurity High School Teacher– open to high school teachers in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington state: Online with a four day in-person summer summit in Seattle.
STARTALK-scholarship: Earn 30 college credits and enhance your Korean Culture, Language and combine web design, cybersecurity, and Python skills. Citizens and Green Card holders, ages 17 to 40 are encouraged to apply. The program begins Spring Quarter.
Become a valued member of the STC teaching assistant or student worker community. These work roles provide practical work experience, additional opportunities to learn, build your skills and your resume. Additional benefits include working closely with faculty and fellow students as you build your own personal professional network.
There are multiple openings for the Student Assistant, School of Technology and Computing Student Assistant, School of Technology and Computing and Student Worker, Center for Cybersecurity Innovation, School of Technology and Computing. Interviews have started. Apply today!
The Advanced Computing Systems Research Program (ACS) in the NSA Research Directorate is joining with their counterparts in the High-Performance Computing Solutions (HPCS) and Operations (OPS) organizations to provide a select number of undergraduate students an exciting 8-week internship opportunity.
The FCSI will focus on High Performance Computing (HPC), a field critical to national security, discovery, and technological innovation. This internship experience is ideal for students who will be completing their junior year (Spring 2024 graduates), and is well-suited for students in math, computer science, computer engineering, or related STEM fields.
For more information and instructions on how to apply, please click here.
The AWS Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Scholarship program, in collaboration with Intel and Udacity, aims to help underserved and underrepresented high school and college students learn foundational ML concepts to prepare them for careers in AI and ML. For more information click here.
The second New Tech Seattle meetup of 2023 is on Thursday, February 9th at 5:00 PM.
February Presenters Founders, leaders & innovators share their passion & new tech through 5-minute presentations & 3 minutes of your Q&A.
Tickets: $10 registration fee Day of event @the door $20. Get your tickets
Use promo code asparagus to attend for free!
WiCyS 2023
Women in CyberSecurity is holding their annual conference on March 16-18, 2023 in Denver, Colorado!
Students MUST apply for a WiCyS scholarship to attend the conference (there is no general WiCyS 2023 registration for students) and have to be a current WiCyS student member to apply. For more information and to apply for a scholarship click here.
The National Initiative for CyberSecurity’s education holds its national conference from June 5-7. The NICE Conference will be held in Seattle, WA.
Watch this spot for more opportunities to be involved in this national conference.
Click here to view our monthly calendar
Check out the C4CYI YouTube Channel for STC recorded Invited Talks and events. Explore ACM Tech Talks and the ACM website to watch their free informative Tech Talks. ACM, the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, delivers resources that advance computing as a science and a profession. You can find record CAE Tech talks here. For questions on CAE Tech Talk, please send them email.
Anyone curious or interested in Cybersecurity is welcome to join! The club is also open to alumni, we encourage all current and future alumni to attend the meetings.
We have launched our Breach of the Week program! Each week, one club member presents a breach or aspect of current cyber events to the club in 3-5 minutes. This is a great opportunity to practice presentation skills and gain
constructive feedback.
Important Update: Meetings have been moved to Fridays at 3:00 PDT via MS Teams.
Cybersecurity Club open roles are:
For more information about each role, please contact Dan Montague
NCL – Join the competition – starting January 30th 2023
STC Tech Club meets every Thursday from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM (PDT) via Teams to provide tech-related learning opportunities, skill development, and networking. Students or faculty who would like to share their expertise or project, please contact Adrian Parker. Click here to join. Everyone is invited!
January 26th Workshop announcement
Deirdre Grimes deirdregrimes@cityu.edu
Resume Building
The STC Tech Club is proud to announce we are providing vouchers for 50% discounts on the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification exam. Please contact parkeradrian@cityuniversity.edu if interested.
STC Tech Club Private Cloud Lab MS Teams link
Now HIRING! Please contact parkeradrian@cityuniversity.edu if interested.
VP of Marketing
Virtual Workshops/Conferences/Learning/Open Source Projects
The Data Science Club would like to invite you to our weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 4pm PDT. You can join our meetings using the link here. We will be covering various topics this quarter including Computer Vision, Data Engineering, and NLP!
Please reach out to the club president, Mahathi Vucha, with any questions.
Click here for information about the Google Developer Student Club – City University of Seattle Chapter. In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to email us at gdsc.cityu@gmail.com.