Peter Byrne

My degree helped enhance my CV. I was lucky enough to be plucked right out of University and placed into a role that was not a graduate role. I participated in university events (Barclays Tech Challenge, hackathon and more) and took on lots of roles (Student rep, Student Mentor) and this was all reflected on my developing LinkedIn profile.

My tutors encouraged me to enhance my professional public profile, they spoke about the importance and participation in events and the development of your professional self. This encouraged me to put a focus into trying to make my profile right for the area of security I wanted to go into which enhanced my employability.

Producing assignments about areas of security I was passionate about was my favourite thing about my degree; having to go away and develop my knowledge further to push for the highest marks.

Top 3 skills I have gained from my degree.

Teamwork – As much as I hate to admit it, having to interact and work with others to achieve the end result of a project helped prepare me for working with teams within my current role. I always hated the thought that my grade was dependant on another person’s work, but in the real world, you have to depend on others to improve work and balance your workload.

Working under pressure – deadlines for assignments with a little flexibility helped place pressure on me to get work completed within a certain period, the added benefit of this was improved time management as I was able to outline my days and work toward the goal of completion on each project. This applied a little pressure here and there but ultimately helped me prepare for the hard deadlines and increased pressure I would feel from my job should my time management skills prove insufficient.

Strong analytical skills – Some of the work I completed at University helped pave the way to develop stronger analytical skills. This skill is used daily as I try to analyse certain situations and use that data to make a judgement call, sometimes on my own, and with other members of my team.

I have always had a strong interest in cyber security and kept up to date with the latest attacks and other news from the industry. Listening to podcasts on a daily basis and using that information and knowledge to help develop my own career. My role at BAE Systems involves providing the right level of information assurance so that systems, which are in currently in the design, development or installation phase are able to get accreditation from the Ministry of Defence. This involves developing risk assessments and other risk accreditation documents to back up and prove the systems are adequately secured with minimal risk.

My current plan is to continue to grow my knowledge in security and develop myself with additional qualifications to show my drive and determination to growing my career. Eventually I will run my own team (maybe within a couple of years) and ultimately I would like to be in a position to apply for a job in line with or directly become a Chief Information Security Officer.

If you are going to study at Edge Hill take advantage of the many additional events and extra-curricular activities on offer to make your CV stand out. Take as much as you can from what the department offers, you will not be sorry.