How I Spent My Time After Getting Laid Off – Security+, Python, and a career shift!

I got laid off for the first time in my career this past May. Many projects at the company had reduced funding and I was one of multiple people on my team that was let go. The team I was on was the most supportive team I’ve had in my career thus far and the project I was working on was one that interested me. During the months prior, my manager had assured me that I would find another role at the company. I was fortunate to have advance notice that my role was in jeopardy. I filled out as many applications for internal roles as I could and interviewed for several of them. I also applied to a couple roles outside the company but at the time was only focusing on internal roles. My manger had assured me in every call we had that he was not sharing bad news. Weeks later I had a call put on my calendar with my manager and a representative from HR. I didn’t have any heads up prior to the call on what it would be regarding. During the call I received my two week notice. My stomach dropped and I was in shock. Even though I knew that I was at risk of getting let go, hearing the news confirmed felt very different. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. My manager was super supportive and assured me that even though I would no longer be at the company, he would always be someone there for me to reach out to and have as a support no matter where my career took me. I am very grateful to have had such an amazing manager.

At the time, I was unsure of what I wanted to do next in my career. I had only been a software engineer so far with experience working on different teams using Java, Python, and C++. I had grown exhausted with dealing with large codebases and trying to figure out bugs that were very involved with the code. I felt that I was missing something as my teammates were able to debug the code with quite a bit more ease than I did. I had been a software engineer for a little over three and a half years and figured if I’m struggling even after all this experience, maybe pure software development isn’t for me.

Some of my other interests involved data science and cybersecurity. I worked on data science projects while in school and had newly discovered cybersecurity as a potential path after discussing with a couple colleagues and friends as well as read online about other’s experiences. An overwhelmingly common consensus was to get the CompTIA Security+ certification as a starting point. The certification provides an introduction to security principles and is an entry-level certificate in the field. I began to study for the certification using Professor Messer’s free online course and ebooks from O’Reilly with summaries, practice questions, and practice tests. I have O’Reilly access included with my public library card. I bought Security+ practice exams from Professor Messer for additional practice. I took about two and a half months to study for the exam. The exam has a lot of content which took quite a bit of time to digest. I took my exam on July 12th this year and passed. Security+ provided me a comprehensive introduction to cybersecurity and I’m happy with my experience.

I applied for cybersecurity jobs and while the Security+ certificate checked off a box on most applications, me not having direct cybersecurity or IT work experience is where I fell short. I then explored data science further, taking online courses in Python. I also completed projects on the platform as well, applying my skills. I reignited my interest in data science. I utilized multiple platform I was encouraged to apply for data science and machine learning roles where I completely overhauled my resume including personal projects as well as projects from school.

A few days after I passed the Security+ exam, I received a LinkedIn message which led me to the role I’m currently in. I applied to many job postings on LinkedIn and did not have much luck with those. In the past, I’ve had LinkedIn messages from recruiters which led to interviews so I was excited about the message. I interviewed at the start of August and at the end of September joined the company as a Machine Learning Software Engineer. I was very excited to work in a new area of tech, one I had dabbled in during school but not professionally. My new role involves Python, PySpark, and SQL. I am still just over a month into my new role and feel rejuvenated at a new company exploring a new area of tech!

Cover photo by Concord90