Stirling – Well, first off, spending time with the amazing women in my life: my wife and toddler daughters! Also, with my receipt of the Degree, I have, in parallel, received a promotion to the Role of Principal Security Architect, which is an amazing blessing to come alongside then end of my ALM. Further, I have been developing a Neural Network and set of Machine algorithms to process language in “Structured Agnostic” data. I have begun the patenting process and am even staying connected to my HES professors to continue to utilize their wisdom and kindness.If that is enough, I have also spent the last year volunteer teaching Physics at Koinonia Academy, a small school in the city of Plainfield, NJ. It was so rewarding, as my students honored me in their year book for being able to help the school on technical workarounds during the start of COVID.
This summer I will be working alongside the board and Head Teacher to add Mathematics to the list of morning subjects I teach prior to my work hours for my remote Job as a Cybersecurity professional( Which is PST vs my EST)What advice do you have for Harvard HES students, now that you have graduated?
Use your Professors, use the resources.During my certificate tenure I was always amazed at the intelligence and wisdom of our professors. It wasn’t until I was a degree student, that I realized, these teachers really care about the success of their students. It brings them joy to help and they will be transparent and honest with you every step of the way. Whether its school related, career related, or interest in a scholarly topic, they will not hesitate to help you reach your goals. Don’t Be afraid to connect with them, “Fear has killed more dreams, than Failure ever will.”
In what ways has your Harvard Extension degree impacted your career?
Throughout my ALM degree, I have had amazing, almost perfectly timed professional overlap with my coursework. My cloud security course was taken as I moved into my prior role, at a Cloud Security Organization. I began to learn both the business and technically aspects at length and in tandem, which completely altered my heuristic in the workplace and has allowed me to escalate and lead those with the summated wisdom from my professors.
