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* 10-20-16
* the future of work
MUSICIANS MAY BE THE KEY TO THE CYBERSECURITY TALENT SHORTAGE
COMPANIES SCRAMBLING TO FIND CYBERSECURITY TALENT MAY WANT TO LOOK TOWARD MORE
CREATIVE CANDIDATES.
[Photo: Flickr user Chris Fenton]
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More Like This
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Editor’s Note: This story contains one of our 10 Best Business Lessons of 2016.
Click here to read the full list.
In his mid-20s, Tom Donahue was faced with a choice. He had a steady job in
software consulting. But he was also a gigging musician. It was the mid-’90s–the
computer space was burgeoning at the time as more people began to connect their
machines to networks. So Donahue would work his nine-to-five consulting job,
then drive over an hour to some Colorado bar in the Rocky Mountains, play until
1 a.m., drive home to nap a few hours, and go to work again. The music gigs were
steady enough, but so were the computer ones. One year he found himself playing
music for 50 weeks, yet neither opportunity was drying up.
“I had to pick music or technology,” he says. “And I picked technology.”
This wholly unglamorous story illustrates more than just the sad realities of
adulthood. It elucidates the tie between music and computer work. Many of us
learned to play an instrument in elementary or high school, but good musicians
went beyond marching bands and sight reading. They understand the underlying
theory of a composition and are able to find and riff off sonic patterns, skills
that could translate to computer development. Donahue is now the principal
security engineer at the telecommunications services firm Level 3. He says that
the skills he picked up as a quasi-professional band member helped him become
the successful security authority he is today.
Cybersecurity is a hot industry right now. Nearly every big company has had some
breach or network scare, and companies are doubling down on how to protect
themselves. The industry is , and a recent report from Cisco estimates that
there are more than 1 million openings for security jobs globally. Part of the
problem, according to ISACA’s Cybersecurity Advisory Council, is that so few
workers have the necessary expertise beyond the security basics typically
required by corporate compliance standards.
The crisis for companies is that they need to hire people who don’t yet exist.
“Finding the right talent has been a challenge,” says Level 3’s chief security
officer Dale Drew. “We’ve had to become much more creative in our talent
assessment process.” So it makes sense that he’s been looking at the patterns of
the most successful people in the job to see if he can source new talent from
people who wouldn’t otherwise be interested. While Drew isn’t going to open-mic
nights and telling musicians to drop a line, he does keep an eye out for music
skills when he scans resumes.
UNDERSTANDING BROADER CONCEPTS
Drew has been working as a computer security professional for decades and finds
that the best people to hire are the malleable ones. “We tend to focus on the
technical expertise of the person first, and then train them.” Which is to say
that a lot of his underlings knew nothing about security, but instead had a
solid grasp of the technical underpinnings of computers.
“The guys that are good at jazz improv tend to be good at technology.”
Over the years Drew has seen a “huge contingent of people” who understood the
basics of security, but “didn’t know the purpose those things served in the
overall business.” The best employees are the ones that understood what a
company does at a holistic level and could see beyond the tasks they did every
day.
With this, Drew has noticed that a great deal of the people on his team have
some music background. “Those personalities are more creative,” he says. They’re
able to “think outside the box; able to think on demand, or construct complex
elements into patterns.”
Donahue agrees that his music skills helped him excel in the technical world;
“Particularly security,” he adds. “The guys that are good at jazz improv tend to
be good at technology.”
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WHAT’S THE CONNECTION?
Michael Belton, vice president of research and development at the cybersecurity
company Optiv, has a theory why. “You’re talking about languages,” says Belton,
“Mathematics and languages are intertwined.” A musician who’s able to adeptly
compose a song has a grasp of musical language. They’re able to apply the
concepts they learned to manipulate something new. And this skill is exactly
what security professionals do. “If you’re trying to write an exploit,” Belton
says, “you’re stepping back and thinking, ‘Here’s a piece of software and here’s
what it does.’”
RELATED:
* Chief Security Officer May Be The Job Of The Future That No One Wants
* The Most Critical Skills Gap: Cybersecurity
* As Airlines Digitize, They Are Confronted With Increased Cybersecurity Risks
* Where Clinton And Trump Stand On Cybersecurity And Privacy
Belton, it should be noted, is also a musician. He’s played everything from
orchestra trumpet to guitar and keyboards. And he’s observed the cognitive
connection between music and technology. “If you have a musician background, it
comes to you more easily,” he says. “It’s certainly not a primary or deciding
factor.”
For Rob Dixon, a principal security consultant at Optiv, it’s not only the
mastery of a system but the understanding of how networks work. He’s worked as a
security researcher for longer than a decade, and before that, not only played
guitar but also learned how to set up large band rigs. Learning how to wire huge
systems lends itself beyond 50-foot stage setups to computer software. “At the
root, we‘re gear heads,” he says.
FINDING THE HIDDEN TALENT AND CHANGING THE STATUS QUO
“Music gives you a lot of creativity and allows you to use that right side of
your brain.”
Level 3’s Drew says that his casting net is wide, and it doesn’t need to be just
for computer science aficionados. “We’ve also been looking for people who have
expertise in critical thinking skills,” he says. That can mean anything from
music to art to literature. If people are able to grasp the larger concepts,
they have no trouble adapting to a security environment. “We’ve been finding
people that we believe are more adaptable to the security industry, even though
they have no security background.” So far, says Drew, more musicians and
creative thinkers have been taking up roles in cybersecurity.
This has not only helped expand recruiting, but livened up the work atmosphere.
Level 3 now has an in-house band that plays at company events. Courtney Tray, a
newcomer at Level 3, is part of the band. She plays flute (although she has
plans to pick up the saxophone for upcoming work performances). At the most
recent company picnic, Tray played her flute along with others, and they banged
out a set list of what she described as “all classic rock.” She says, “Music
gives you a lot of creativity and allows you to use that right side of your
brain.”
Beyond the in-house performance opportunities, it could even shift the security
industry’s culture. “The field is traditionally very introverted,” says Drew,
“but the music majors are not.” This has shaken things up a bit. “It’s become a
much livelier place as a result . . . [they’re] not afraid of performing in
large crowds, not afraid of experimenting and creating,” he says. “It’s
infectious.”
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MUSICIANS MAY BE THE KEY TO THE CYBERSECURITY TALENT SHORTAGE
COMPANIES SCRAMBLING TO FIND CYBERSECURITY TALENT MAY WANT TO LOOK TOWARD MORE
CREATIVE CANDIDATES.
[Photo: Flickr user Chris Fenton]
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By Cale Guthrie Weissman5 minute Read
Editor’s Note: This story contains one of our 10 Best Business Lessons of 2016.
Click here to read the full list.
In his mid-20s, Tom Donahue was faced with a choice. He had a steady job in
software consulting. But he was also a gigging musician. It was the mid-’90s–the
computer space was burgeoning at the time as more people began to connect their
machines to networks. So Donahue would work his nine-to-five consulting job,
then drive over an hour to some Colorado bar in the Rocky Mountains, play until
1 a.m., drive home to nap a few hours, and go to work again. The music gigs were
steady enough, but so were the computer ones. One year he found himself playing
music for 50 weeks, yet neither opportunity was drying up.
“I had to pick music or technology,” he says. “And I picked technology.”
This wholly unglamorous story illustrates more than just the sad realities of
adulthood. It elucidates the tie between music and computer work. Many of us
learned to play an instrument in elementary or high school, but good musicians
went beyond marching bands and sight reading. They understand the underlying
theory of a composition and are able to find and riff off sonic patterns, skills
that could translate to computer development. Donahue is now the principal
security engineer at the telecommunications services firm Level 3. He says that
the skills he picked up as a quasi-professional band member helped him become
the successful security authority he is today.
Cybersecurity is a hot industry right now. Nearly every big company has had some
breach or network scare, and companies are doubling down on how to protect
themselves. The industry is , and a recent report from Cisco estimates that
there are more than 1 million openings for security jobs globally. Part of the
problem, according to ISACA’s Cybersecurity Advisory Council, is that so few
workers have the necessary expertise beyond the security basics typically
required by corporate compliance standards.
The crisis for companies is that they need to hire people who don’t yet exist.
“Finding the right talent has been a challenge,” says Level 3’s chief security
officer Dale Drew. “We’ve had to become much more creative in our talent
assessment process.” So it makes sense that he’s been looking at the patterns of
the most successful people in the job to see if he can source new talent from
people who wouldn’t otherwise be interested. While Drew isn’t going to open-mic
nights and telling musicians to drop a line, he does keep an eye out for music
skills when he scans resumes.
UNDERSTANDING BROADER CONCEPTS
Drew has been working as a computer security professional for decades and finds
that the best people to hire are the malleable ones. “We tend to focus on the
technical expertise of the person first, and then train them.” Which is to say
that a lot of his underlings knew nothing about security, but instead had a
solid grasp of the technical underpinnings of computers.
“The guys that are good at jazz improv tend to be good at technology.”
Over the years Drew has seen a “huge contingent of people” who understood the
basics of security, but “didn’t know the purpose those things served in the
overall business.” The best employees are the ones that understood what a
company does at a holistic level and could see beyond the tasks they did every
day.
With this, Drew has noticed that a great deal of the people on his team have
some music background. “Those personalities are more creative,” he says. They’re
able to “think outside the box; able to think on demand, or construct complex
elements into patterns.”
Donahue agrees that his music skills helped him excel in the technical world;
“Particularly security,” he adds. “The guys that are good at jazz improv tend to
be good at technology.”
WHAT’S THE CONNECTION?
Michael Belton, vice president of research and development at the cybersecurity
company Optiv, has a theory why. “You’re talking about languages,” says Belton,
“Mathematics and languages are intertwined.” A musician who’s able to adeptly
compose a song has a grasp of musical language. They’re able to apply the
concepts they learned to manipulate something new. And this skill is exactly
what security professionals do. “If you’re trying to write an exploit,” Belton
says, “you’re stepping back and thinking, ‘Here’s a piece of software and here’s
what it does.’”
RELATED:
* Chief Security Officer May Be The Job Of The Future That No One Wants
* The Most Critical Skills Gap: Cybersecurity
* As Airlines Digitize, They Are Confronted With Increased Cybersecurity Risks
* Where Clinton And Trump Stand On Cybersecurity And Privacy
Belton, it should be noted, is also a musician. He’s played everything from
orchestra trumpet to guitar and keyboards. And he’s observed the cognitive
connection between music and technology. “If you have a musician background, it
comes to you more easily,” he says. “It’s certainly not a primary or deciding
factor.”
For Rob Dixon, a principal security consultant at Optiv, it’s not only the
mastery of a system but the understanding of how networks work. He’s worked as a
security researcher for longer than a decade, and before that, not only played
guitar but also learned how to set up large band rigs. Learning how to wire huge
systems lends itself beyond 50-foot stage setups to computer software. “At the
root, we‘re gear heads,” he says.
FINDING THE HIDDEN TALENT AND CHANGING THE STATUS QUO
“Music gives you a lot of creativity and allows you to use that right side of
your brain.”
Level 3’s Drew says that his casting net is wide, and it doesn’t need to be just
for computer science aficionados. “We’ve also been looking for people who have
expertise in critical thinking skills,” he says. That can mean anything from
music to art to literature. If people are able to grasp the larger concepts,
they have no trouble adapting to a security environment. “We’ve been finding
people that we believe are more adaptable to the security industry, even though
they have no security background.” So far, says Drew, more musicians and
creative thinkers have been taking up roles in cybersecurity.
This has not only helped expand recruiting, but livened up the work atmosphere.
Level 3 now has an in-house band that plays at company events. Courtney Tray, a
newcomer at Level 3, is part of the band. She plays flute (although she has
plans to pick up the saxophone for upcoming work performances). At the most
recent company picnic, Tray played her flute along with others, and they banged
out a set list of what she described as “all classic rock.” She says, “Music
gives you a lot of creativity and allows you to use that right side of your
brain.”
Beyond the in-house performance opportunities, it could even shift the security
industry’s culture. “The field is traditionally very introverted,” says Drew,
“but the music majors are not.” This has shaken things up a bit. “It’s become a
much livelier place as a result . . . [they’re] not afraid of performing in
large crowds, not afraid of experimenting and creating,” he says. “It’s
infectious.”
Be in the Know. Subscribe to Fast Company Newsletters.
*
*
Compass: Our Daily Newsletter
*
Tech
*
Co.Design
*
Impact
SUBMIT
SUBMITLearn more about our newsletters
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cale is a Brooklyn-based reporter. He writes about many things.
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Sam Bankman-Fried went from being one of the richest men on earth to a Bahamian
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2023 IS GOING TO BRING MAJOR CHANGES TO ELECTRIC TRUCKING
Presented By deloitte
TEACHING HUMAN SKILLS AS THE SECRET TO PREPARING THE FUTURE WORKFORCE
Tech
HOW WE CELEBRATE HOLIDAYS AT A MULTINATIONAL STARTUP
NEWS
News
TESLA STOCK RISES AS TWITTER USERS VOTE ELON MUSK OFF THE ISLAND
News
STATES ARE FLUSH WITH OPIOID SETTLEMENT MONEY. WE DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HOW
THEY’LL SPEND IT
News
THE 16 BEST BOOKS ‘FAST COMPANY’ STAFFERS READ IN 2022
CO.DESIGN
Co.Design
WE’VE BEEN LIVING IN ZOOM COFFINS THIS YEAR
Co.Design
FROM ELON’S SINK TO LIZZO’S CRYSTAL FLUTE: 12 OBJECTS THAT DEFINED 2022
Co.Design
AN ODE TO GRADUATE HOTELS AND THEIR MAXIMALIST CHARM
WORK LIFE
Work Life
WORKERS NEED MORE EMPATHETIC LEADERS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON—HERE ARE 4 THINGS YOU
CAN DO TO BE MORE EMPATHETIC
Work Life
THE LEADER’S PLAYBOOK FOR CHANNELING FEAR INTO COURAGE
Work Life
POV: WHAT FLYING DELTA TAUGHT ME ABOUT INCLUSIVITY
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