-: When I heard the cybersecurity program was starting,
I thought,
"This is something I've always been interested in."
I didn't have any idea that I was going into it
as a profession but I thought I would get the,
take a couple of courses.
So I took the first couple of courses and,
at UMUC you had to register for a degree,
regardless of whether you're just gonna take
a couple of courses.
And then I took the first two courses
and realized that this was something I really enjoyed and
had to make the choice.
Did I go policy side or did I go technology side
for the rest of the degree?
And I thought, "I've done policy all my life.
"I'm gonna try the technology side.
"Maybe I don't do very well.
"Maybe I crash and burn, but at least
"it will be a different opportunity
"and something that I've been interested in."
At the same time, I was taking the certifications.
To give you an idea of how good the program was,
I did the first semester
of the cybersecurity program,
and I then took the security plus certification.
I took the second semester and realized that
I really needed to know more about networking.
So I took the network plus certification.
By the time I got to the third semester,
this is just the first semester of the technical side
of cybersecurity, only halfway through the course,
I took the CISSP and passed it.
So that's how good the program is.