By Grace Brammer, RDRP
As an undergraduate computer science student, I often find it difficult to connect my work in academia to real-world cybersecurity implementation. While demand in the tech industry continues to grow, studying for a technical degree in college is both exciting and stressful. Unfortunately, the stress compounds upon itself as I look at securing a job once I graduate.
As a Freshman, I was awarded a student scholarship from BAI RMF Resource Center and given the opportunity to at-tend both a weeklong course on RMF for DoD IT and a one-day STIG 101 class. My goal in attending these courses were to get a sense of what real-world cybersecurity work looks like. Being the young-est student in the history of BAI attending the training and with little prior knowledge of the field, I was nervous attending class for the first time. After a few tough days, I was relieved to find my confidence with the material grew faster than I had anticipated! One of the most exciting aspects of the class was working with my classmates knowing that many of them already had the cybersecurity jobs I was training to one day fill.
The RMF and STIG courses I attended gave me a sense of what it might be like should I pursue my interest in the field of government cybersecurity as working on a team for the different exercises didn’t feel like a normal college group project, but rather a reflection of what a job might actually look like. Knowing and under-standing how RMF works on a deeper level than the brief mention it has received in my typical college classes has given me a better feel for what a career might look like, and this opportunity has piqued my interest in pursuing a career as an RMF practitioner.
Overall, I am very thankful that BAI helped me in bridging the gap between academia and real-world cybersecurity training.
Now I just need to learn more about how to implement those pesky NIST 800-53 controls!
Thanks, BAI!
Editor’s note; Grace will soon be a rising junior at Liberty University and is looking forward to a summer internship at BAI!