BBP: You’ve Just Been Promoted…

“So, I heard back from the team. They really liked you, but I had no idea that you’ve just been promoted. The policy is that if you’ve been promoted, you have to wait a full year before you can change departments. I’m so sorry. If I knew, I wouldn’t have put you through all of this.”

My heart sank. Are you freaking serious, I thought. “But this wasn’t a position promotion. It was just a salary increase and a title change. Nothing about my role has changed. Why would I need to work a full year doing the same exact thing before I can move into security?”

“I’m sorry, that’s the policy. You’re welcome to take it up with HR…” And just like that, I was back at square one. Dejected, I closed the messaging window, locked my computer and went on “break” to cool down. I was livid. I was disappointed. I was dumbfounded. But mostly? I was lost. For four years, I had tried (and failed…miserably) to get an entry-level security job. Up until this point, I hadn’t even gotten close.

As you read last time, my first taste of security came when I changed my major from Print Journalism to Computer Science with a concentration in Digital Forensics/Information Assurance. About a year and a half into the program, I got my first tech job as a support tech for a web hosting company. Within the first month, I heard about the Security department and prepared to work my way up to a Security Administrator. What that entailed, for this particular company, was a promotion to a Level 2 followed by a rigorous Linux test and boot camp before being promoted to an Internal Support agent, then, Linux Administrator, and then, a promotion to the Security (Read more...)