A week in the life of at a Cyber Security company

It seemed like it was pretty simple. Everyone idolised the job. Lots of money and lots of fun - what more could you ask for. 

That is the impression I got online when researching a career in cyber security. You know, becoming an ethical hacker, like you see in the movies, typing away at 500 words per minute, changing the world as we know it and becoming the Robin Hood of the online world.

I'm writing this not to put you off but to give some of my thoughts and feelings after spending my weeks work experience at a cyber security firm. Hopefully giving off a more truthful review than the people that portray it as the greatest career in the world with no negatives. "ha, the only problem is how you are going to spend all that money, ha ha... -  very funny..

First I'll let you know a bit about me so you get a sense of the lens through which I am looking at this career with. I am a sporty kid,  and was 16 when I actually did the work experience and studied computer science for my GCSEs.

The week was interesting. I think it did what it was supposed to - give you an honest insight into the career. The people who I was "working" with were great, but the job itself.. not so much. 

It doesn't take long to summarise. The job is far less actual code and problem solving than you might imagine. Instead, most of your time is spent running scans, doing courses or being in meetings. Whilst there I didn't write a single line of code and I'm not sure the people actually working there did either. In fact large amounts of time are spent waiting for said scans to complete or tying to get clients to become customers which is done, I believe, by having a whole load of qualifications you have done courses for.

I think it is an interesting career but one for people who truly enjoy working with and around computers, unfortunately not for me.