Firebrand Stories

Sara Burgess's Story

I started off as an IT Trainer, as I had a PGCE and MSc in IT. Having been with the same company for seven years and worked in a range of roles from Intranet Evangelist to Senior Software Specialist to Technical Writer, there was a need for our company to improve its information security posture and I was reassigned to get us ISO27001 compliant. I found information security to be a fascinating subject and have not looked back.

For my company, I chose the CISM course, because from my research, many of the CISO's I knew of had it. It's an internationally recognised qualification that allows my company to show their ISM has suitable training. For me I chose the course because it covers what I've been doing with ISO27001 and then expands my understanding of security and where it fits within the corporate structure. This was a consolidation and expansion of what I had taught myself. It also filled in some holes in my knowledge I didn't know I had. Which was great. This knowledge has enabled me to communicate much better with my company’s senior management in a language that they relate to and it's making my work much more effective within the company. In short I feel much more confident in my position.

I need a lot more 'on-the-job' experience, but one day I intend to make it to the heady heights of CISO. To make this happen, continual learning must form a central pillar of my career. Things change so quickly in business, especially the IT business and information security is no exception. It's a good job, I love to learn! I’m delighted that I have discovered Firebrand, there are so many great courses I’m looking forward to taking.