Ethan has found his calling in Cyber Security

Having joined Sedbergh in Year 9, Ethan says that he always a person who had ideas of what career he was interested in, but none of his ideas felt totally ‘right’. However, when his Computer Science teacher suggested he look into cyber security, something clicked into place; he’d found a career that made him excited.

WHAT A LEVELS ARE YOU STUDYING?

I’m studying Computer Science, Design and Technology and Psychology. I’m a very hands-on person so whilst I like my Computer Science and I like my Pyschology – my favourite is Design and Technology (D&T). The projects in D&T can be anything – someone is making a clay pigeon – but I’m combining my project with computer science to make an electronic system as part of my project.

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM JOB?

Cyber security. With cyber security you can go into the private sector where you’re working for any business with an online presence or go towards the police sector and MI6. I’m really interested in the police and MI6 side. The psychology that I’m studying will help if I go towards the police route. When I talked to some of the representatives at a university fair they said that sometimes the cyber security students go with the law students when they’re doing practice cases; the cyber security students hack into systems to get the data that the law students need. For a while I was thinking about doing law but computer science suits me better being more hands-on.

IS CYBER SECURITY SOMETHING YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN?

No, I’ve pretty much only become aware of it in the last year, but when I heard about cyber security I thought – that sounds like me!

We had a talk on it from someone at Teeside University and I thought it was interesting. Then my teacher, Ms Mackenzie, talked about it to me too because a lot of core computer science and software engineering courses require a A level math, but I’m not the greatest at math, its not my strong suit. Cyber security doesn’t need math, it needs computer science at A level.

The aspect of cyber security that attracts me most is the trouble-shooting. I’m a logical person – I like to go step-to-step. I think that with the combination of the creative aspects I’ve developed in D&T and my logical approach, I am very good at being able to go through a problem step-to-step and then look in between each step to see if there is something I’ve missed. The cyber security analyst role probably suits me better than a cyber security designer role.

HOW IS SEDBERGH HELPING YOU TO ACHIEVE YOUR AMBITION?

My teacher, Ms Mackenzie. is the main person that has talked to me about cyber security; I think she’s had a few pupils in the past go through and do cyber security. She also has a lot of experience and connections with cyber security organisations and she’s organised for someone from Bletchley Park to talk to the class. There are a lot of opportunities through Ms Mackenzie to talk to people in the field.

Ms Mackenzie has a lot of knowledge of what I need to do and what universities like. Grades are less important; it’s really important to show universities why you want to do it. There are a lot of people wanting to do cyber security now because it’s so vital but universities want to separate out the people who are just doing it for the sake of doing it – from the people who are dedicated and genuinely interested.

Mr Arnold, my tutor, is really good at explaining how the UCAS hub works and he’s got a lot of experience of personal statements so when we start to write them he’ll be a good person for me to talk to and my Housemaster in Winder is great with references.

I do computing club on a Thursday afternoon which is a good opportunity to get help from Ms Mackenzie.

WHAT UNIVERSITIES ARE YOU APPLYING TO?

I’m planning to apply to Glasgow Calendonian University, Manchester Met, Edinburgh Napier and Leeds Beckett. I want to be close to UK family but independent – with the opportunity to visit friends and family on weekend.

ARE YOU PURSUING ANY EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES TO DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS?

I’ve tried to get some work experience but living overseas it’s hard. Where I live they offer internships but to get those you need to have some sort of qualification already. What I’m doing instead is I’m touch with someone who does cyber security and I’m asking them questions about their job on a day-to-day basis and do they enjoy what they do. If I’m over [in the UK] in summer I’m hoping I can do a couple of days internship/work experience with them just to see what they do.

On my Amazon Prime recommendations was the “I Robot” TV show and I watched that. His job on a day-to-day basis is cyber security and it goes into depth.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO KEEP YOURSELF CALM AND RELAXED DURING EXAM TIME?

When I first came to Sedbergh I played my rugby, but during lockdown I fell out of love with it. Now I’m playing a lot of golf. I’ve been playing golf since I was six and my House recently had a lads and dads game; my grandad and I won! Playing golf does help though I probably get more stressed about my golf than exams! I enjoy relaxing by just walking around and speaking with my mates while playing a bit of golf – that helps out.