What if our most reliable career compass isn’t formal education or conventional advice but simply noticing what consistently draws our attention. Despite studying economics I found myself spending time on HackTheBox challenges, weekends hardening my devices for fun, and spare moments coding simple projects. I don’t believe that these were distractions —they were signposts. Robert Greene and Ralph Waldo Emerson call this following your ‘inner voice’, the natural pattern of interests that often emerges in childhood and persists if we’re willing to notice it. My unconventional entry into cybersecurity suggests that reconnecting with these authentic interests might be a sure path to finding work that actually resonates with who we are. I’m writing this article with the hopes that my experience and the takeaways from it will be of benefit to someone in a similar position to me. Whether it’s a career in information security or any other field.
Some background about myself. I’m currently a third year university student studying economics and finance whose only formal encounter with computer science was my GCSE which never really grasped my interest and to this day any Java code makes my face contort. Counterintuitively to this, I always found myself gravitating towards technology; whether it’s taking apart my electronics or surrounding myself with other kids who were interested in computers and how things worked. To this day I remember skipping my PE classes to build LEGO Mindstorms robots with my friends, or them showing me the most recent command line tool they discovered for downloading YouTube videos using only their terminal. I now realise that this is what I enjoy most about being in the technology sphere, the curiosity people have for it and the amount of creativity that can go into it; from simple Python automation to building a frankenstein-esque machine that sits in someone’s living room hosting our Minecraft servers.
At that time I also instinctively started filling my free time watching Swift coding tutorials, building simple Python scripts and silly websites while also trying to decipher Linux. All while immersing myself in shows like Mr. Robot, playing games like Watch Dogs. Later I discovered that this gravitation wasn’t truly random. In his book Mastery, which builds on ideas of writers like R.W. Emerson, Greene talks about this exact phenomenon of finding that *inner voice* which often emerges in your childhood, “[…] Look for an underlying pattern, a core to your character”. Then you start applying it to your work “Your work is then something deeply connected to who you are, not a separate compartment”. I find this idea resonating with me greatly and believe it’s a key principle that should drive one’s career choices
This principle was put to the test when I faced my first major career decision. When it came time to choose my degree, I made what seemed like a counterintuitive decision: Economics and Finance rather than Computer Science. My reasoning was somewhat practical—I figured it would be harder to break into finance without a finance degree than to enter tech without a tech degree. Looking back, this decision to formally study one interest while informally pursuing another gave me an advantage. The combination gave me a broader perspective than either path alone would have offered. The ability to also see the ins and outs of finance through my degree while still allowing myself to get sucked into coding projects allowed me to develop a broad skill set and allowed me to blend my two interests together effectively. I still continued to work on solving cybersecurity labs, reading news articles, and learning how to “harden” my devices.
Through my degree and university I had a chance to network with finance professionals and I wanted to utilise it to its full potential. During an event with one of the major UK banks I spoke with an investment director; one of the major themes in this conversation was to pursue a career that excites me and gets me out of bed in the morning. On another occasion an investment director told me that it doesn’t matter exactly how I do things, whether I wake up early or late, whether I prefer to build or maintain, it’s all perfectly viable and you can make it all work as long as you’re genuinely interested and have a subconscious gravitation towards a specific subject. This particularly stood out to me as it went against a lot of the general advice of “always prioritise consistency, wake up early” I have heard up to this point. Ralph Waldo Emerson in his famous essay “Self-Reliance” echoes this exact sentiment by saying: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” The idea emerges of self-trust; how one should allow themselves to not be shackled away by chasing this idea of consistency; an adherence to established paths. From that point onward I started paying attention and noticing people around me who genuinely enjoyed what they did and did things in their own way. I recognised that this is the way to truly have a fulfilling career, be happy with your choices and to produce work that has impact; don’t compromise your individuality as it is your greatest asset.
Time flew rather quickly and one week during my second year at university, instead of studying my flatmate and I decided to create a list of companies we would want to have internships at. We put on our best clothes and went door to door with our CVs to all of those companies. That day I met Thomas Moore (Head of Managed Services) at Sapphire’s front door and connected with him. After a brief chat through LinkedIn, I was given the opportunity to work on a project at Sapphire which I happily accepted. I was invited to come into the office and connect with people who worked at the company. I found that everyone I met at Sapphire during that summer shared my interests and had a curiosity for technology. I feel a certain kinship and connection with those people.
Towards the end of my summer time with Sapphire I was generously given an invitation and a day pass to the National Information Security Conference (NISC) hosted by Sapphire. My time at NISC was one of the most impactful moments of my still short time in cybersecurity. After the first dinner I was lucky enough to sit down with Sapphire’s CEO, Ian Thomas. I still remember him answering my questions, giving me advice, hearing my opinions and sharing his; overall, this conversation further confirmed that I was on the right path. During the official first day of the conference I managed to speak with vendors, connected with more people from Sapphire who were extremely welcoming, eager to share advice; the atmosphere created by all of those encounters reassured me that I truly enjoy being around people who share my interests in information security and technology. That environment, which keeps emerging as a theme here, is I believe one of the most important things that you need to consider when choosing a career. In order to thrive in any technology industry, especially cybersecurity, you need to constantly stay on top of the field, following the latest trends, emerging threat actors, and new technologies. This constant evolution creates an environment where people with innate curiosity naturally thrive, which contributes significantly to the positive and engaging atmosphere I experienced. Through conversations with professionals in both finance and technology, a common thread began to emerge about what truly matters in building a fulfilling career.
The important idea here is not that you need to be around directors and CEOs. The core concept is that you must be willing to accept the different experiences people have had, recognise the influence this has had on their choices and look for those influences in your own life. Most importantly: ask questions, realise that decisions can’t be made for you. Recognise that people want to share your experience with you. It’s easy to lose yourself in your own thoughts without taking a step back. One of the quotes I left NISC with, which I believe applies here, was “You can’t give an objective solution to a problem if you’re not distanced from it”.
As I continue my journey between the worlds of economics and cybersecurity, I’ve come to recognise that our most reliable career compass isn’t found in conventional advice or formal education—it’s in noticing what consistently captures our attention. Those weekend cybersecurity challenges, coding projects, and technology conversations weren’t distractions from my “real” path—they were signposts guiding me toward it. By reconnecting with these authentic interests and surrounding myself with others who share this natural curiosity, I’ve found not just a potential career in cybersecurity, but work that resonates with who I’ve always been. Perhaps your own path forward isn’t about discovering something new, but rather about returning to what has always fascinated you and applying it in new ways.
