Jorge Arrufat

Think Big – Skills For Life

My dad’s work brought us to Dundee. As you may guess, that kind of change wasn’t easy for a 14-yearold teen with a low-level understanding of the English language when, as everyone knows, there are a million more important things to do than focusing on the future when you are a young teenage boy!

But doing some retrospective work, now I think there was not a better time for what was my “first big step” towards who I am today. The first thing that really has been a game changer in my life has been learning the English language. A fluent level of English, acquired during my time with the High School, has opened lots of doors for me. For most, this likely won’t be an issue, but it is a huge one for non-English speakers around the world.

The second most important thing was being outside of my comfort zone; culture-wise, language-wise, customs-wise, weather-wise etc. Things that are completely different in both countries. Even the way the classes were structured – having different classmates in each class for example – differed hugely to Spanish schools, but really close to what University was. Such differences helped me build a challenge-driven mindset, to find and build common bridges for the little things, like for example computers and videogames (that’s where computing began being a part of my everyday life).

After school you get to the point where you have to decide what will be the “outer shell” of your future occupation. In my case, it was easy: Information Technology had the most attraction and I was getting better at it. IT was (and still is) a competitive and growing market; I knew there would be a huge demand but also too much competition. So, at 18 I took my first crucial choice, I found a part-time job within IT and I then enrolled at University.

I assumed I needed the knowledge and skills, but also experience. To tell you the truth it was almost the other way around if I look back. University taught me lots of skills and general knowledge, and only a small proportion of this was really useful later on, but what University taught me the most was to study hard, to network and forge relationships with fellow classmates, to be creative and, above all, to be responsible. I learnt that no goal is impossible but nor does it come free. On the other hand, it was my job that showed me the technical skills which I would apply later and how corporations worked on the inside.

My second most important choice came after university, just in time for an economic crisis in my country with so much competition for getting the “good jobs”. I was deciding where in IT I wanted to work. Here comes some advice: Think Big – You want to work for Microsoft, Apple, Google? Just apply for a job there. Never discard yourself (that is what recruitment departments are for!) But most importantly: you have to focus on where you want to make an impact, where you want to have a purpose.

In my case, influenced by principles from people I met or even influences from the likes of Star Wars and the endless fights between good and evil, I found out that Cybersecurity was a field I wanted to explore. My reasoning was we wanted to have information moving from A to B. We wanted that information to travel faster, and now, what we want is to make sure all that data gets there untouched. I felt that was the right thing to do, and that it was a market yet to be developed. Trust your heart. I honestly believe that security is about helping others. By helping companies, you were also helping customers and hence, lots of people.

I found out that Cybersecurity was a far broader field than I first thought. So, I tried learning the most I could from working for different companies and in different roles. What’s important is to put all your efforts into your work, no matter how many hours you have to work – eight, twelve or sixteen hours a day. There is always a reward at the end for your hard work and efforts.

This certainly requires commitment and the ability to understand that earning trust comes with a responsibility. It is not your self-desires that matters, you must put the clients before your interests as this will come back to you in maturity and confidence. It’s a two-way contract: the company trusts you, but you also have to trust in the company values. If any of the two bonds break, a change has to be made.

All these years, I’ve learned that there are more vulnerable people as more technology is consumed and develops, but also that there are more bad guys who are willing to take advantage of that. It doesn’t matter the damage or pain they can cause, old fashioned moral principles used by bad-intention attackers are no more, what matters to them is how to earn the biggest economic benefits with the least effort (often by using global phishing campaigns, ransomware attacks, etc.)

Helping to build secure architectures and designs as well as deploying security processes, integrating solutions, etc. may help customers and their data. This is something that opened my eyes to the responsibility we all have for developing and making the latest technology accessible to everyone.

And as I said before, it’s a job that requires your full commitment, one where you can never stop trying your best and always learning and teaching as much as you can. By doing so, you are going to have a direct or indirect impact. This will be your reason for being proud of yourself and your job and keeping your chin up when you arrive home. In the end, that’s what really matters, and is the result of all your efforts since starting school.

Jorge Arrufat, Class of 1999