Cheryl Torano

"The personality types that i matched with are, communicator, coordinator and trainer. I feel these are an ideal match for my personality because i am organised, open-minded, i am good at simplifying complex information and i am passionate about sharing knowledge and encouraging and inspiring others. "

"I work as a Security Engineer; my main tasks are risk management and identifying and remediating vulnerabilities. This means, it is my responsibility to help protect the business and the staff from cyber threats. It is my job to make sure that any risks and vulnerabilities are identified and fixed, to make sure no malicious hackers can steal the companies data or breach any of the various computer systems. It is also my responsibility to provide the staff with cyber security training so they too can identify online threats. This training makes them cyber aware, so they don't fall for any online scams.The average starting salary for a Security Engineer in the UK is: £33,082 per year."

"I come from a disadvantaged, care experienced, background so it wasn't a linear journey for me. I left school at age 16 with poor grades and went straight into full time employment as an Office Junior. I didn't have family support or financial backing to consider doing anything else other than paid employment. I worked in office environments for over 10 years, achieving an SVQ Level 3 in Office Administration along the way, but it was a job that i had no passion for. My job roles including tasks such as book keeping, invoicing and payroll. At this point, i was earning minimum wage, which was £6.31 per hour. Then at the age of 29, i put in a college application to go back into full time education. I had two young children by this point and couldn't afford to raise them comfortably due to my low paid office jobs, so i decided to up-skill. I applied to study HND Computer Networking & Internet Technology. To my delight, i was accepted onto the course because of the SVQ in Office Administration i'd earned, and due to my years of experience working with computers in my office administration roles. I graduated from Dundee & Angus College in 2015 with my HND.The HND gave me excellent knowledge of how to build and maintain computers and networks, however, i wanted to gain further skills in computer security. I applied to study for a Bachelor of Science degree in Ethical Hacking at Abertay University. I was accepted onto 2nd year of the course, due to my HND. I also chose to do the accelerated option, meaning a graduated only 2 years later with a BSc Hons in Ethical Hacking.Fast forward to today, where i currently work as a Security Engineer for Scottish cloud computing managed service provider, Brightsolid. My journey was by no means easy, but it was very worthwhile. I've tripled my hourly rate of pay, can comfortably live and raise my kids and i'm working in an industry that i love. My job involves protecting innocent people from online threats. I get paid to protect innocent people - I am in my element. "

"When I'm not working, I enjoy spending time with my children, and our German Shepherd dog named Nyla. We do lots of fun activities together; we do arts & crafts, we watch movies and we take Nyla to places like the beach and the woods so she can have a good run about and play fetch with her favourite ball. If I ever win the lottery, I would buy a big house with a huge garden and fill it with dogs of all breeds and sizes. I think that would be a very happy place to live. "

"In work, I spend most of my day either on a computer solving problems or on calls/in meetings communicating these issues with the rest of my team. I also have to keep up to date with the latest hacks and exploits so i must make sure I leave enough time in my day for research."

"SVQ Level 3 Office AdministrationHND Computer Networking and Internet Information TechnologyCisco; CCNA Routing and Switching Essentials, CCNA Routing and Switching: Connecting Networks, CCNA Routing and Switching: Scaling Networks, CCNA Exploration: Network FundamentalsBSc Hons Ethical HackingCertificate of awareness in Incident Response "