Introduction to Me, KTG!
Hi and welcome to my blog! Thank you for stopping by and I really hope you enjoy the content you come across while you're here.
I wanted to take some time to introduce myself so you can get a better idea of who I am, why I started my blog, and what my goals are.
To start, I'm a full-time security engineer for a large healthcare organization. I've been working in the security industry for close to three years, but I started my tech career back in 2017. My first role was as an intern on a Windows Engineering team, where I was able to learn more about corporate domain administration and the deploying and administering of Windows servers.
After a quick summer learning all I could, I was offered a full-time position at the same company and couldn't pass it up. I spent my senior year of college working full-time while finishing up the last of my classes, which made for a hectic and busy year! I wouldn't have changed a thing though, because post-graduation, I was already almost a year into my career.
After spending a little over a year at that company, myself and most of the IT department were laid off, which ended up being my big break. Through my network, I was able to obtain my first position in Information Security as an analyst, and from there I just continued to gain more passion for the topic and further advance my tech skillset. After a year of being an analyst, I was promoted to engineer, which is where I really excel and the work I enjoy most.
As a security engineer, much of my responsibilities center around deploying and optimizing the implementations of security technology. With that comes process development and improvement and documentation, a few other things I really enjoy doing. Ever since I was little, I've ways enjoyed making sense of things and putting pieces of a puzzle together, and my job as a security engineer allows me to do exactly that.
Fast forward to late 2020 and I think I was getting a little bored. I was enjoying my 9-5 job, but my life was lacking a sense of fulfillment. I felt like I needed some sort of hobby, so I had the idea to start a Security blog on Medium. This gave me something to do outside of work, and through creating and developing the blog, I found my long, lost love of writing.
Growing up I always enjoyed writing. While I wasn't a huge fan of research papers or creative writing, I did love writing about topics I cared about. Once I set up my blog, I just let the words flow. I wrote about being a woman in the tech field, I wrote about my journey studying for the CISSP, a highly-regarded security certification, and I wrote about some different technical skills I was learning.
Soon enough, I decided to start writing more personal content. I had this desire to write more than just technical articles, so I unleashed it. To date, I have gained over 1,000 followers on Medium and achieved two top writer tags, one in Women in Tech and one in Travel.
So why am I here, you ask?
Medium has been great and I plan to continue publishing content there, both on my personal page and on my security publication, Dark Roast Security. The problem with sticking to Medium though is that I'm severely limiting my reach. While there are millions of readers on the platform, I'm missing out on an entire audience, i.e. you!
Which is why I'm ready to take the next step on my writing journey and create my own space. Enter ktgblogs.com.
There is a severe shortage of women in the tech and infosec industries and I'm very passionate about changing that. I think back to my time in high school when we're all trying to figure out what to do with our lives, and a career in technology never even crossed my mind. Further, instead of someone suggesting it, guidance counselors pushed me towards finance and accounting degrees.
While there's nothing wrong with that, I look back now and wish I had come across a female tech blogger. I wish I had had someone to look up to in the tech industry because I know I would've seen her and thought, "wow, maybe that's something I can do too."
The tech industry continues to attract more and more women, but the infosec industry is still struggling to catch up. We're at a staggering 20% last I checked. I want to change that, and through this blog, I hope to reach women and young girls globally and show them, you can do this too.
The next generation of women in tech is just waiting to be found and pushed in that direction. With my blog, I aspire to be what empowers them to take the leap and join the rest of us who continue to advance and develop the profession each day.
Finally, on a more personal note, I'm here to share a bit of myself with you. I reside in the US and was born and raised in Connecticut. You might've read already that I'm a coffee-lover and live that gluten-free lifestyle. I have a cat named Otis, who I may write about in the future, and have been on a fitness journey over the last six months, which I'll probably also write about.
While I don't love cooking, I live on my own so I kind of have to do it in order to, ya know, survive and thrive. If I'm going to spend time cooking, I might as well make some interesting things, so I'm always trying out new products and recipes that I plan to share here. On the contrary, I love baking and I've had to learn how to bake gluten-free items so I'll definitely be sharing those with you as well!
Some other facts about me:
I love ice cream and anything sweet, although I've had to give up most cookie/cake products since going gluten-free.
In my free time, I'm usually reading one of the 100+ books on my GoodReads list or watching one of my favorite shows. To name a few: A Million Little Things Big Brother Manifest Grey's Anatomy New Amsterdam The Good Doctor The Voice Station 19 9-1-1
I was a competitive cheerleader from the age of five all the way until I graduated high school, to which I attribute my self-discipline and productivity.
I'm excited to be on this new journey and I hope you'll stick around to see where it goes. If you ever have any questions for me or suggestions for blog content, feel free to hop over to my Contact page to get in touch with me!