Hello all,
I would like to ask any of the professionals/business owners on the forum your opinion, both professionally and personally, if the following was seen on a CV. Would it be negative, neutral or positive.
I am a second year student studying a BSc (Hons) Forensic Computing degree. I have completed a 12 month work placement in my third year working as my own boss in a start-up company providing Penetration Testing, Data Recovery and some private sector Forensics.
I have the option of completing another 12 month placement year directly following my first placement, therefore 24 months in total. The second placement will take place in another company working on web systems.
If I undertake this second placement my CV will basically follow the timeline
|
|- First Year
|- Second Year
|- Placement (own company) (12months) PASSED
|- Placement (another company) (12months) PASSED
|- Final Year
I am worried that the second placement may have a negative effect on my CV in the eyes of a potential employer, mainly as it is in no way forensic based. It will however providing me with a good understanding of web servers and systems. Could it be seen as a waste of time?
My age (I am aware age discrimination should not exist) upon graduation would be 23.
I hope that was no too hard to read, and I greatly appreciate any feedback. I do not want to put my employability within the forensic field at risk, especially as I will be looking for an entry level graduate role when I graduate.
Kind Regards
My opinion (bearing in mind I am not a hiring manager and never have been one) is that the more experience in different areas the better. I went through Uni doing a straight IT degree with a placement at a large multinational, starting in IT Security Admin before moving into a team doing work for the Financial Sector in security. So malware analysis, shutting down phishing sites and the like, with a little bit of forensics, mostly for victims of fraud. This gave me a good background into a few different areas before I decide to relocate overseas and focus on forensics. So I spent a good 3 to 4 years doing lots of different things within security (including increasing amounts of forensics) before taking the straight forensics route about 14 months ago.
I think forensics (depending on the type of jobs you do) requires you to have a sound knowledge of what you are investigating. So if you do decide to take the placement in the web area I would advise to think about what you can do within that sector that might help you down the track with cases you might undertake. So working along the lines of hardening web apps, servers etc would be a good grounding if you get a case of someone circumventing those controls.
Lastly I would say is there any reason not to continue running your start-up albeit at a reduced amount?
HTH
Firstly, thank you ddewildt for your response.
My start-up could be left running as I started it with a partner who is going to continue his degree next year. The University and Start-up are basically next door to each other, meaning he can continue the company with lower work loads (stop marketing and honour current clients).
It is my intention to do an MSc in Forensic Computing (so long as all goes well with my BSc), so that will take another few years, unless I find a job I cannot resist applying for after my BSc.
Once again, thanks for your opinion, it was very helpful.