8. Perform a personal skills analysis (AC 2.2)

A SWOT analysis Strengths Hard working. Passionate about cyber and in love with anything IT related for nearly 30 years. Practical hacking knowledge from Tryhackme.com (At the time of writing, 61 completed rooms, 11 badges, and a rank in the top 6%). Basic understanding of Metasploit, Wireshark, Nmap, Burp Suite, John the Ripper, Linux, Windows Powershell, OSI model, cryptography and networking. Strong ethical conduct - Have been subscribed to Ethical Consumer for 8 years. Ethics in every part of my life, not just in cyber. Wanting to make a positive difference in cyber security and the internet. Passionate about learning new things. Core values - Meaningful work, curiosity, Community. Am a co-director of a local Community interest-company called Thrivemind Village. Am self employed for 10+ years. Able to work on my own and within a small team. Can fill out my own taxes. Am multilingual (Czech, Slovak, English) Have my own website. Where I detail my cyber learning journey Am mature. Good people's skills Weaknesses Currently unable to create a LinkedIn Account because LinkedIn really dislikes when you use VPN while creating an account. No formal cyber education other than the one I'm getting out of this course. Not the best grades from school or college. No work experience in cyber. Occasional tendency to mumble. No experience in working in corporate setting. Not a native English speaker. Opportunities I know lot of people in various industries - civil service, healthcare, private, entertainment, law, education - this could be a potential foot in a door. Cyber as in industry is continually growing and will continue to do so until humans stop using the internet or a miracle will happen and someone develops a impenetrable system. AI will definitely change the cyber landscape in the coming years. Threats Cyber positions are in high demand, so there's big competition. Students just finishing their IT related degree might me more attractive candidates for employers. Finances are slowing me down, if I had more money, I could work less and dedicate more time to studying and pay for well recognised certificates. Let's convert those negatives into positives I will create a new LinkedIn account (without VPN this time) and create a professional account for everyone to see. I will apply for at Open University to their BSc Cyber Security course. Having a BSc in cyber security will great on CV and I will learn a ton. I'm currently enrolled in Khan Academy in the Maths course. I've started at the basics and will continue my way to high level maths. I currently have no cyber experience, I want to remedy this by volunteering in any IT/cyber capacity I can at Thrivemind Village, or other local social enterprises. I'd like to improve my communication skills. I'm going to go out of my way and find non-technical people and explain cyber concepts to them. To stand out from the competition, I'll have a well written CV, good cover letter and I'll do a thorough investigation of the job position and the company and come well prepared for an interview.