AWS Security Professionals Explain the Work Behind Cybersecurity Careers
Summary
Three AWS security professionals describe day-to-day application security and penetration-testing work, emphasizing communication, code review, foundational practice, careful AI use, and habits for building a security career.
Key points
- Brandon Caldwell describes application security as reviewing software during development and communicating flaws to builders with empathy and clear documentation.
- Caldwell says practical evidence such as capture-the-flag results and public projects matters more to him in hiring than certifications.
- Kurt Heath recommends building knowledge of operating systems, networking, software development, and security fundamentals before pursuing penetration testing.
- He uses AI for coding assistance and sorting information, but cautions against letting it act autonomously during engagements because it could cause operational damage or go out of scope.
- Seth Jeacopello recommends practicing on a deliberately vulnerable machine and reviewing its logs to learn both how attacks work and how they appear to defenders.
Article Details
- Topic
- The day-to-day work and career skills of AWS security professionals, including application security and offensive security.
People
Brandon CaldwellAWS security professional and application security engineering manager who reviews software during development, helps teams address security flaws, and previously worked in incident response at Microsoft.Kurt HeathAWS IT Support Associate focused on offensive security, including penetration testing; he discusses hands-on practice and cautious use of AI in security work.Seth JeacopelloAWS security engineering manager working in application security; he discusses code review, attention management, and practicing attack investigation with deliberately vulnerable systems.