Luke Mecham

During my role as a retail assistant at Sainsbury's, I both developed and established pivotal skills that are applicable to any career and industry. Indefinitely the industry of information technology and the computing industry as a consensus, such as time management. Additionally ensuring I am attentive to the task I have been set until completed, and always endeavour to aid residing colleagues and customers when requested. Subsequently during my time at Sainsbury's supermarket, I had to utilise salient social skills in a diverse range of circumstances, during meetings of significance or conversations with customers, to best affirm in meeting the requirements set out for me in my role. This skill in particular can be reciprocated in all careers, and indefinitely applied to the computing industry when collaborating with a team or a cohort in order to achieve specific aims. Furthermore, I also established a palpable sense of independence in my role as a retail assistant, often having to abstract tasks with no guidance, simultaneously ensuring I stay relevant to the task, and complete efficiently, within the correct boundaries and deadlines.

In particular the element within the industry of computing that compels me, is Cyber Security (along side elements such as data analysis, data science, artificial intelligence and software engineering), due to its circumstantial and often nuanced nature, and experiences I have endured taking a closer look into the world of Cyber. When I spent a week with Bupa Private Healthcare, initially in their cyber security unit, I was able to absorb first hand experience as to what it is like to work and perform in a high-pressure environment. The week with Bupa was substantially valuable to me as it allowed me to shadow a work environment. This was led by a Global Head Cyber Security Threat Informed Defence at Bupa. Additionally, I shadowed Group Heads of Offensive Security, Threat Intelligence, Application Security and exposure management, whilst incorporating other areas i hold a keenness towards, exposing me directly to the procedures carried out on a typical day in these different sectors respectively. I also gained significant connections with people within that industry, in a variety of different sectors, introducing me to areas of cyber and computing in general, I had not yet engaged with, while also establishing my interest in cyber security and other sectors such as artificial intelligence, data analysis, data science and software engineering. Therefore, this amplified my keenness to venture into the industry. I was exposed to websites such as 'TryHackMe' and 'Hack The Box' In order to expand my knowledge and appreciation for cyber security. TryHackMe incentivised me to further extend my knowledge, as a result of it aiding me to build a foundation of knowledge regarding topics such as penetration testing, which initially I was partial to due to my week at Bupa, whilst also providing me with practical elements I can interact with, helping me to gain experience. One module of 'TryHackMe', that I was immediately drawn to, was a particular sector within the offensive security, where I utilised a software that simulates a 'Fakebank', with money evidently stole from, which I then imitated how an offender would aim to access this, in order to return the money into the correct account, using critical skills such as analysis involved in offensive security.

A pertinent skill I often deployed during my role as a party host at Airhop Chelmsford, was the ability to adapt efficiently to ubiquitously changing circumstances encompassed within a regular working day, such as requirements of my client being modified. To this I would then have to pragmatically alter the requirements of the client and tailor the overall experience to their new needs. This ability i polished can be well iterated into a vast array of careers, and maps well to the computing industry, when faced with challenges with data or security. Additionally, throughout my period in the role of a party host, I consistently had to monitor and observe often up to cohorts of 25 young children. Subsequently meaning I had to stay disciplined and crucially ensure safety, whilst balancing a satisfactory level of entertainment, understanding and with regard to the clients requirements. Being disciplined is pre-eminent especially when completing a project in terms of data or programming, as tasks bestowed to me can often be difficult, however staying on task to deliver the best possible product or desired outcome, which motivates me to stay committed.