MSc Cyber Security - Manuel Giraldo Agudelo
MSc Cyber Security graduate Manuel Giraldo Agudelo tells us about the course and studying at UEA.
What did you enjoy about your course?
Cyber Security is an intense and fun master's degree.
Some of the modules in this masters were relatively easy, others pushed my thinking and helped me build new skills like coding, writing and problem solving.
I really liked looking into artificial intelligence and developing secure software. I learned how to detect and check vulnerabilities in different systems.
Network security was amazing and, although I think many people wouldn’t like it I really enjoyed internet law, knowing how cyber security and new technologies are seeing by the law is fantastic.
And lastly cybersecurity and computing I only can say that there is too much to learn and not enough time.
What skills did you gain which help in your current job?
I worked in a lot of different projects and essays. I had to build and sharpen my analytical skills to understand many new things in this degree, and every module helped me grow in my career.
These skills helped me a lot because I have to write a lot in my job; I have to analyse, troubleshoot a look into code to find issues/bugs.
Communication is crucial in any job. However, when we talk about cyber security and all that it encompasses it's paramount that we are clear and deliver a comprehensible message. This degree helped me a lot and gave me a really good starting point to progress in this field.
One module which really helped me was cyber security in industrial settings, as this module showed the different employability opportunities and career options available in different industries.
UEA showed me that I had a big variety of options to choose from to do something that I'm passionate about.
What did you like about studying at UEA?
UEA is local to me, so it was an obvious choice to study there and it is well known for its cyber security course as well as having a good global ranking in the world and in the UK.
And from a personal level UEA has a massive lake on campus, so I go running there and take my dog for a walk.
What are you doing now?
After I graduated, I joined the Norfolk Constabulary as a Police Digital Investigator.
In this role I had to help detectives solve cases, analyse data in any crime that involved digital devices and I shared and brought to the team new skills that helped the team grow.
After a year helping solve crimes, I decided that I needed to sharpen my skills and find new challenges. I am now working for Aviva as a network/cyber security engineer, which is a bit more challenging and broader in scope - so there is plenty of work to get involved with.