My name is Jordan Thomas and just graduated with my AAS in Cyber Defense at Volunteer State Community College near Nashville, TN. I’ve worked retail the last ten years and have decided to move into a career I’m more passionate about and am really looking forward to working in IT.
Currently I’m looking to get my foot into the IT field and am looking for an entry level position while continue my education and expand my skillset. My main interests are in usability and virtualization. I really think the future of computer security is through virtualization, but current solutions like Qubes aren’t usable enough so how can the security/virtualization worlds make it more usable so that people outside hobbyists will be able to use it? I have CompTIA’s A+, Security+, and Linux+ certifications and plan to get my Network+ and Pentest+ soon. You can get in touch most easily by email.
While at Vol State, I took a few classes that I especially enjoyed – the first was called Digital Forensics and we used software such as OSForensics, Autopsy, and EnCase to acquire and analyze disk images. Using the tools we could recover deleted files, find files hidden in slack space in the filesystem, and generate reports on what actions had been performed on the system. We also used Magnet AXIOM to perform acquisitions on a mobile phone. My other favorite class was a Penetration Testing class where we set up a virtual lab and practiced reconnaissance/information gathering, exploited systems using metasploit, and recorded our findings. I do wish the class focused more on the vulnerabilities themselves but that is something I can learn on my own.
I’ve been enamored by computer software since I was about 5 years old when I spent my days typing lists of words in WordPerfect and exploring all the settings on offer. Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by usability and user interfaces, in search of “the perfect setup”. By having the right environment, a user can increase his or her efficiency. Performing a task multiple times compounds this increase.
At a previous job, my team was able to increase its efficiency in packing orders by minimizing switching between printing and packing. Time was lost while switching between screens in the software. By doing all of our packing slip printing before packing, we were able to not only save that time wasted in moving between “modes” but also it made it possible to have multiple people pack orders at once. Our store went from being average to a high performer based on this simple change to our workflow, and during the Christmas season that we implemented this change we were the only store in our district making pack time goals.
One last thing about me – it seems I ramble sometimes, I could work on embracing brevity.
