In the course of considering my career – both where it’s been and where it’s going – I’ve come to a very important realization:  I don’t want a career in information security.

Let me say that again, for those of you who are shocked:   I do not want a career in information security.

I do realize this may come as a surprise to many, given that my current profession is information security.  It came as a mild surprise to me, too.  I realized, however, that information security is just not what I want to do for the rest of my life.  I do enjoy it, and I am happy in my current job (and really like my employer), but when I look down the road 5 to 10 years,  what do I see?   I see either being in the same type of position I’m in now (whether it be here at my current employer, or at a different employer),  or managing information security somewhere.   I’ve done both,  and am capable of doing both,  but am not sure that’s what I want long term.

Instead, when I look long term at what I would LIKE to be doing, I see myself using my technical abilities in conjunction with more business related work.  While I’ve got the technical abilities part down,  the business side is where my foundation is a little shakier.  I’ve owned businesses, which helps, but I lack any sort of formal training in that regard.   I have some experience,  including some valuable experience being in tough situations and having to make difficult decisions.   I’ve helped shape and steer a company from a strategic perspective, and have learned some valuable insights from that experience.  I haven’t, however, been schooled in many of the aspects of business, and management, that would benefit me further down the line in my career.

With that thought in mind, I’ve decided that it would be in my best interest to pursue an MBA, in an effort to shore up my business knowledge and abilities so that I can combine them with my technical capabilities and make myself more desirable for the types of work I would enjoy moving into.

Having said all of that, however, I don’t plan on changing employment anytime soon.   The plan to apply for and get into business school will likely take a year or more to execute,  and I don’t currently plan on going to school full time, as I would like to work while doing it if possible.   I also really like my current job, and the company I work for.  This isn’t an immediate change, to be sure, but a more long-term plan that I want to execute carefully and make sure I can maximize it’s benefits over the long haul.

It honestly feels good, though, to have something long term that I’m working for… I have a goal, something to work for, and perhaps most importantly, something to be passionate about (other than my marriage, that is ).

Now – to prepare for the GMAT….

I’ve been fairly silent over the past week. That’s something that in and of itself isn’t too much of a shock… there are times when I go for weeks without posting anything, so why should a handful of days be special? Well – in this case – they were special.

For quite a while I’ve been considering a job change. There are a variety of reasons for this consideration – none of which I will go into in such a public forum. Back in December, just before Christmas, I interviewed with a company in downtown Indianapolis, for a position on their Information Security team. I felt myself to be a strong candidate – after all, for the past 10 months I’ve been building and managing a security program for a federal contractor. This position offered me things I couldn’t get in my existing position, and these were things I found to be highly desirable.

The hiring manager mentioned that he hoped to have an offer out before the end of ‘08, but if not, then shortly into ‘08. Christmas came and went with no word one way or another. A week or so into ‘09 and I sent a second followup e-mail (I sent the first when I got home from the interview). Again, no word. I’ll be honest – at this point I wrote it off as a “not gonna happen”.

Imagine my surprise, then, when on Tuesday, when I got back from lunch, I noticed an email from Twitter that the hiring manager had started following me. I can remember thinking “What the hell?! He ignored me, didn’t hire me, now starts following me on twitter?!” It was about that time he called to offer me the position.

And so, two days later – once I got the official offer letter – I resigned. I offered the company two weeks to transition my duties from me to my senior security analyst. They (and by they I mean a certain few – not the entire company – a long story that I won’t mention here) didn’t take it well, and have banished me to work those two weeks from the comfort of my own home. I am – to the best of my knowledge – still on payroll, and still earning my salary. That’s something.

So, for the next two weeks I get to work from the comfort of my new home office – with the notable exception of this coming Monday morning, during which I will be conducting an exit interview with the senior executive team of the company (CEO, COO, CTO and HR Director – Possibly the CFO as well). While my physical access to the office I was based out of has been revoked, my laptop and blackberry taken, my VPN access also revoked , I still have access to e-mail and that – apparently – is enough for me to work. Supposedly.

I am looking forward to the new job. It seems to be a good company, performing strong even in this dismal economy. They also offer a variety of employee benefits that go well above and beyond my previous employer. The work will be much more in line with what I want to be doing as well, so the whole deal is just much better.

If only I didn’t have to wait two more weeks to start….

My boss, Mr IT Director,  pulled me aside and let me know that our CEO had emailed him, regarding me.  He relayed that the CEO was asking questions about me and what I do,  who I report to, and what my team does.  She also apparently stated that she doesn’t think I do anything.    

And…. that did it, I was floored.  This was coming after last week I sent a report to the corporate leadership team (CEO, COO, CFO, Etc) regarding a serious security flaw we found in our network, and our recommended course of action to rectify it.  I believe her exact words at the time were “good work!”.    This also comes a few hours after a meeting in which one of the department heads mentioned having worked with me to resolve security issues,   and another one begging people to stop acting like “junior security analyst” and ask the security staff for answers instead.  

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I haven’t really talked much about my job and what I do.    There are a few reasons for that,  the biggest one being that I don’t want an issue to come up because of something I blogged about.  

Mr IT Director made me promise I wouldn’t get mad, and showed me the email he received.    I kept my promise – I didn’t get mad.    I did get profoundly sad, though.   I work hard, and so it saddens me to know that the work I do is overlooked and under-appreciated.