CORPORATE CASE STUDY
From “In Flux” to “In Demand”: How CyberNow Labs and CompTIA Are Helping Refugees Transform Their Futures with Cyber Security Careers
Many refugees arriving in Europe face a wide range of challenges; from difficulty learning local languages to struggles finding sustainable employment in a new place. However, there’s one field that holds great promise for helping them transcend both. A career in cyber security can transform a person from any background or education level into a sought-after worker with a skillset that nearly every company wants and needs, while giving them deep potential for upward social mobility. In the U.S., for example, an entry level cyber security worker can expect to earn $99,000 USD annually. An added bonus? Cyber security workers, regardless of their native tongue, learn to communicate in a language that transcends grammar and spoken words as they gain the competencies and skills needed to secure an organisation’s digital presence. For U.S.-based CyberNow Labs, helping people find opportunities in cyber security in both Europe and the U.S. fulfills the ultimate “double bottom line”. It can help individuals integrate into the workforce in their new home country or start a new career, and it can help companies fill critical skill and competency gaps on their IT teams. In the long run, when organisations like CyberNow Labs create opportunities in cyber security, they are also helping to create a stronger and safer IT sector at a time when risks and vulnerabilities are rampant. THE CHALLENGE Established in 2018, CyberNow Labs launched its first cohort of seven students with the idea of helping individuals who had no IT background get into cyber security. The Europe-America Contingent joint training programme was launched, with priority given to individuals who speak at least one foreign language at a high level. Participants in the programme come from a wide array of countries, professional backgrounds and education levels. “Only 5% of the trainees who have entered our programme have a direct IT background,” explain co-founders Hasan Eksi and Omer Arslan. “We have teachers, nurses, Uber drivers, former military personnel, veterans and NATO members. It’s not about their experience, it’s about whether they want to change their careers, or not, and make transitions in their lives. If someone is making $15 an hour but wants to make $40, they can do that. Anyone who has the aptitude and positive attitude can succeed,” Eksi and Arslan share. So how can a small team help people with no background in cyber security learn enough to become employable in a matter of five months? For CyberNow Labs, it comes down to individual motivation as much as to the right combination of training and unique learning solutions that leverage an enterprise-grade SOC environment and ‘SOC Days” graduate requirement. They get to work like a SOC Analyst to become one” Eksi explains. “The number one challenge we’ve seen with students is the time commitment,” says Arslan. “People are busy with their lives and it’s very intensive. We tell them that for five months you’ll live and breathe cyber security and that’s the only way it will work out. That excitement gets them through, but beyond that, it can be challenging. We have roughly 5% of people drop out, but the rest complete in twenty weeks.” Given the challenges around building and keeping motivation high among students, having the right learning solutions is a big factor in CyberNow Labs’ success.
CyberNow Labs is an immersive cyber security training provider that enables aspiring and mid-career professionals to prepare for high-demand careers. They work to address the widespread cyber security shortage by offering high-quality training and professional development that will ultimately get more people –and more qualified people– into critical cyber security roles. Yet, CyberNow recognises that, for newcomers to a country, finding gainful employment and a sense of purpose can be among the biggest challenges. The company has set an ambitious goal of helping thousands of refugees and immigrants make more successful transitions into the workforce by discovering and mastering the fundamentals of cyber security. Through their successful program, and using industry-recognised CompTIA learning solutions, CyberNow has helped countless refugees not just find jobs, but transform their lives and futures.
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