The past few weeks at work have been absolutely nuts. Our team moved under a different manager during the summer, including a different VP over our team. This changes our direction somewhat, but we’re mostly doing the same thing we have been doing. The biggest exception to this is what I am specifically doing. We have three members of our team, but each brings a different level of experience to the team. I am, by far, the most seasoned info security professional on the team. I am a bit younger than my closest teammate in age, but she has spent a considerable amount of time in a related but somewhat more focused role. The youngest member of the team has moved around a bit and has, again, been less focused on our primary goal of information security for his entire career.

My focus on information security started when the industry was really in it’s infancy. Part happenstance, part luck, I ended up where I am through many hours and lots of persistence. So, I have a new role. The migration of our team into the new VP somewhat lined up with other changes happening in the Enterprise Architecture Services group. People would be aligned with specific domains – information, technology and applications to name a few. My specialty continues to be a strong background in data security, so I am now the domain advocate for the security domain that crosses all of the other domains. This is either a blessing or a curse. A blessing because it provides more corporate focus on information security, a curse because as of today, I am the only one in this domain. The fact that I still have responsibility for all of my existing projects, each requiring a great deal of attention, is my biggest challenge.

As this year winds down, I have an increased workload and decreased ability to “opt out” of projects. At the same time, I have increased visibility with the senior management of the company. If executed well, this could be an excellent career move. If I stumble and don’t ask for help and training and patience, I can easily be the driver of my own failure. The choice is easy – ask for help, pawn off existing projects, and create some time to focus on the new opportunity and doing the right thing for the company. I’m sure that I can work this out and succeed if I handle this right. Now, about that vacation I had to take before year’s end… that might just have to wait.

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