A Cybersecurity Success Story from a Sacramento Cares Student
I had an excellent conversation with Nicole Mendoza – an alumna of the SacCARES (Sacramento Cares) Cybersecurity Acceleratorfrom our Project Ares partners at Inteligenca. We discussed her cybersecurity learning journey that turned the COVID crisis into a time of opportunity.
Giuseppe Scalamogna from Project Ares and Nicole Mendoza talk about pursuing a cybersecurity education.
Nicole, what was the focus of the Sacramento Cares course that you participated in?
Did you have a lot of cybersecurity or computer science experience before getting started?
No, I hadn’t done anything with cybersecurity or computer sciences at all. I got into the SacCARES program because I was looking for a change. I had to quit my job during COVID and was stuck in lockdown. It was the perfect opportunity to learn something new, a skill that I could use moving forward.
How did you hear about the Sacramento Cares programs?
A news article I read mentioned how Sacramento was using its COVID supplement funds and that included job training programs. I applied to one program but is was full. They recommended Carmen Marsh’s program at Inteligenca, so I applied and was accepted.
Was there something that drew you to studying computer science?
I didn’t know a lot about it before joining the first program I was in with Inteligenca. Once I began to understand what cybersecurity means — what is going on in the background of our everyday lives on the Internet and what bad people are doing – it was fascinating. And scary.
I think it’s important that people have at least a little bit of knowledge about what’s going on so they can protect themselves.
What’s next as you continue planning your future learning goals?
I am working to find a fit of what might be the best reflection of who I am, what I can do, and what I’m passionate about.
I just had a meeting with one of my mentors from the program. We talked about finding the right path — that it is important to understand what you really want to do and then align that to a job which reflects those details.
My next step will most likely be a prep course for my Network certification. I believe that will give me a good basis for the next jobs that I want to get into.
What words of advice would you give to someone who wanted to study cybersecurity but might be nervous about taking the leap?
I suggest they find somebody they know or a community or a website forum and start asking questions. I think it’s a good first step to start getting some relevant information.
One of the most awesome things about the cybersecurity and tech community is that people are so willing to help. They’re welcoming and willing to share. Whenever I asked a question, it seemed like I got recommendations of like 5 articles and 4 people on Twitter to check out for more information.
That’s something I’ve never experienced in other professional communities. The people in the technology community are willing to be as helpful as they possibly can. It is super rad
You recently used Project Ares again. What did you think of it compared to when you were using it in your course?
I like some of the changes that have been made. It’s more user friendly, especially for people like me who might not know everything about how to arrive at the end results.
I was playing through a Linux Basics Battle Room, and it was rewarding to see what I remembered from my classes but I also used the hints to get tips when I needed them.
Project Ares Appreciation
We’re excited by our users’ passion, drive, and desire to be successful! Thank you Nicole, and best of success in your cybersecurity career journey.
A Cybersecurity Success Story with a Sacramento Cares Student
I had a fantastic chat with Ken Perez – an alum of the SacCARES (Sacramento Cares) Cybersecurity Accelerator from our Project Ares partners at Inteligenca. We discussed his learning journey from working for a finance audit company to following his dream of studying Cybersecurity
Giuseppe Scalamogna from Project Ares talks with Ken Perez about pursuing his cybersecurity education.
Can you tell us about the certificate program you pursued with Inteligenca?
I was involved the SacCARES Cybersecurity accelerator program. It ran from November 2020 till February 2021. We were primarily studying our CompTIA Security+ certification.
Did you have a lot of cybersecurity experience before pursuing your Security + certificate?
I did not honestly. My cybersecurity experience was limited to the end user roles at a major corporation. My user experience with cybersecurity was the traditional corporate IT training that they give you in terms of don’t open suspicious emails, password protection and not to be downloading stuff that you shouldn’t be downloading.
However, I’ve since learned that training is one of the most important parts of cybersecurity. It’s just so vital. A lot of problems that happen are because of people opening phishing emails.
When did you start to get interested in computers?
I’ve using the computer since the 2nd grade. I was using an Apple 2e and playing Oregon Trail with big old 5.25-inch floppy disks. I’m a child of the modern technological age.
Today, I have this computer here and I’ve changed up the hard drive, swapped out the memory and upgraded the power supply. I’m comfortable with the hardware and the software side now.
What made you interested in pursuing a career in cybersecurity?
I was initially an electrical engineering undergrad and I switched to business. Particularly, to focus on finance and numbers because I was attracted to Excel, and I just loved it. As I proceeded in my career, I became a subject matter expert and I started writing my own VBA scripts. Little programs. I started to write my own macros to help me get my job done faster.
So, when I started constructing these programs at work, I found myself drawn back to an electronic engineering mindset. I was producing reviewable, repeatable, and accurate work.
What’s your dream job in the Cybersecurity world?
I’m kind of torn right now, honestly, because I like forensics. However, I’m starting to see cyber risk audit as something that I think I’m going to find myself doing because I have experience in a similar field and it feels familiar, so that’s why I’m leaning towards what a lot of people call GRC, but I prefer to call it, cybersecurity risk auditing.
What did you enjoy most when you were working with Project Ares?
I like the game room a lot. I know it’s not the primary purpose of Project Ares but when you’re still learning those small games can be extremely helpful. The Portflow game was a big help in learning about ports and protocols. I may not have passed Security + if hadn’t have played that game as much. When you’re a newbie the cyber learning games are great.
Project Ares Appreciation
We’re excited by our users’ passion, drive, and desire to be successful! Thank you Ken, and best of success in your cybersecurity career journey.
A Cybersecurity Success Story from a NexGenT Student
Leeann Ryder (left) & Giuseppe Scalamogna (lower right) of the Project Ares Team talk with Robert Hogan (top right) about his cybersecurity education pursuits.
What inspired you to learn cybersecurity?
I started at a retail job which is a very routine work environment and I didn’t think it was a great fit. I wanted more of a challenge and I thought IT was interesting. So, I pursued my Bachelor’s in Video Game Development at Full Sail University.
At the start of my job search, I felt that the job culture of game development was just not for me. Developers take on roles that quickly stop and have to find new ones. It’s not the best option for me because I really want job security in my career.
When did you decide you had an interest in cybersecurity?
I started an online software development program at the Lambda Academy of Computer Science.
During our application security studies, my class got an introduction to digital security and how to protect the applications that we developed. That sparked my interest in cybersecurity.
How did you find NexGenT and join their cybersecurity certificate programs?
I researched security programs with income share agreements where you can complete the program and pay the school back. I chose NexGenT where I was introduced to Project Ares and earned a Cybersecurity Associate (NCSA) & Cybersecurity Professional (NCSP) certificates.
Are you still studying Cybersecurity now?
I started a security plus certification and now my exam is in about 14 days. Once I take that exam, I’ll finish school for now.
What kind of roles are you interested in pursuing once you finish your CompTIA certification?
My first choice is to become a security analyst. Afterwards, I want to work on the defensive side for a few years and move into Red team.
After Cybersecurity Foundations and Networks, we got access to Project Ares so we could get hands on practice and manipulate things and do penetration tests.
It gave me hands-on tools as opposed to making my own labs with virtual machines. Project Ares was already mission ready and set up. I didn’t have to think about how to set it up and test it.
Is there a piece of Project Ares content that really resonates with you?
What words of advice do you have for someone who’s thinking about studying cybersecurity?
For any complex topic, you need passion. If you don’t like a subject, you won’t sit through lectures to learn it. Break larger concepts into smaller ones and work your way up from there. That’s my advice to make the concepts less intimidating.
Would you encourage someone without an IT background to study cybersecurity?
Absolutely. I don’t feel there’s any subject in technology where you can’t start at zero and learn. If you’re interested then you can start as a beginner. You don’t need any foundational skills. There’s free and paid resources you can use. You can start on YouTube. There’s always a platform for you to start at no matter where you are.
Project Ares Appreciation
We’re excited by our users’ passion, drive, and desire to be successful! Thank you Robert, and best of success in your cybersecurity career journey.
This story of one instructor’s cybersecurity learning journey has inspired the team at Project Ares. At his request for anonymity, we’ve changed the name of our protagonist to Professor X. We think you’ll find his story impactful. Maybe it will help other cyber instructors tap into why they teach in this fascinatingly complex field.
“Stop thinking like an instructor. Remember what it was like when you were a student and didn’t know how to do things. Think about what would have intimidated you. If you can’t get on that same thought level and remember what it was like when you struggled, you’re not going to be able to help someone else through a struggle. They say that you cannot help someone up a mountain unless you have first climbed it yourself first.”
~ Professor X
The Situation
In the past, Professor X was an oil and gas electrical technician, but also a lifelong learner. He wanted to learn more about cybersecurity. Even with his technical prowess and mechanical aptitude, he knew that building cybersecurity skills wouldn’t be a walk in the park. He signed up for a Network+ course and started learning with a “full speed ahead” attitude knowing that he could leverage his love of puzzles, solving problems, and enthusiasm for code. In his Network+ course, he spent at least 40 hours a week digging into the hands-on labs in Project Ares determined to turn the unfamiliar into something familiar and understood.
Why was he so committed?
Professor X had been a victim of identity theft and had a strong desire to learn how it happened and how it could be prevented from happening again. Channeling an incredible passion for learning and a natural aptitude for technology, he took his cyber identity (and subsequently his career) into his own hands.
The Solution
Professor X aspired to become a teacher in some way – it was a goal on his 15-year plan – because it would allow him to help people in a very real and specific way. When he experienced the power of hands-on learning through Project Ares labs in his Network+ course, he knew was onto something that might enable him to help other cybersecurity students sometime in the future.
The teaching staff of that first Network+ course quickly realized how committed the future Professor X was to learning cybersecurity and helping others. At the end of the course, they invited him to join their teaching team. Today, Professor X is in the front of the classroom (or the Zoom screen). He helps students with feedback on assignments and projects, assists with question sessions during live classes, provides 1:1 support to students when needed, helps with course material updates, and creates new materials.
Sharing the Cyber Learning Experience
“I love helping people more than anything,” says Professor X. “And teaching cybersecurity lets me help people in a way that might reduce identity theft and close that cyber skills gap we read about every day.”
In Professor X’s classes, students thrive on the help he provides to introduce them to Project Ares and the explain the nuances of the platform. He guides them to think about learning skills in a new way – even if it seems overwhelming at first.To help some students overcome anxiety, Professor X empathizes a great deal and shares his own experiences of diving into the labs for the first time. Often times students don’t know where to start, so he shares how he approached a similar situation and that encourages his students over that first learning hurdle.
“Project Ares Battle Room 1 took me almost a month to finish because I didn’t use hints,” he says somewhat ruefully. “I went in and just crashed everything. But I learned! I would pick a topic for the day and read about it. I’ve probably read the Snort manual a million times. And eventually I put it all together, finished the lab, and progressed to the next one.”
Professor X’s Friendly Advice
To other students
“If you take the time to put in the effort, you will soon be able to do many amazing things because of the amount of knowledge you get from Project Ares labs.“
To fellow educators looking to adopt hands-on labs in the classroom
“For a minute, stop thinking like an instructor…and remember the times when you were a student learning something new and the pains it took to get real knowledge. Use those experiences to relate to your student’s challenges to help them understand the value of using real cyber tools in virtual environments. You can’t help someone up a mountain if you haven’t climbed it yourself.“
The Project Ares team is inspired by Professor X because of his unique experiences being on “both sides” as a cyber learner and cyber teacher. His story shows how the student experience helped him define who he is as an instructor. His passion for teaching is contagious and we’re honored that he is helping the next generation of cyber professionals use Project Ares to build the skills they need to not only enter the cyber workforce but to thrive in it.
Project Ares is an award-winning EdTech platform that provides hands-on cybersecurity labs that enhance competency-based education for teachers and reinforce readiness objectives for trainers. Its library of threat scenarios is immersive and reflects contemporary threat incidents. Learners have the ability to use real security tools, tactics, and procedures in Project Ares to effectively perform offensive and defensive activities to build cyber skills and competencies. For more information, visit https://projectares.academy.
It’s probably not something we gym rats spend much time thinking about. (After all, we’ve got a lot to do between patting ourselves on the back for being there in the first place and squeezing our money’s worth out of that heaven-sent sauna.)
But even after deciding on a training program to follow, building out a schedule, and carefully selecting equipment, your trainees might still find themselves sitting on the leg press late one evening wondering, “Am I doing this right?”
The good news is that self-doubt can usually be resolved by addressing the root of the problem. Once you help a trainee identify that, the steps they can take to feel like a rockstar in the cyber gym again will become much clearer.
So what are those root problems? In our experience, every uncertainty encountered in the Project Ares gym can be boiled down to one of six basic mistakes:
Not planning ahead of time
Skipping the warm-up
Doing too many things at once
Not “switching it up”
Not taking breaks
Not tracking progress
But we in the Project Ares gym are solution-minded, so today, we’re going to look at how these mistakes happen and what you can do to reframe them to get the most out of your students’ training.
1. Plan Ahead of Time
Think like Hollywood. Before Daniel Craig ever walked onto a set, someone had already thought through how he would be successful. Alongside the script, they’d have organized camera angles, types of lenses, zoom levels, where the B-roll would fill, how the scenes would be edited together, and on and on ad infinitum – all before cameras rolled and James Bond fluttered his sultry eyelashes at his femme fatale du jour.
In Hollywood, that person is the Director. In radio, it’s the Producer. In sports, it’s the Offensive Coach.
In the Project Ares gym, it’s YOU, the Trainer.
In the last article of this series (👇😉), we talked about the importance of creating a schedule and how to make one that you and your students can stick with.
But a schedule isn’t the only part of planning ahead. Other questions you and your students can ask yourselves include:
Is my computer equipped for success? (Click 👉 here 👈 to test your network!)
Do I understand all the prerequisite material that will make me and my students successful?
Am I in the right state of mind to focus and learn?
That last question is one that’s easily overlooked but is critically important for success, so let’s dive a little deeper into that.
2. Warm Up
While the Project Ares cyber gym may not require jumping jacks and hamstring stretches before a “workout”, it has its own collection of warm-ups that are equally important for the mind.
It’s hard to get any kind of good training in if the trainee is hungry, stressed, distracted, or otherwise not fully focused on the task at hand. But assuming their environment and health are conducive to productivity, the next warm-up box to tick is the scenario pre-requisites.
Your students aren’t likely to complete a 5K if they’re unable to run a mile, so be sure to check out what knowledge they’ll need before attempting to train on the “machine” you’ve chosen for them. (Psst, you can see the pre-requisites for each scenario in our Cyber Curriculum Guide under the “What you should know prior” section.)
Other important warm-ups in the Project Ares gym that specifically relate to the Specialized Mission Scenarios include the Mission video and References in the Mission wheel. At the beginning of each Specialized Scenario, the trainee will be presented with the situational storyline for their real-world scenario simulation.
Understanding the characters and what’s at stake will provide context for the Objectives that your students will need to accomplish. This is key because it helps ground and rationalize the tasks for a student so they aren’t just moving from task to task without an understanding of WHY they’re doing it.
And finally, the References area within the scenario itself provides external links to study materials that will help students feel fully equipped to accomplish their mission.
By helping students get equipped with the right environment, mindset, context, and tools before beginning the “workout”, lots of potential issues can be avoided. 💪 Productivity for the win!
3. Set a “Workout” Goal
Huge goals like successfully completing a Specialized Scenario without any hints can seem impossible to the beginner cyber ninja, and often that “impossible” goal can be enough to derail even the most motivated of students.
The best way to avoid this mistake is to set a tangible goal for every single “workout”.
Let’s imagine that the beginner student has been assigned a Foundational Scenario with 52 Objectives to be completed within a week. Some students might attempt to study outside of the scenario, then doggedly work their way through the entire scenario in one evening.
Other students, however, might divide those 52 Objectives into bite-sized chunks, completing 8 or 9 Objectives every day.
Neither approach is right or wrong, but we’d bet our ninja masks that those who set their goal of completing 8 or 9 Objectives per day have the highest likelihood of not only completing their assignment but also remembering what they learned along the way.
By setting a measurable, achievable goal every time they train, students create their own motivation through the act of disciplined achievement. That motivation means they’ll continue to persist, despite it not being easy.
And more often than not, disciplined persistence leads to success.
(Want to learn more about how to help your students stay motivated? Check out another article in this series.)
4. Switch It Up
Most gym-goers are familiar with the dreaded plateau: that situation where, no matter how many squats you do, you’re just not seeing results anymore.
But this is not often the case! Incremental improvement is still happening, but those first big leaps forward feel smaller and smaller as you improve, particularly when you’re looking at those leaps up close.
So how do you help your students combat brain fatigue and the demotivation of seemingly-lackluster results?
Step back and take stock. Don’t forget to build perspective into a “workout” routine. This doesn’t necessarily imply that your students will need a break (we’ll touch more on that a little later) or that their tracking needs to be tweaked (again, more on that in a moment), but rather that it might just be time to switch it up a bit.
Consider substituting some new training material for a bit. Tackle a Cyber Learning Game, dive into a new tool, or take a tour of the Project Ares gym and have a chat about what other areas look interesting and exciting.
By giving their digital forensics “muscle” a chance to relax and recharge (and by giving the brain an opportunity to do the same), the plateau that your students imagine will seem much less of reality from their new perspective.
Improvements are happening. They just have a way of being hard to see when we get too close.
5. Take Breaks
Another great way to gain some perspective is to build in a real break. Even those most intense HIIT workouts will feature a 10-second rest, and the Project Ares gym is no different. We’re only human, after all.
We know the effects of staring at a screen for too long. We know how much more productive we feel when we remember to take a moment to get some water, stretch our legs, and go outside.
If long-term learning is the goal, breaks that are long enough to be relaxing (but not so long that they cause a loss of focus!) should be a part of your students’ “workout” routines in the Project Ares gym. This may seem like an obvious observation, but as anyone with a Nintendo Switch can tell you, gamification has a way of defying the time/space continuum. So set an alarm and remember to advise your students to take a break now and then!
(By the way, did you know students can save their session in Project Ares? Click here to check out how then make sure students get some air!)
6. Track Progress
One of the most important assets available to you to keep your students driving toward success is a progress tracker.
When goals that seemed so far away to them at the beginning are long-accomplished, it can be hard for them to remember what those initial micro-successes felt like. The ability to show real, tangible progress can keep your students from doubting whether their effort is really getting them any closer to their goal.
In the gym, a progress tracker can look like an app, a personal trainer’s binder, or even just a regular analog notebook where you might track the heaviness of the weights you lifted, the time of your mile, or the muscle groups you focused on.
And the good news is that we’ve got you covered here too! Check out this short video to see the reporting features that are available to all our favorite Trainers in the Project Ares gym.
Tying It Together
Ultimately, getting to the root cause of an issue is important because it allows you to streamline the solution process and develop preventative action to mitigate future issues.
By proactively implementing these 6 solutions into your training program, you’ll help your students have every resource they need to be successful in the Project Ares gym!
PS: We all know how important it is to be able to work as part of a group in the professional space — after all, “There’s no ‘I’ in TEAM”. Stay tuned for the next article in this series where we’ll dive into three practical ways to work as a group in the Project Ares gym!
These glorious humans have somehow cracked the code on waking up obscenely early, getting in an hour-long sweat session, and then — can you imagine? — enjoying a protein shake.
We poke fun at them, but deep down, I think we’re all curious: how did they do it? How did they go from binging Baywatch on the couch to looking like they stepped off the set of the show?
So, we head to the gym and try not to stare at all the Dwayne Johnsons around us. We wander around, pretending we know what we’re doing; we pick up a weight or two, pose with a machine, and lay on a yoga mat to contort our bodies into that downward dog back-breaker we saw our niece doing during Thanksgiving, then we hit the sauna and call it a day.
But after a week of this with no visible results, we’re annoyed, disappointed, and worst of all, we’re out a hundred bucks. We shrug and assume we just missed out on inheriting those “super fit” genes like the jacked genetic jackpots around us. But actually, we only missed out on something surprisingly easy to come by: a training plan.
The New Dwaynes
Fast forward a few months and you’ve got this workout routine down. You started one day at a time to make a commitment to yourself and with small changes, you cracked the code!
Now, you’re the Dwayne Johnson starring at the newbie gym-goer who’s busy trying not to stare at you. And you can see their aimlessly-wandering mistakes a mile away.
They get overwhelmed. They don’t know what equipment to use or even how to use it. They’re bound to feel confused and frustrated, but they don’t ask for help because they feel like they should “just know” what to do.
They develop bad habits. In an effort to force results without guidance, they use equipment in ways that are inefficient at best and downright detrimental at worst.
They lose steam. With high expectations and a low return on their financial investment, they’re getting frustrated and disappointed fast. Why should they keep showing up if nothing’s happening?
In every gym, you’ll find a variety of Personal Trainers: people who assess the current abilities of their clients, evaluate their clients’ goals, and then offer a plan that builds a bridge between that coveted “before” and “after” photo.
And the Project Ares cyber gym is no different!
As a Trainer in Project Ares, you’ll take all kinds of ideas into account in order to help your students make the virtual gains of their cyber training dreams. (More on that next week 😉).
And as a result, the plan that you ultimately create with them in mind will be tailored to exactly what they need, exactly when they need it to put them on a one-way trip to their future cyber triathlon.
Great!
…how?
Which Training Plan is Right for You?
Okay, the value of a training plan is clear but what kinds of trainers use them? Is there a plan out there specifically for you?
This is where we come in!
While it’s true that each individual Trainer in the Project Ares gym is as different as each individual person, we’ve noticed that most Trainers tend to fall into one of these three categories:
The Self-Starter
The Self-Starter makes sure the only fingerprints on their training plan are their own. They’ve either already built it themselves or they’re in the process of building it, and now all they need is a training ground with equipment to make their plan a reality.
The Project Ares Cyber Curriculum Guide provides information about all the scenarios with details like lab hints and videos accessible to Trainer roles. We got you covered!
The Visionary
The Visionary has a fabulous final goal (aka learning objective) for their students to achieve and makes use of a time-saving collaboration with Project Ares experts to tailor a training plan specific to them and their students. Using Project Ares to deliver a purposeful training experience to students takes some prep work. If you already have a cyber training outline developed and are adding Project Ares labs to it, we can help save you some time so you can get back to teaching!
The Diver
The Diver is passionate about training and gets started as soon as possible! This Trainer uses a tried-and-tested, pre-built Project Ares training program so they can hop right into getting their students from “before” to “after”.Working with our teaching partner, Phase2 Advantage, you can bring your cyber gym students pre-packaged cyber certification courses in incident response, digital forensics, or security operations, all of which include labs in Project Ares. It’s a win-win!
So no matter whether you prefer to design your plan from scratch, DIY it, or grab it off the shelf, the Project Ares gym can take it. Show us what you’ve got!
Final Thoughts
Here’s what it comes down to.
To help your students be the best, you have to give them the best. And how do you do that? By making a plan.
Your students need to know how much time to put in, what they’ll do with that time, and ultimately learn how to navigate the gym without you.
Because if they don’t, they won’t be able to become the “Cyber Dwayne Johnson” we all know they can be.
With a step-by-step plan that outlines what your students will do every day, complete with equipment training, practice sessions, and mini-celebrations along the way, the only thing left to stand in their way is themselves.
We’ve paid for the membership, laced up our sneakers, and dragged ourselves through the cold and dark morning to the gym, all the while half-high-fiving ourselves for just showing up.
And we’ve stood in that atrium – stared at all the equipment – and quietly asked ourselves, “Okay…so, what now?”
Yikes, walking into the gym for the first time is overwhelming. How do you know what equipment to use? How do you even use that equipment? How many reps should you do, and oh man, what will you do tomorrow?
Because even the most state-of-the-art gym in the world won’t get you to where you want to go if you don’t know how to use it.
So what does this have to do with cybersecurity and Project Ares?
Everything.
What is the Project Ares Cyber Gym?
Glad you asked!
Project Ares is a cyber-gym that’s chock-full of digital treadmills, virtual weight racks, and high-tech yoga mats designed to help Players get the training they need to reach their cyber-six pack goals.
The Project Ares world map displays different scenarios you can play to learn certain skills. Just as a gym has equipment inside it, the Project Ares world map has learning scenarios in it.
But just like at the gym, showing up is only the first step.
Players need a plan, a workout routine, and familiarity with using the equipment to safely and effectively achieve that cyber-pro skillset they’ve always dreamed of.
Enter the personal trainer.
Because Project Ares is a one-of-a-kind platform, the tools available within it can be confusing at first glance. Luckily, Project Ares is a lot like a weight training gym… watch to learn why and how to use it to meet your training and teaching objectives.
Why Trainers Matter
The Project Ares Cyber Trainer equates to the personal trainer who is hired to help their clients meet their fitness goals. In this case, you’re a professional personal trainer in the Project Ares gym! It’s your job to inspire, motivate, and empower your Players to curate their own success.
Sound a little intimidating? Don’t worry, we’re here to help!
It’s our job to show you around, familiarize you with the equipment, and make sure that you’ve got everything you need to help you build that path to your Players’ success.
That’s why we’ve made this blog series!
In this guide, we’ve gathered all the information a new Cyber Trainer needs to help their Players get the most out of the Project Ares gym.
There’s a lot to think about when you’re just getting started.
What are your Players’ starting points and goals?
How do you build a workout routine that works for them?
What can you do to keep them accountable and motivated?
In this guide, we’ll tackle all of those questions (and more!) so that you can focus on doing what you do best — training.
The Ultimate Trainer’s Guide to the Project Ares Gym
Our Message to You
Just like at the gym or any self-improvement endeavor, people are ultimately only going to be as successful as the work they put in. But that work will surely be a lot easier when they’ve got someone as awesome as you leading their way. We’re psyched you’re here, and we’re psyched that you’re sharing our mission to improve cybersecurity education!
Let’s be honest. Not every organization is blessed with an endless educational budget. (If only that were the case!)
But why should that stop you from having a killer, cyber skill-building training program?
Designing a program (whether a single course or a full-blown curriculum) from scratch doesn’t have to be overwhelming or intimidating. In fact, it can even be better than buying a pre-packaged program, especially once you have all the yoga building blocks in place. Why?
It lets you customize your curriculum (aka “workouts”) exactly to your students’ needs
Because you built it, you can change it at any time to better suit your students as they progress
By investing your time, you save your money
In this guide, we’ll learn about the building blocks that will help you create the cyber workout routine that’s Goldilocks-right for you and your students. (Grab a digital pen, you might want to take notes!)
The Five Building Blocks
1. Define Your Student Demographic
Defining your student demographic means you have a clear idea of where your students are starting.
Think of it this way: someone who can barely make it up the stairs with a gallon of milk isn’t going to be able to bench press 100 lbs in their first training session. Similarly, students with no cybersecurity experience aren’t going to be ready to conduct a brute force attack on the first day of class.
So instead of diving right in and drafting lesson plans, it’s a good idea to take a step back and consider where your students currently are in their journey.
How much experience do they have with IT topics?
How much experience do they have with cybersecurity and its associated technology?
What level of study have they previously completed (high school, undergrad, grad school)?
Once you understand where they’re starting, you’re ready to move on to the next building block.
2. Visualize the End Goal
Designing a workout routine for your students is like mapping a race. In the first building block, you determined where your race should start. Now, where will it end?
What will your students be able to do at the end of their training with you? After all, there’s a big difference between training for a marathon and training for a weight-lifting competition. A good gym will have all of the equipment needed for both, and it’s your job to figure out what to use to help your students reach their goals.
Will they be able to complete a Project Ares Mission without any hints?
Will they move into a more focused class after this one?
Are they perhaps going to be interviewing for jobs?
Take time to visualize and write down what your students’ success will look like. Just like in the gym, visualization is a powerful tool to help make an end goal a reality. This exercise will help your students understand what your training routine will help them accomplish, and will also help keep you as their Trainer focused on the “why” as you design the individual workouts that will get them there.
3. Make A Schedule
Now that you know where your students are starting and where they’re going, it’s time to break down the distance between those two points into smaller milestones. This could be as simple as dividing the workouts across the number of weeks in the training program or as intricate as calculating the hours spent “in the gym” in total.
Regardless of how you decide to track the timeline (and this will vary widely from Trainer to Trainer), here are a few important things to keep in mind:
Will there be mini-goals to achieve along the way? If so, how many and when?
How long is the training program? Is it a sprint where students will be expected to show marked progress in a matter of weeks, or will you have a longer window to work with?
How much time do you expect your students to train within that window? This can include the number of weeks or months to reach their end goal, as well as the number of hours your students can dedicate to learning.
How frequently will your students “hit the gym”? How many of those training sessions will you be present at with them, and how many do you expect them to do on their own?
Plot this schedule out on a calendar to give you a visual representation of your students’ goals. Continue detailing this “gym time” until you have a clear and easy-to-follow path that will allow your students to move from their starting point to their end goal across the duration of your training program.
4. Plan for Different Levels of Independence
While it would be lovely for every trainee to have a personal trainer right next to them during every gym visit, the fact is they’re not always going to be there.
And actually, it’s better that way. After all, while Trainers can give a trainee (aka student) a plan and teach them to use the equipment, only the individual can accomplish the goal.
Likewise, your students will have varying types of contact with you that you’ll need to plan for.
How many hours will they spend in a physical classroom with you?
How many hours will they be learning remotely?
How many more hours on top of that will they be training independently?
How large is the class, and will training be conducted in a group or will it be self-paced?
Add these details to the schedule you created in the third building block and then take a step back to assess it more fully. Does your timeline still look realistic based on classroom synchronicity and student independence? If so, you’re ready to move to the final building block.
5. Choose Your Equipment
This is the fun part! The building blocks above are super important to have mapped out, but they alone won’t help your students reach their goals without the tools or equipment needed to get there.
The Project Ares gym is chock full of equipment to help train any cybersecurity skill. Let’s take a look at the three main categories of tools.
Cyber Learning Games
Foundational Scenarios: Battle Rooms
Specialized Scenarios: Missions
Each of these areas of the Project Ares gym contain different “workout machines” designed to train specific cybersecurity skills. Want to train Network Analyst skills? There’s a Foundational Scenario for that. Looking to improve your students’ ability to conduct forensics in Autopsy? There’s a Specialized Scenario for that, too.
Head over to our Cyber Learning Catalog to see the full range of equipment that Project Ares has to offer or click here to learn more about how your Project Ares team can help you choose the right equipment for your training program.
The Path to Success
You’ve built your race in its entirety now, from the starting point to the length, to the terrain, to the finish line. Now it’s time to put your custom-made training program into action!
In the next article in this series, we’ll tackle common struggles that students often face on their path to success inside the gym and how you as a Trainer can proactively help them to overcome these hurdles. Remember the 3 T’s: Training and Tools are important, but Tenacity might just top the list. 💪
