On ==>> Patrick

Background & SUCCESS: From childhood poverty (& slurred speech) to a successful life (without slurred speech) & career ==>> having learned to read, speak AND write four other languages (not counting high school spanish) and dual graduate degrees…

Sorry, moved my very rich and comprehensive “Engaging & Stellar Virtual (Virtualization/Cloud) Cover Letter” to new page (11/9/2023). It explicitly illustrates my efforts and desires in moving to Virtualization/Cloud roles.

*** pls visit other site:   https://patrick642.wordpress.com  (Topics from: Strategy,  Leadership, Intelligence (personal, business & national security), Communication, Diplomacy, Equality to Improvements (self, others, organizations))

In Sept 2015, I resigned my civilian DIA federal Sr. InfoSec / Cyber Security & Intelligence Officer position. This was after being unable to reach my 9/2014 goal of becoming a GG15 {equivalent to a Colonel} and starting work on obtaining an SES position (Executive/General officer level).  This was due to DoD sequestration and budgets. 

For the nine months prior to resigning my senior DIA role, my efforts were squarely aimed at moving into a private/commercial (or even a different entity like State Dept) CIO or CISO role, due to my extensive and comprehensive background and education, in the DC region to make meaningful impacts.  I am highly comfortable in both worlds, private or federal worlds. This CIO/CISO effort came about after having to pass up a VP of Information Security role and a CISO role the previous year when two companies (one in Indiana and one in Florida) approached me. Why pass on them? We are not willing to relocate…

After talking to multiple CISOs and spending most of a year of my time along with a great deal of money, the CISO / CIO route is somewhat elusive too. Most of the CISOs I’ve had discussions with warned me that making a move to the first CISO / CIO role will be very difficult.  They were correct.

CURRENT Goals:

Because of that pain (time & a lot of money) in attempting to gain that first CIO role and due to the way tech is moving, as of December 2015, I am moving back to my technical roots, more specifically, into the Virtualization (cloud) and SDN/NFV arenas (after spending multiple thousands of dollars and significant time in getting this technical training). This return to a more technical role started with the temporary move into a contractor role as a senior InfoSec SME while I underwent my intensive 9 month long preparations for moving into virtualization (cloud).

In making this move, I will be a Bridge. By that I mean, I will be looking to be a bridge by combining and using all of the multiple areas of my background: IT (see career), Cyber Security, Intelligence (national security & human), Strategy and Creativity/Innovation into the Cloud / Virtualization realm – preferably in the private / commercial sector OR Federal agency      

Career

PAST: Mainframes to PCs and networks,  to telecomm and datacomm, to NOC & SOC work in Firewalls, VPN & routers and in IT Level III Tech Support roles.  Multiple years: Cyber Security, Information Assurance, InfoSec/Computer Security (along with multiple cyber security/InfoSec certifications). InfoSec Consultant / Project Manager in several federal entities.

As well as multiple years as a federal employee – Intelligence Analyst/Cyber Security SME & then as an Intelligence Officer/Cyber Security SME before I resigned in late Sept 2015, see current. 

CURRENT: Back to being a contractor at another Intelligence entity as a IASAE (ISSE) Level III role (with near executive level responsibilities and pay) to make strides and impacts. (IASAE = Info Assurance System Architect & Engineer — fancy title for InfoSec & Cyber security)

— Familiar with & due to self-training (my expense & on vacation time), classes, online courses & much reading to the annoyance of my wife:  Wi-Fi, Virtualization (cloud), SPLUNK, SDN & NFV, Mobile Communication, ethical hacking, digital forensics & business & Information Technology strategy.  

• Jun 2016 ==> obtained CSA CCSK cloud certification from Cloud Security Alliance 
• Jul 2016 ==> obtained AWS (Amazon) Cloud Solutions Architect associate cert (I’ve had both in-person classes ==> AWS SysOps & AWS Cloud Solutions Architect ) 
• Aug 2016 ==> this month was spent prepping for VMware NSX cert before I stopped this path  
• Nov 2016 ==> obtained AWS Certified Developer associate cert  

currently prepping for and likely sitting for 2 or 3 of the following AWS professional level certifications in late 2017:

• Cloud Solutions Architect 
• DevOps Engineer
• Advanced Networking Specialty 

other course work: 

• AWS Advanced Cloud Formation
• Multiple VMware courses: vCAC, VCA (Virtualization in Cloud), VCA-DCV (data center), vSphere & VCP-NV (NSX network & security virtualization) 
• Cisco CCNA (a previously held cert) – refreshing this knowledge 
• Software Defined Networks (SDN) /Data-centers (SDDC), I’ve also had basic courses in these areas (and some OpenStack)
• Splunk was another course I undertook to gain that knowledge on wire data, which everything moves across
• ISC2 CCSP – did all the cloud cert course work & video so it can dovetail with my current ISC2 CISSP-ISSEP certification (due to time constraints, may get this cert in Feb 2018)

My 3 year goal at this point is to move up the technical ranks somewhere close to home (in the D.C. region) while working in Virtualization (cloud) and Mobile Communications & Security arenas (after spending multiple thousands of dollars and significant time in getting this technical training), while trying to combine the areas of Info/Cyber Security, Strategy and Creativity/Innovation.

=== Mobile Communication & Security – SANS class and other Mobile / Wi-Fi training

No more senior Information Assurance oversight C & A (or A & A) roles for me…

My ‘passion‘ is for troubleshooting & problem-solving issues as well as improving, streamlining & creativity (when possible) efforts in any IT / InfoSec & Cyber Security effort I’m involved in. My intent is to do so in areas/projects using what I’ve learned over the years, in work & life (such as using my dual graduate degrees, Info/Cyber security & previous IT roles – or in companies that are looking for someone like myself. I am committed to striving to be the best at what I do, while at the same time, promoting better ‘things’ in life for those around me and elsewhere.

— By ‘things’ I mean anything that can and will improve the daily lives of as many people as possible.

Another goal of mine, is to inject more cognitive diversity in everything I work on and with everyone I work with. We need to be inclusive, not exclusive…

— Collaboration and Adaptability are what I am about. It does not matter if you are older/younger, male/female, black/white, gay/straight – we are supposed to be about inclusiveness and rapidly changing for many diverse environments.

Lastly, I am about continuous learning – innovation / strategy / diversity. No one is too old to keep on learning. No one is too old to stop being curious about things around them, whether they are working on it or just interested…

I am a curious individual, I want to know things – know what makes them tick, try to find the answers…. I always try to improve and streamline what & when I can. At the same time, I always try to inject more insight to projects being worked on – different perspectives of insight.

Education

MSc IA (Cyber Security/Info Assurance) 

MBA Technology Management (focus on Strategy, R&D & Innovation) 

BA Poli Sci & Mandarin Chinese (2 yrs)

AAS Computer Engineering (a year of Japanese)

(Other languages: self taught Russian & a year of Arabic at UCLA)

My MBA focused on Technology Management Strategy, R&D and Innovation, my MSc is in Info/Cyber Security (Info Assurance). The Poli Sci degree was in conjunction with 2 yrs of Chinese (where I was one of only 1 or 2 non-Asians in every class). The Russian and Chinese are due to the continual movement of globalization. I’ve been preparing for globalization for many years. Languages have always fascinated me. Besides self-taught Russian, Mandarin Chinese @ UW & Japanese @ BCC, I’ve also learned (not currently fluent) Arabic, Spanish and even a bit of Swedish while in Sweden some time ago

— also @ https://about.me/patrick642