So, later college and early career are a bit of a mess. You’ll see my resume starts at 2016; however, I was in a desk support/customer support role from the start of 2014 to mid 2016. It was for a now defunct web hosting business but, on top of that I don’t tend to include it as the role was very bare bones. A one person call center mixed with email support mixed with collections chasing. It was a very small, four-person team with one person being overseas in Ukraine. This role taught me how to swim after I sank for a small bit. It was tough, as was the owner/my manager. It was not a good place mental health-wise, and while I’m forever grateful for that stepping stone, it was certainly not a highlight of my career.

My education isn’t listed on my resume either. Why? Well, I got really close, but didn’t get to officially graduate. I had a rough medical scare (you can read more on that in my About Me page) that forced me to drop out. I attended Houston Community College for my core credits and then transferred to Austin Community College to finish out the rest. I was 3 credit hours shy of getting my AAS in Computer Science. Though disappointing, I didn’t let it deter me from building up the career I have today. I was never the greatest in a controlled learning environment (my GPA reflected that); however, once left to my own devices, I was able to catch up incredibly quickly. It’s a skill I keep sharp to this day.

We all hope to strike lightning in our careers—to find what it is that we truly want to do. I found that when I became a part of CertifID, Inc. Starting off in customer support, it only took a couple of months to get truly familiar with the platform. What really caught my eye, however, was our Threatmetrix platform. I had a strong knack for reading the logs and doing reactive triage when my mentor (and Solo Fraud Jedi at the time) was caught up in meetings. It fell on me pretty quickly to decipher the logs and create what I later learned are SAR write-ups. I found my footing and knew what I wanted to be involved in for the rest of my professional career: fighting fraud.

I relish having tangible results, and with fraud prevention and investigations, I knew I was making a positive difference in people’s lives. The biggest case that tends to get the spotlight on my resume is the 2.8 million dollar catch, but it’s also the small ones, where families put all of their savings into a down payment. If they lose that money, their life is flipped upside down and they’re left reeling. I’m proud to say our team made decisions every day that would protect our clients and users alike.

Upon my departure, I made a clear goal to remain in the fight against fraud. With the skills I learned from my mentor/manager, I have what it takes to be a strong tool in any company’s arsenal. However, I know the job market is vicious and there are a lot of talented people vying for the same positions. So, I decided that while I work on applying to positions, I would also put my nose to the grindstone and study. When you look at my LinkedIn profile, in the certificates section, you will see all the courses I have completed since starting my search.

I’ve gone back to my roots and focused on relearning SQL, learning Microsoft Azure, and learning Python (from scratch). I studied and gained the fundamentals of GRC and a little bit about the SOC 2 framework. Very soon, I will be learning more about AI/ML and how to utilize it for fraud detection and mitigation. A reactive force is good to have, but bad actors are using artificial intelligence in ways that make being reactive a very tough thing. We have to stay one foot ahead as often as we can.

If you’ve made it this far, honestly, thank you. I know I can wax poetic at times, but I do take pride in being a strong storyteller. At this time, I’m still on the search for a new position, and I would be happy to connect to discuss that further.