{"id":1801,"date":"2023-02-10T17:18:39","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T17:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/schools\/professional-studies\/?p=1801"},"modified":"2023-11-30T14:56:30","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T14:56:30","slug":"scott-mccarthys-journey-from-banker-to-cybersecurity-leader","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/schools\/professional-studies\/2023\/02\/10\/scott-mccarthys-journey-from-banker-to-cybersecurity-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott McCarthy\u2019s journey from banker to cybersecurity leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott’s career pivot brought job fulfillment and financial reward<\/strong><\/p>\n

While pursuing his undergraduate degree in computer science at Worcester State University, Scott McCarthy, M.S. IT \u201918, worked full-time for several local banks, rising to the position of branch manager. After 10 years in the industry, his future looked bright. Problem was, he didn\u2019t want to be a lifelong banker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had a passion for technology,\u201d McCarthy says. \u201cI\u2019d been programming since I was a child.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In his efforts to transition to a technology-based position, McCarthy discovered his computer science degree wasn\u2019t sufficient. \u201cI wasn\u2019t getting any callbacks,\u201d he says. \u201cUnfortunately, if you\u2019ve never worked in the field, the computer science degree isn\u2019t enough to get a job.\u201d He decided that earning a master\u2019s degree in IT and cybersecurity would provide the differentiation he needed to reinvent his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was still working full-time so the MSIT program at Clark was great because I could take all my classes at night,\u201d McCarthy says. \u201cIn three years, I had my master\u2019s degree, and within six months, I landed a job in cybersecurity at National Grid.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

McCarthy says the scholar-practitioners that make up Clark\u2019s faculty were a key factor in his decision to enroll in the MSIT program, noting that \u201cwhen (Professor) Brian LeBlanc teaches the project management classes, he speaks from experience.\u201d McCarthy adds that proximity and price influenced his decision, as well, saying he has gotten \u201ca great return on my investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within a year of starting at National Grid as a cybersecurity analyst, McCarthy was promoted to senior SOAR engineer and, 22 months later, SOAR technical team lead. \u201cI\u2019ve more than doubled my salary in three years,\u201d he says. \u201cNot only that, I also have more job fulfillment. I really enjoy the things I do. This is definitely the career path I belong on.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to his responsibilities at National Grid, McCarthy now teaches part-time at Clark, drawing directly from his work experience. \u201cWhen I do my incident response class next semester, my students are going to learn all about the basics, including how to write up an incident report and how to escalate,\u201d he says. \u201cSo when someone asks them what they would do with a malicious email, they\u2019ll be able to say \u2018I\u2019m going to take a look at my templates, verify my links and attachments, put them in sandboxes, and so forth.\u2019 They\u2019ll demonstrate that they know what needs to be done, and they\u2019ll get hired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such practical instruction is timely, according to McCarthy. \u201cThere aren\u2019t enough cybersecurity analysts in the world,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a skills gap right now of about two to three million people in the United States alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy says teaching at Clark is a way for him to pay forward the guidance he received as a student. \u201cI definitely benefitted from being able to talk to people at Clark,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember one of my finals was a job interview with my professor. Is there any better way to prepare someone for the next level than to interview them and then provide feedback? And again, you\u2019re getting that from people who are industry experts and do this on a regular basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now McCarthy is one of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott’s career pivot brought job fulfillment and financial reward While pursuing his undergraduate degree in computer science at Worcester State University, Scott McCarthy, M.S. IT \u201918, worked full-time for several local banks, rising to the position of branch manager. After 10 years in the industry, his future looked bright. Problem was, he didn\u2019t want to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":329,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[645,1],"topic":[],"displayed_author":[],"media_contact":[],"media_type":[],"class_list":["post-1801","story","type-story","status-publish","hentry","category-alumni","category-news"],"acf":[],"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/schools\/professional-studies\/www-content\/uploads\/sites\/310\/2023\/02\/McCarthy_Image_photo-1-1024x661.png","yoast_head":"\nScott McCarthy\u2019s journey from banker to cybersecurity leader - School of Professional Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/schools\/professional-studies\/scott-mccarthys-journey-from-banker-to-cybersecurity-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scott McCarthy\u2019s journey from banker to cybersecurity leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scott’s career pivot brought job fulfillment and financial reward While pursuing his undergraduate degree in computer science at Worcester State University, Scott McCarthy, M.S. 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