The people have spoken and the poll results show that Security Engineer is the most challenging role in security development and integration. Ingalls' CTO Evans Foster and Sr. Security Engineer Jacob Davenport discuss how they manage the challenges of this role.
How do you find balance with this position?
Finding balance as a security engineer can be very difficult. Security engineers have to keep a "bird's eye view" of their organization's security posture in its totality and be subject matter experts on technical details. For Ingalls' security engineers this is especially challenging because we must support both our own internal security operations and our customer's. Remember that complete or total security is not possible and that your task list will never be fully completed. Emergent issues will supersede your other priorities and are part of the job.
Plan for fires.
How do you stay engaged with handling the role?
Fundamentally, engineers enjoy the process of analytical problem solving and value efficient, clean solutions. Engineers thrive in environments that present complex problems and Cyber Security is a "target rich" environment! To a good engineer, solving a complex problem does not feel like work and is the best way to stay engaged. We always remember to take time for projects and tasks that flex our "engineering brains" and interest us.
How do you deal with the challenges of your role/position?
Recognize that you are part of a team. If a challenge seems daunting, you have a team to assist and support. Engineers have a tendency to be "individual contributors" by nature but this is a double-edged sword as it can lead to feelings of isolation. It's very important to remember that you have a team backing you.