Esha

I am Esha from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, and I dream of becoming one of India's most sought-after cybersecurity professional one day.

Cybersecurity was the first and the only domain that caught my attention during the counselling sessions after school. I come from a joint family where modest education has always thrived, but no one ventured into specializations. I wanted to change that. With help from siblings and friends, I realized cybersecurity is a booming field and it can offer me the opportunity to call myself a professional.

Initially, my family was eager to follow the generational footsteps and wanted to send me abroad for better opportunities, quite a typical scenario in middle-class households in our region. But I had seen relatives struggling there as well, so the idea never lured me.

Hence, I asserted that I wanted to thrive and grow in the country where I belong. Their reluctance melted soon as they discovered my focus and determination.

Following this, I started pursuing my BTech in Computer Science. The first brushes of reality stroked when I joined my internship in Delhi at Craw Security. The understanding about this field deepened as I learned about areas like SOC analysis, ethical hacking, pen testing, digital forensics and more.

My resolve to pursue this full-time strengthened over time and by fourth year when placements came knocking, I decided to upskill further and joined Excellence Technology that offered me the Cyber Vaahini program. I was under-confident up till college but that changed when the mentors at Cyber Vaahini honed me with critical skills needed for being an industry professional. Practical learning was a definite part of it, but the confidence boost of implementing that learning transformed me and I joined WhiteHat Coders in Mohali.

I am thankful to everyone at Excellence Technology and Cyber Vaahini for giving me the direction and for reaffirming my belief that our limits only exist in our minds. If the grit to learn is strong, you will always find a way.