Vanessa Berg
Cybersecurity
Information Security Analyst III at American Express
Describe your potential job duties
I have not been put on a specific team yet, but from past internships in IT risk, governance, and compliance area, some of my duties will be around security policy, risk assessments, and preparing for annual audits. Ensuring security in the company is constantly growing and I'm super excited to continue in this field.
In what ways did the Polytechnic and/or Purdue help make you uniquely qualified for your new job?
The work that I had to put into classes and labs really made me gain more confidence in myself and what I can achieve. The labs at Purdue have been tough and giving me great resources that I can use for the future career.
How has the college or someone in the college helped you achieve your goals?
My professors and TAs have helped me grow a lot and pushed me to work hard in every class.
What specific classes helped prepare you for your new job?
Enterprise Info Governance mainly helped for my career because I'm going into the IT risk, governance, and compliance area. My internships were a big portion of my learning because cybersecurity does not focus too much on the governance area.
If you had a favorite class, project, experience, or professor, what/who was it, and why?
I enjoyed CNIT 344 (Network Engineering Fundamentals). As tough as it was, I learned a lot about networking and how to properly research. Sometimes there was not many resources on how to complete a task so I had to use critical thinking skills and talk to other CNIT students.
Purdue Polytechnic's hands-on labs and challenging coursework helped me build confidence in my skills. The rigorous environment prepared me for real-world IT challenges, especially in areas like risk assessments and security policy. My internships in IT risk, governance and compliance also helped me apply what I learned in class to real industry scenarios, setting me up for success at American Express."