Georgia Weidman
Shevirah, Inc.
Washington, DC USA
"I’m always going to stand out, so I may as well stand out the way I like."
Career Roadmap
Georgia's work combines: Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Accomplishing Goals
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Honestly, I'm thankful for the negativity. Having people tell me that I'm not good enough is all the motivation I need to prove them wrong.
Here's the path I took:
Bachelor's Degree
Mathematics, General
Mary Baldwin College
Graduate Degree
Computer Science
James Madison University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Both of her parents worked in technical careers, and her mom held a Ph.D. in computer science, so she had a female role model in technology from a very young age.
2.
Her mom encouraged her to pursue tech, but like any typical teenager, she didn’t want to be anything like her mom, so she decided to major in mathematics instead.
3.
She completed a bachelor’s degree in math, but as she started working on a Ph.D. program, she realized that math didn’t have many applications outside of academia.
4.
Her parents still encouraged her to keep up her schooling, so she left her Ph.D. program and decided to get a master’s degree in computer science.
5.
During that time, she participated in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, where she was introduced to penetration testing.
6.
The first team of penetration testers she saw was made up entirely of white men, but she kept the image of her mother in her head and pushed forward in her pursuit of the field.
7.
After school, she got a government job as a penetration tester, but she soon realized that she wanted to take her career to the “next level.”
8.
She’s since started two companies to improve various aspects of mobile device security, and wrote Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking, a popular industry handbook.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Peers:
Taking on this grant would be a dumb decision. You don't have what it takes.
How I responded:
Honestly, I'm thankful for the negativity. Having people tell me that I'm not good enough is all the motivation I need to prove them wrong.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
Skipping high school and going straight to college created its own set of problems complete with flagging in internship application systems for not having a high school diploma while in graduate school.