The Personality Hire Who Accidentally Found Her People

Three years ago, I was a claims adjuster at GEICO. Today, I work in Application Security. No, I didn't take the traditional route. I didn't code in my mom's basement as a kid or major in Computer Science (shoutout to my fellow nursing-school-to-health-science-to-wait-do-I-really-want-student-loan-debt girlies). I found an apprenticeship that took a chance on someone with a "can-do attitude" and exactly zero tech experience. And honestly? AppSec found me. I was actually looking at data analytics when this opportunity popped up. Someone looked at my resume, saw "claims adjuster" and "communication skills" and said "yeah, we can teach her the tech stuff." And they were right. Here's what I've learned: AppSec needs more than just the smartest tech guy in the room who can't explain a concept without making your eyes glaze over. (Side eye. You know who you are.) We need the communicators. The SOP writers. The people who can translate "vulnerability exploitation" into something that sounds li