Current Position

Senior Trust and Compliance Consultant with Zatik Security

Major

Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences and Middle Eastern Studies

Graduating Year

2013

A message from Ariel

I once saw the a sticky note affirmation in a women's bathroom at Microsoft that said, "'No' is a complete sentence." I'm glad I went *after* my interviews, because I almost burst into tears: there are going to be a lot of times where it doesn't feel like you have a choice, whether it's a social situation, a professional situation, your family-- whomever; but "No" is a complete sentence. There may be consequences to saying it, but good people-- be they friends, coworkers, or family members-- will respect your boundaries.

Working in the tech sector can be tumultuous: there are a lot of ups and downs, high paychecks and layoffs. Things can be pretty chaotic. When you're interviewing with companies, be sure to ask about their layoff history (when was the most recent one, how often has it happened in the last X years)-- and don't just take the word of the recruiter. Ask the people you interview with! And remember, if it happens to you-- and it probably will-- it isn't a reflection on you as a person, your worth, or your ability to do the job. It really does just come with the territory.

A valuable skill

As a consultant, being able to speak "many languages" is key: I have essentially built my career out of translating between engineers, executives, policy makers, hackers, security professionals, and normal, non-technical users, and I absolutely credit my CogSci/Linguistics background for that skill set. Between that and being a good writer and public speaker-- something that doesn't come along so often in the tech sector-- I've been able to carve out a pretty strong niche for myself.