The Reintroduction of Professor JRod

There's Juan Rodriguez, and then there's Professor J-Rod.

Obviously, they're the same person, but Professor J-Rod represents something very specific to me.

It represents teaching.

One of the things I learned over the years is that knowing technology and being able to teach it are two different things.

You are the smartest cybersecurity professional in the room and still have difficulty explaining cybersecurity to someone who's never worked in technology.

Teaching forces you to ask, "How can I make this more understandable? How can I explain this without somebody...

without assuming that somebody already knows the terminology? How do I make someone feel like they can actually learn this?" That's the philosophy that has followed me throughout my whole career.

Before cybersecurity, I was a tech, right? I was a tech, and people might say, "Well, what does a technician have, you know, teaching cybersecurity?" More than you think.

Because as I tell my students, one of the biggest thing in IT is communication, and communication matters.

Cybersecurity is full of co-complicated terminology: authentication, encryption, ransomware, social engineering, zero-day vulnerabilities, multi-factor authentication, and now artificial intelligence.

If I simply repeat technical definitions, I'm not really teaching.

My job is to translate, and that's where Professor J-Rod comes in.

Technology changes constantly, and that's one reason why I love teaching.

You never completely finish learning.

I've earned a master's degree in cyber, completed my doctorate.

I have seven CompTIA certifications and spent years teaching high school and college students, but credentials are only part of the story.

I watched students walk into the technology classroom believing, "I'm not a computer person," and I watched people trying to change careers.

I worked with students who needed certifications to keep jobs.

I worked with students who wanted certifications so they could move up.

And I worked with students who look at IT as an opportunity to completely change the direction o-of their lives.

Those experience changed the way I teach.

When someone comes to my classroom, I'm not just teaching them, you know, to memorize the difference between RAM and storage.

I'm thinking about what happens after the class.

Can they troubleshoot? Can they explain what they're doing? Can they walk into the interview confidently? Can they pass an industry certification? Can they get the opportunity that they're looking for? That's the bigger picture.