What Exactly Did You Learn As A Computer Science Student?

Sure, you have a computer science degree from the right 'elite' university. Bravo. 

Interview question number 1: what exactly did you learn as a comp sci major? 

Interview question number 2: how will what you learned as a comp sci major help us achieve our cybersecurity goals? 

In a new essay in the NY Times (behind paywall) entitled You're a computer science major. Don't panic, two Carnegie Mellon University professors, Mary Shaw and Michael Hilton, discuss the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the career prospects of comp sci majors. 

Bad news: Carnegie Mellon has a lot of comp sci students and they are one of those right 'elite' universities. AI seems to be an existential threat.

Good news: they're pretty smart over there and they have a thoughtful perspective on the subject that can help you as a cybersecurity leader looking to hire new team members.

Shaw & Hilton note that while AI might seem like a problem, it presents an opportunity:

For some coders, this may feel like an existential threat to their profession. It certainly marks a significant shift for computer scientists and those who educate them. The essential skill is no longer simply writing programs but learning to read, understand, critique and improve them instead. The future of computer science education is to teach students how to master the indispensable skill of supervision.

They continue:

Those skills — understanding why code works, catching errors and knowing when to trust a result — can be learned over time, which is why experienced developers often find A.I. tools helpful with filling in details. But new developers need to build these judgment skills now in order to be ready to enter an A.I.-dominated work force.

In cybersecurity you are getting bombarded with vendors who promise that AI-based agents will solve your problems. Not saying they won't help, but as a cybersecurity leader you need to demonstrate the business value of your program. And if your program includes an AI-based agent, you must demonstrate that you control it to create value.

That means you have people, like a lot of those new comp sci majors, who are comfortable with the AI integration and can learn from you and your team how to determine whether the AI platform is meeting your needs -- which simply put is to create authorized user uptime and deny unauthorized access.

AI-based platforms are not the solution. Better-led and better-trained com sci majors using the tools available are. 

The way you do that is to determine what your new hires start with, know what your goals and resources are, and connect those dots.

So, you need to ask: what did you learn as a comp sci major?

Then you need to ask yourself: can I as a technical leader set that new hire up for cybersecurity program success?

Ask us how you can leverage your computer science knowledge to lead in the cybersecurity of the (very near) future.