Testimonial · Career coaching · First graduate · Board member
He asked how to learn cyber. Then he did every step, and found the next ones himself.
Lucas Gauna and Dr. Safi Mojidi met at work, at a health technology company where Safi was the first security hire. Lucas was not in security. He saw a Hacking the Workforce post and sent one question: how do I learn this?
Today he works in programs and grants management at a philanthropic foundation, earning about three times what he made then. He serves on HtW's board. And this month he came back to us as a coaching client, with his employer paying for it.
He is the first person Hacking the Workforce ever coached.
Somebody came. He brought the laptop.
Our ethos is that figuring things out is a real skill, and nobody should have to learn it alone. Lucas is what that looks like when it works. We drew the first stretch of the map with him. He did the walking, and when the map ran out he kept going and told us what he found.
The path, in six steps
- 1
He asked. A post on HtW's social media. One message: how do I learn cyber? That is still the only entry requirement we have.
- 2
He got a plan. The same step-by-step path we still use, before it had a name. Small steps, each with a way to check the work, and a coach who answered.
- 3
He did the work, and then some. He followed the guidance. He also went and found resources we had not given him, questioned what did not make sense, and came back with better questions. That is the skill: not doing it alone, and not waiting to be told.
- 4
He volunteered. He gave time before anyone paid for it, and learned how volunteering becomes a track record. The track record became paid work. The paid work became a full-time job.
- 5
He stayed. He joined the HtW board. The first person we coached now helps decide what we do next, and every room he walks into is proof the model works.
- 6
He came back. This month his employer is sponsoring coaching with Dr. Mojidi, on the systems he now runs at work. The next phase after that: teaching at study hall, so the person who was helped becomes the help.
Why this story is on the site
Hacking the Workforce publishes stories only with written consent, and only when the person has read the page. Lucas has. His employer is not named here by agreement. The coaching he is doing now is paid work, which is also how we keep the next first step free for someone else.
If you are where Lucas was, the first step is the same one he took. Start at Welcome. If you want to coach, hire, or fund the next Lucas, here is how.