In a past life, I trained and performed at The Comic Opera for Children in Bucharest, appearing in productions such as Eine Nacht in Venedig and Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor.
Today, I work as a junior offensive SAP security researcher after previously serving as a malware analyst. Of course, some may conclude that this required an extensive transition, since the two pursuits have absolutely nothing in common. One is purely artistic, after all, and the other is highly technical.
But that would not be correct. Over these recent years, I’ve discovered how my focus on growth in opera, with countless hours devoted to vocal training, collaboration and live performances, has directly fed into my development as a junior cybersecurity practitioner. The connection is quite natural.
What’s more, the cultivation of soft skills has emerged as a critical industry improvement point: Due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools throughout organizations, 85 percent of cybersecurity and IT professionals feel they must demonstrate strong interpersonal, communications and business skills. Compared to five years ago, 82 percent say that people skills – including communications, influence, judgment and stakeholder management – are more central to their effectiveness as a leader today.
Fortunately, traditional performing arts such as opera have spent centuries establishing frameworks to build technical mastery, creative thinking, composure and collaboration under pressure. As a result, junior security professionals can develop needed skills to accelerate their career paths by applying the following lessons learned from these experiences:
What opera taught me: Nothing good happens without hard work and a relentless drive for exploring “what if?”
How this translates to cybersecurity: I spent so many hours rehearsing specific opera sequences literally hundreds of times, focusing on both the vocal and the acting challenges. I’d test different approaches and angles until I found the “perfect” interpretation and match for me and the role. I constantly asked myself, “How can I make this better? What can I discover about myself as a performer that will bring something new to the stage?”
The same level of work ethic and commitment serves our profession well as we, say, attempt to map a threat model. In my job, I’m seeking to protect enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. As part of my rigorous approach to this, I keep probing the edge cases and shifting perspectives and refusing to stop until a theoretical vulnerability – something that often starts out as “just a hunch” – is 100 percent confirmed as real.
Generally, excellence in performance comes down to practice, practice, practice. You really can’t go on stage without it. Similarly, junior cybersecurity professionals need to put in the hours honing their craft and perfecting repeatable methodologies and playbooks to prove they’re up to the tasks of the day.
What opera taught me: Never put limits on creativity.
How this translates to cybersecurity: In classical music, the “cadenza” moment near the end of a movement allows the soloist full freedom to improvise, stretching the rhythm without constraints or conducting.
If you only follow sheet music exactly as it is written, you will never learn how to effectively improvise when things break. Cybersecurity professionals need the same kind of creative freedom on a regular basis. In seeking vulnerabilities, for example, if they’re not directed to search for one specific thing, then their minds are open and free to notice new and/or strange patterns which they would otherwise filter out. This sort of unstructured time proves valuable, as it enables team members to step away from active tasks and simply explore an environment.
What opera taught me: You have to perform under pressure.
How this translates to cybersecurity: There are no redos during a live show. There is no pause button. If you or someone else makes a mistake, you adapt in the moment and move on.
Cyber teams face the same stressful situations during a major malware attack. They have to reconstruct timelines and come up with effective responses while the clock is ticking and the entire organization is depending upon them. Just like on stage, there is no time to panic. This is everything that you’ve been training for now, and you must do your best in the situation.
What opera taught me: Constant collaboration transforms talented individuals into great teams.
How this translates to cybersecurity: There are all kinds of world-class performers in opera, with sharp opinions about how to get the job done. They don’t act that way to be difficult. They do so because they care deeply about the production.
We see this all the time in our workplaces. Team members arrive with a vast range of talent, experiences and high standards. Instead of creating disruptive acrimony, strong personalities make beneficial contributions when their traits align with shared objectives achieved through a collaborative culture. To avoid having egos get out of control with hyper-competitiveness and turf wars, determine explicit structures to designate who owns what and who has the final say.
What opera taught me: Mentorships prove critical for growth.
How this translates to cybersecurity: In opera, the relationship between teachers and students helps the latter customize their growth paths while developing their own interpretive processes. Senior cybersecurity leaders and managers should take on the same role for career guidance. Then, on a more day-to-day basis, they should carefully explain their processes and thinking to junior-level counterparts.
I will always look fondly upon my days with the opera. It reminds me that any such experiences – whether in music, art, athletics or other pursuits – do not serve as relatively inconsequential detours from “real life.” In contrast, they help define your unique value equation. In my case, it enabled me to cultivate an appreciation and aptitude for hard work, creativity, collaboration, performance under pressure and the mentor-student dynamic.
This shaped me as an opera singer and as a cybersecurity practitioner. All of us should look back at our past and leverage it to give us advantages for the present and future. This allows us to truly dive into “the music” of our roles, to try new things, test our limits and enjoy both the “rehearsals” and the “performances.” And that’s when a wealth of diverse talents come together to make for an outstanding team.