When David Mayne started looking for a job in cybersecurity, the recruiter at his first-choice company told him no. With only one eye, how could Mayne spend all day staring at a computer screen?
But he didn’t let that stop him. Mayne had already overcome enormous odds, losing an eye and a leg following a serious car accident, only to find a way to raise his four children alone. He had earned a degree that qualified him for work in cybersecurity and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Mayne landed at Novacoast, a cybersecurity company specializing in IT services and software development. After the company moved from Santa Barbara, California, to Wichita, Kansas, Mayne reached out to state and city organizations to recruit staff for Novacoast’s training program. That’s how he met the team Conceivea local organization that helps people who are blind or have low vision (BVI) through employment, awareness, rehabilitation, education and research.
“In the meeting with them, light was shed on the employment situation of blind or partially sighted people”, explains Mayne. “I had no idea how serious it was.”
According to Envision, 70% of people with low vision are unemployed. Mayne saw an opportunity.
The curriculum adapts to the tools
With the right tools, such as a computer with a screen reader and a Braille keyboard, people in the British Virgin Islands can work in IT and cybersecurity roles, such as SOC analyst, help desk engineer or network administrator, he realized Mayne. And organizations are needed to broaden their research contact national shortage of qualified cybersecurity operators. Then, with the support of Novacoast CEO Paul Anderson, Mayne led the development of the Apex Programan on-demand online course to prepare VBI students for cybersecurity certification exams.
About 25 students have enrolled in the program since its inception in May 2023, and Mayne says he hopes to enroll 100 this year. Although the course is designed to last 10 weeks, students can work at their own pace. Apex supports students during the course and exam process, then helps them find jobs.
“We will stay with them until they get to the end,” Mayne says.
The program is free and its $7,500 cost is covered by state grants. So far, 16 states have partnered with the Apex program, with Florida and Texas expected to join the fold this year, Mayne says.
Training materials are delivered in multiple ways to meet student needs: audio-only, text-only, and versions of PowerPoint and Word documents that advance automatically or advance manually (which is preferred by JAWS or Job Access with Speech, a one-screen common -reading program that renders text as spoken or Braille). Content includes both text and video, and students participate in hands-on labs and quizzes.
Create a accessible curriculum and still fully addressing the challenging topics was challenging, Mayne says.
“There’s binary math in class and subnetting, and it took me over a month to figure out how to teach it without using a board,” he says.
Mayne is currently updating the materials, as the exams will be updated in July. The course prepares students for CompTIA’s Network+ or Security+ certification exam. Students may request exam accommodations, such as screen readers, extra time, or even human readers.
“All of our exams are computer-based, and we have committed to multiple versions to ensure 100% compatibility with JAWS,” says Carl Bowman, senior vice president of exam services at CompTIA.
Since the tests are run in a locked browser, the software must be configured to allow screen readers to run. But Bowman says it’s important to make sure people in the BVI who want to take the exams have equal access.
“Equity is one of the underlying themes across the board when you look at our entire business,” Bowman says.
Training pays off for students and employers
So far, four students have completed the Apex Program course. One of the first graduates, Curtis Jackson, recently joined Novacoast as a SOC 1 analyst, the company’s first direct hire from the program.
Finding the Apex program through a Facebook ad was a turning point for Jackson, who was born blind due to congenital glaucoma. The father of two, who worked as a telemarketer for nearly two decades, dreamed of working in the tech industry but felt left out because of his disability.
Now, though, he doesn’t just have a new job, he has a career.
“I definitely have more earning potential,” Jackson says. “But the real opportunities will come when accessibility comes and I have the ability to advance and advance within the company, just like everyone else.”
For Mayne, bringing Jackson on board was important to both the company and the success of the Apex program.
“We drink our own Kool-Aid,” he says. “We don’t want to be out there telling everyone they need to hire BVI employees, but we don’t.”
Once graduates successfully pass the CompTIA exams, their resumes are turned over to Novacoast’s workforce enhancement arm, which helps companies hire technology professionals. So far, about 70 organizations have said they are willing to interview graduates of the program. They come from a variety of industries, including local businesses, federal agencies, vehicle manufacturers and software companies. Graduates can work anywhere “has an IT department,” Mayne says.
Cybersecurity is a career, not just a job
Mayne worked with the White House Office of the National Cyber Director to spread the word about the program, which was also featured in a recent short film from WorkingNation, a nonprofit media organization exploring the future of work in the United States.
WorkingNation’s Melissa Panzer, the short film’s director, says she hopes the film inspires business leaders to look at unlikely talent pools and expand the opportunities they consider.
“I tell a lot of stories about marginalized people and I always come back to the same thing: I think marginalized people, their work ethic is strong, their dedication is strong,” she says. “They just want a chance.”
The Apex program plans to expand beyond its focus on BVI individuals to veterans and disabled veterans, which could open the program up to 500 to 800 students per year, Mayne says.
“We’re getting people into careers, not just into jobs. And we want them to be financially secure and have a career that they enjoy,” Mayne says. “We are bringing in students who are excited to enter this field, who are enterprising. We would like people in the IT world to give these people a chance. This is what doesn’t exist today.”