Careers & Education

How can you become a superhero star? What makes a superhero a superhero?

Learn about how some real-life superheroes at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering are using their special powers to save people and make their lives better every day.

Information Technology (IT) Careers

IT is the use of computer hardware and software to manage information.

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Information Technology and Computing Careers

For more information on Imagine Your Future in Computing, open English Poster and Spanish Poster

For more information on Computing Degrees and Careers, open English Poster and Spanish Poster

CyberSecurity Careers

Mike Benjamin: Principal Security Architect in Advanced Threat Research Century Link (Level 3)

Watch as Mike shares about the 2018 Threat Report and shows some of the map of the threats.

Question and Answer with Mike

The question I still have for Mike is how does he get the criminals to jail?

When we find bad guys on the Internet we try to publish as much public information as we can about how they operate and where their infrastructure is located. For instance, we might include the actual piece of malware they wrote and the exact IP addresses they are using to control the infected computers. By publishing it publicly we are able to assist other security groups and law enforcement in gaining more information about their operations. The more information there is the less likely the criminal is to be able to continue their operation.

Is it fun?

It is to me! =) I LOVE problem solving and understanding how things work. My depth is with computers, but I'm interested in how cars work, how our government functions, and how the economy operates. Complex systems amaze me, and fortunately with computers I can often control the entire environment to learn more. It's hard for me to emulate the US economy but I can sure turn on 50 virtual machines and install malware all day long. There is no limit to what you can learn about Internet technology and computers. No one is an expert at everything, which makes the challenge never ending.

Why did you wanted to do this job in the first place?

When I was in high school I started learning about security, the Internet, and Unix. I loved all three, but I found the way to break and protect computers to be a fascinating area. I spent the first 16.5 years of my career working on Unix systems, building networks, and writing software. In 2014 I finally got a chance to run the security technology team at Level 3, and I've loved working here since. - What did you think about the first time doing a job like yours? The first time I tried to hunt down a bad guy I was intimidated by how much data and time it took. Sifting through millions of rows of data to find patterns and anomalies took forever and was extremely difficult. Thankfully we've written tools, developed some great mathematical models, and gained experience to make it a much faster experience now. This reinforces that an understanding of software development and mathematics is a great help with what we do.

How long do you want to do your job for?

I don't see the puzzles ever ending, so I could work in security for the rest of my career. Different sub-topics would be required to keep it interesting for that long. Thankfully the overall field is extremely varied so there is always an opportunity to do something different in security.

How many years it took him to pursue his career?

I started working in the technology field at age 16, helping customers connect their home computers to the Internet with a dial-up modem. This November will have been 20 years since that first job. In that time, I have been a very hard worker and constantly taught myself new skills in my spare time. I don't think looking at college as a timeline requirement is the right measure. The real measure is how much you love an area and how much time you are willing to put in to truly understanding it. However, I would highly recommend people interested in our field to look at a Computer Science or Computer Systems Engineering degree program. These help build foundation around how computers work and how to interact with them. Both are core skills to our field and what we do for a living.

Where does most of the hackers and fishers attack besides the United states?

I've attached a graph from earlier this month where our system is tracking hosts on the Internet which are interacting with a known bad guy host. This type of host is called a "command and control" (C2) and is used to instruct infected hosts to do things like steal information, encrypt files for ransom, or attack other hosts. You can see the top 10 countries are: United States, Brazil, China, Belgium, United Kingdom, Canada, India, Argentina, Mexico, and Russia. While our company does run networks all over the world our best information comes from the United States and Western Europe. I would expect our data to be biased towards those areas as a result.

Monica Moreno: Computer Science Educator

Monica Moreno-Martinez, a STEM teacher at Longmont’s Longs Peak Middle School, said taking the cybersecurity class last summer “ignited a passion for me in computer science. It was just eye opening.”

She signed up again this summer to keep learning and plans to teach a cybersecurity class at Longs Peak in the fall. She’s also getting a master’s degree in cybersecurity.

“It’s an area that’s constantly changing and growing,” she said. “It’s just so cool. Kids will love it.”

Read about Monica's recognition: Stapp Inspires Educator Spotlight- A Mirror of the Intangible and her Multimedia Connected STEM Learning With Middle School Students

Ben Martinez: Cybersecurity

Information coming soon.

Sports, Art, Gaming, Science and Animation Computer Careers

The magic ingredient that brings Pixar movies to life

"Danielle Feinberg, Pixar's director of photography, creates stories with soul and wonder using math, science and code. Go behind the scenes of Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Brave, WALL-E and more, and discover how Pixar interweaves art and science to create fantastic worlds where the things you imagine can become real." From Danielle Feinberg TED Talk

Explore Pixar in a Box and see how math, science, computer science and humanities are used to create Pixar movies.

"In the multi-billion dollar movie and video game industry, making animations come to life is a crucial and revered skill. It takes a solid understanding of physics. For example, animators need to know things like how to cast shadows, how to direct the movement of their characters, and how objects, such as motorcycles, should maneuver." From Science 360

Madden EA Sports Gaming Careers

Learn about the different professionals that are needed to produce Madden EA Sports Football.

Game Artist: Explore how artists and animators are responsible for bringing the game to life in their career through all of the visual elements of the game.

Business Analyst: Explore how data, statistical analysis, and business judgement is used in a business Analyst's career at EA SPORTS Madden NFL.

20 Most Influential Latinos in Tech, 2017

Young Latino with Perfect AP Computer Science Score Wants to Inspire Others

Check out the latest contributions to technology

• • Fold It Game created to help contribute to scientific research. The protein biosynthesis is reasonably well understood, as is the means by which proteins are encoded as DNA. Determining how the primary structure of a protein turns into a functioning three-dimensional structure – how the molecule “folds” – is more difficult; the general process is known, but predicting protein structures is computationally demanding. Foldit is an attempt to apply the human brain’s natural three-dimensional pattern matching abilities to this problem.

  • These twin brothers created an app to find pick-up baseball games

  • 34 LatinX start-ups to watch in 2017