SNHU Spotlight: Gina Cramer, BS in Cybersecurity Grad

For Gina Cramer ’20, college wasn’t just about the classes she took. It was about the cybersecurity experience and network she built beyond her degree.

After working data entry jobs in healthcare and as a substitute teacher here and there, thanks to her teaching degrees, Cramer decided to pivot her career entirely.

“I got tired of barely getting by, and that's when I decided to do research,” she said. “When I was doing research on what I wanted to go back to school for, and where I wanted to go, I looked to see growth potential, starting salaries, that kind of thing.”

Enter Cybersecurity

Cramer said she always wanted technology to be a part of her career. She even added a tech concentration to her master's in education program.

In her research, she came across cybersecurity: a field she said is not going away. But it's also a field with much to learn. As a full-time employee and a parent of two, she knew if she were going back to school, an online program would be the best option.

As Cramer examined her goals and options, the online programs at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) came up as a possibility. “I did like when I was researching that SNHU actually has a brick-and-mortar campus,” Cramer said. “That was kind of nice to just know that that backed up that online degree.”

So, in her late 30s, Cramer enrolled in a technology program at SNHU. Soon after, the university unveiled a new bachelor’s in cybersecurity program, and she changed her major. Cybersecurity was right where she wanted to be.

Building Experience

While working on her degree, Cramer started adding cybersecurity-related events to her schedule — and her resume.

One major accomplishment was her ongoing participation in the National Cyber League (NCL), a biannual competition for students to test their cybersecurity skills in a variety of individual and team events.

“I jumped in not having (taken) any cybersecurity classes,” Cramer said. “I was still taking the gen eds at SNHU... (NCL) definitely was that carrot that was dangled in front of my nose that kept me going.”

Cramer enjoyed learning by doing. In fact, the class she said she got the most out of was an experiential learning course led by instructor Terry Winn. The course involved NCL participation, as well as engaging discussion boards that allowed her to go down "rabbit holes" with a peer.

While she worked on her degree online from her home in Pennsylvania, Cramer connected with other classmates who shared her interest in cybersecurity. Dubbed the CyberSNHUpers, this group built an online community that continues to this day.

“There was a Slack channel for CybeSNHUpers, and that's kind of where we hung out, real-time chat when people are around,” Cramer said.

The group, which she said was all working toward similar goals, used the channel to connect and support one another. They even formed a study group when some of them were studying for the CompTIA Security+ certification exam.

"It was helpful to have that online community,” she said. “I'm still active.” Although the relationships have primarily existed online, Cramer has met some colleagues in person, including Norma DePriest '19 '22G, a fellow CyberSNHUper alum.

Cramer also attended several in-person conferences during her time as an SNHU student, including the Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) and the ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing.

It was at one of the conferences that she started networking with her current employer, a global financial services company.

From Student to Professional

At the beginning of 2020, Cramer landed a job in the cybersecurity field. Although she was still completing her last few courses for her bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, she was hired into a rotation program intended for college graduates.

“That really allowed me to learn everything it is that I do now and our processes and how things work," she said.

Fast-forward five and a half years, and her life looks a little different.

She’s still on the same team, but she’s advanced from the graduate development program and is now a security analyst with some leadership responsibilities. When she was first hired, she commuted daily by train to New York City. Now she works from her home office in Pennsylvania.

Cramer is no longer a college student — but she’s still in class. She teaches the next generation of cybersecurity professionals at the same community college where a friend she met at SNHU also works.

She still questions herself sometimes and seeks input from colleagues at work, but her imposter syndrome is not what it used to be.

“I still feel like I have it, but that confidence is growing,” Cramer said. "I'm not way off the mark, and I'm truly not that much of an imposter. I can do this. It's ... what I want to do, and I know my stuff.”

Rebecca LeBoeuf Blanchette '18 '22G is a writer at Southern New Hampshire University, where she fulfills her love of learning daily through conversations with professionals across a range of fields. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in Professional Writing at SNHU’s campus in Manchester, New Hampshire, and followed her love of storytelling into the online Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing at SNHU. Connect with her on LinkedIn.