One of the greatest frustrations facing those who dream of making the move into IT security is the vicious circle surrounding experience. Due to the complexity and specialist nature of many of the roles available, almost all will require some form of experience from potential candidates.

The trouble starts when talented and motivated individuals want these positions but can't gain that valuable first stage experience. No experience - No job - No experience... you see the problem.

The in2securITy summer project runs each summer (December - Feb) and hopes to give a selection of these talented and motivated people 4-8 weeks specialist IT security experience working with a New Zealand organisation on real world projects.

How does it work?
Its pretty simple really.

Businesses and organisations sign up to sponsor one or more summer projects. These projects are real world work, specific to an IT security specialisation. These projects are designed to run for between 4 and 8 weeks and to be completed by an individual who has not previously been professionally employed in the IT security profession.

From research new technologies, to analysing the security of an application to writing a custom software module - the possibilities for these projects really are endless.

Once a project idea has been selected, the organisation will provide a mentor to act as supervisor over the summer period. This mentor will guide the summer project participant as they progress. In the same way an office supervisor is there to answer questions, encourage growth and expect results - our mentors will give participants a true flavour of what it is like to work in the IT security profession. Furthermore, this mentor will act as a conduit, allowing the participant to gain access to contacts in the field - a vital commodity when starting out.

On completion, all participants are expected to submit a brief report outlining their experience on the summer project, the work they were carrying out and what they learned. The format of this report is as flexible as the original projects - videos, pod casts, power-point, sock puppet theatre - what ever gets the message across. Prizes will be award to the most creative, informative and successful summer projects and of course all completing participants will be given letters of recommendation from their sponsoring organisations.