Feb. 18, 2024

Living the dream with cyber security expert and co-founder and program director of the Apex program David Mayne

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Dive into the inspiring world of cybersecurity and inclusivity with the latest episode of the Living the Dream podcast featuring David Mayne, the co-founder and director of the Apex program. Discover how David's personal journey from a life-altering accident to becoming a cybersecurity expert ignited his passion for helping others. Learn about the Apex program's mission to provide people with disabilities, especially those who are blind or visually impaired, with the tools and opportunities to secure entry-level cybersecurity jobs. Tune in to hear David's story, the challenges he overcame, and the future he envisions for the Apex program and its graduates.
www.theapexprogram.com
Empowering The Visually Impaired In Cybersecurity (Full Documentary)

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> Speaker A>Welcome, um, to the living the Dream podcast with curveball. Um, if you believe you can achieve cheat, cheat.

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> Speaker A>Welcome to the living the dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that, uh, teach, motivate and inspire. Today I am joined by cybersecurity expert and the founder of, uh, the Apex program, or the co founder. He is the director. His name is David Maine.

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> Speaker A>So today we're going to be talking about cybersecurity and hiring and being inclusive to the disabled community.

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> Speaker A>Dave and myself are disabled, and we'll get into that. But he, like I said, is the program director of Apex. And Apex is a program that gives disability people with disabilities a chance, especially blind and visually impaired, to get entry level cybersecurity jobs.

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> Speaker A>So we're going to be talking about that.

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> Speaker A>Dave, thank you so much for joining me today.

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> Speaker B>Oh, happy to be here.

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> Speaker A>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

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> Speaker B>Sure. So, um, I've been in the cybersecurity world for about eight years now.

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> Speaker B>Um, before that, I had been, um, on disability for eight years or so.

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> Speaker B>I got, uh, into a car accident that was rather severe. Um, severe enough that I lost my lower left leg.

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> Speaker B>Um, I lost my left eye.

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> Speaker B>Um, nerve damage to both my arms. Um, 21 surgeries to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, as I like to say. And eight years of recovering, uh, two years to learn to walk again.

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> Speaker B>That's kind of my backstory, is that I became disabled. But I was a single dad with four kids and knew that disability would not be enough to raise four kids.

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> Speaker B>And so, as I got near the end of my recovery period, I went back to school, um, so that I could gain a career that would bring me the income that I needed. And in doing that, entered, uh, the cybersecurity field, found discrimination.

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> Speaker B>Early on, I had a recruiter that I had met with for a position that I knew I wanted. I had several classmates that had worked for that company, um, and that recruiter, because I had one eye, he decided that I could not work on computers all day, um, that I could not be a cybersecurity analyst, and he would not get me the interview. And I didn't know that at the time. Um, fortunately, about a month later, I met, um, a recruiter from the same company, but a different office, and he got me the interview. And two weeks after that, I had the position, um, and then life was on. I started out as an analyst, um, then came to join Nova coast, uh, where I work at now. Uh, as a soc two analyst. So the next couple of levels up, eventually, um, a soc manager where I managed, um, a sock. It's a security operations center where I managed, uh, sock in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One, um, in Manchester, England. Started my own through the company in a high school, the first time that had ever been done, and then started one at a public university in Marquette, Michigan. Northern Michigan University, where we have. That is running today. They monitor live clients, um, and to my knowledge, that's the only university in the United States with a sock that actually monitors live clients, real customers. So in doing all that, it led me to creating the, you know, and down that road.

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> Speaker A>Okay, well, kind of explain to the listeners what the apex program is, and I know it's been started growing, and explain to them how it's helping people.

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> Speaker B>Sure. So the apex program is a ten week course. Currently it's online on demand. So, um, you can work on it anytime during the day that fits into your schedule.

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> Speaker B>Um, at the end of the ten weeks, uh, you'll finish with comptia's network, uh, plus certification, and Comptia's security plus certification. These two certifications are recognized worldwide. Comptia is highly regarded as one of the best certification bodies, um, in the world.

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> Speaker B>Every it company, any company with an it department would recognize comptia certifications. So we help people get the basic certifications they need to get entry level positions, um, and then we have a staff augmentation or recruiting team, um, however you'd like to refer to them as. And they help us place these students in positions with other companies. Um, we do occasionally hire in house, but, uh, we also work with, um. Right now it's about 80 other companies and several federal agencies. We actually just have our first student, um, I don't know if he started yet, but he's about to go to work for a federal agency.

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> Speaker B>But the program is designed to, in ten weeks, get you the certifications you need. Now, occasionally it goes past the ten weeks, but we work with our students to accommodate, but get them those basic certifications and then in a reasonable, um, amount of time, get them into a career. Um, and these careers are well paying, um, on the low end, you're looking at 35 grand a year, somewhere around there. Sometimes you can start out entry level at 50, 60 a year. And when you get experience, you, uh, can get well into the six figures. And that brings financial security to people. So we're not just wanting to get you a job. We want you to have a career that's going to meet your bills, allow you to raise your family, do the things that you want to do in life. And the motivation behind that and working with people with disabilities, obviously, is I'm disabled myself. But there's, uh, according to the US government, 755,000 open positions in the cyber world. Um, and especially the blind and visually impaired community is not being tapped into, um, so we are trying to, with the Apex program, tap into that community, help provide careers that doors, uh, that would not necessarily be opened through other means. Um, so that's kind of what we do at apex.

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> Speaker A>So I am one of the graduates and participants of the apex program. And you actually got me hired on here, ah, at a company in Wichita. So just kind of talk to the listeners about that and tell them why you thought that I was somebody that you needed to get the resume into the hands of the CEO of the company.

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> Speaker B>Sure. Um, so you are actually our first graduate, um, of the Apex program. I'm proud of that. We have about, uh, 20 students in the pipeline right now, but you were our first graduate. Your personality, first of all, you're personable. It's important when you're working in a small office, uh, with the same group of people for 1012 hours a day to be able to get along. Soft skills matter because you're seeing the same people day in and day out. And if a real event is happening when you're trying to stop an attack, that could be stressful.

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> Speaker B>So being able to get along with people is important. But also, you were eager.

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> Speaker B>I didn't have to, as a student teacher relationship, chase after you to do your work or see why you were behind. You were eager, you caught on.

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> Speaker B>Um, you showed a good grasp of the material, um, and that's what we're kind of looking for. Um, are those students that aren't needing their handheld. Now, we're happy to do that and get students over the hump, don't get me wrong. But the superstars who will get on quickly are those that are self starters and analytical and have the desire people are motivated. Lots of different reasons had, ah, your personal motivations, like mine was I wanted to provide for my kids, um, and because you were motivated, you, um, went through the course quickly, um, and that sticks out, and that's what employers look for. And I knew you would fit into our team. Having previously been a hiring manager and have interviewed hundreds of people, I knew bringing you in was a slam dunk because you wouldn't sit back and wait for people to say, oh, do this or oh, do that. You would attack it on your own. You, uh, were self motivated, self starting.

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> Speaker A>You and I participated in a documentary talking about the apex program and kind of highlighting both of our stories. It just recently came out, and listeners, we want you to go check it out and share it all over the place, but kind of tell the listeners about that documentary. We both got approached. Kind of tell them how you got approached. They basically asked me once I got hired and was going through the interview process, hey, we want to do a documentary on you and David and tell you guys story. Uh, it's a company called working nation. Are you interested?

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> Speaker A>And I'm like, yeah. Because I want to use that to motivate other people, but kind of talk about it from your end.

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> Speaker B>Sure. So how I met working nation was through Dr. Kirk Adams.

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> Speaker B>He's on my team. Um, he is the former CEO of the American foundation for the Blind, and he's also the former CEO of the lighthouse for the blind in Seattle, Washington. So he had worked, uh, on some projects with working nation, and they had relayed to him that they were looking for stories like ours, um, and if he knew of anybody, and he gave them my name and said, you really need to check David out and check out the apex program and see if this would make a good story. So they had reached out to me and said, hey, would you be interested in doing this? And I'm like, yes, of course. We can motivate people, uh, to see hope and that there is light at the end of the tunnel and to understand that just because you're blind or visually impaired or an amputee or autistic, uh, or any of the other disabilities I've worked with, just because you have limitations or roadblocks doesn't mean that you can't do this work. Um, so they set up to do the documentary. They came

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00 a.m., uh, I believe it was on a Tuesday morning, back in September of 2023, with, um, a crew of maybe eight or ten people squeezing into my little home. And we filmed all day that day at my house. In the morning, uh, we went to the airport, uh, two cameras in my jeep going to the airport with a vehicle behind me, filming.

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Filming at the airport on the plane. Uh, we flew to Wichita to meet you, um, and we filmed that evening, afternoon, and all the next day. So they put a lot of work into making this documentary. Um, and a lot of their documentaries are wanting to give hope to people that there are things out there that you can do, and there are people that have done it. And I think that's what our story is, is that we, uh, have these disabilities, but we've overcome. We've done it. You can do it, too. And I think that's what we're trying to tell. And I think that documentary tells that just perfectly, is that here's two individuals, two different walks of life, some of the same disabilities, but different disabilities as well. Uh, they've done this, they're doing this. They've succeeded. You can, too, and here's how. And I love that angle. I love that part of the documentary, because I think that does tell know, regardless of what you've been told all your life, you can do this. And here, Curtis and David are here to help you and show you the way.

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> Speaker A>Absolutely. And they came down here to my house here in Wichita, and they filmed me and my family and filmed us, like David said, at Novaco. So, yes, a lot of work was put into it. So, tell the listeners where, uh, you see the apex program in three to five years.

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> Speaker B>So we continue to grow, and we expect explosive growth over the next few years. So, this year, we expect that we will have 100 students come through. Most, um, of our funding come from state vocational rehab services.

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> Speaker B>We are looking at a couple of organizations that, through different procurement systems, will allow us access to all 50 states. Right now, we're in, I think, 14. We're also working on some federal programs to work with veterans, uh, and things like that. Um, in talking with the federal government, we are the only, uh, training program that has stepped up and said, hey, we would like to train your blind disabled vets. We'll take all disabilities, but we're the only company that has stepped up and said, people that are veterans, that are blind, we want to work with them.

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> Speaker B>We've created program that will help them.

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> Speaker B>We do see in the next couple of years, four to 700 students a year.

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> Speaker B>The veterans program will give us a lot of students.

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> Speaker B>But, uh, Kirk, uh, Adams. Dr.

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> Speaker B>Adams has estimated that outside of that program, that we'll probably 400, 500 visually uh, impaired students a year. Um, the more students we get, the more companies that we can bring in to hire. It's difficult to get companies when you only have 20 students that you can place. But if you have hundreds, then you have hundreds of companies that are willing to work with you. Well, uh, known name brand companies. Um, and our goal is, we'll never hit 100% employment, but our goal is to get as close to that number as we can. So I'd be tickled if in five years, we're turning out 1000 plus students a year, um, and getting all those students into roles, getting them placed into careers, um, helping them improve themselves. So that's kind of where we think we're at. We think this year is kind of conservative, but we're still not even a year old as far as having our first class. Um, so we are on baby steps and trying to run at the same time. But yeah, we do expect explosive growth. And as we grow, we want to expand to other certifications. Uh, maybe somebody for some reason doesn't want to be a cybersecurity analyst. Um, there's lots of other things that you can do through certification.

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> Speaker B>Um, there are so many roles in the it world, it's not even funny, but even outside of um, the it world, um, I met a company that works with a company that does CRM, uh, where they manage people's clients. It's software that allows you to manage your client list and what they've bought from you and invoices and all that stuff. But they work specifically with blind people to get them trained in that software and then into positions. And there's all kinds of uh, Microsoft training, certification, Amazon.

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> Speaker B>There's just so much out there that people can get certified in that we want to expand those offerings. We want to expand offerings that once you've been through the apex program and you need more certifications higher up, you want to be able to help those. Uh, we think that's a service to employers in that they don't have to develop curriculum in house for someone that is visually impaired or blind. We already know how to do that, so let us run with that for you. Um, data analytics, coding, there's just so many different things out there, so we want to expand in that way. And in my heart I have a program where we want to reach into high school age students.

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> Speaker B>Um, I actually have a program in my head to where we could start any class level, freshman through high school seniors, um, and get certifications for them. Uh, if they came into the program as a freshman, they would graduate high school with eight to ten certifications and kind of be golden. Kind of can write their own ticket at that point. Um, so kind, uh, of want to do some of that work as well. So that's where I see us, um, expanding what we offer, offering it to more people and then getting into high school students so that they come out to the working force ready to go.

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> Speaker A>Well, you might want to reach out to the Kansas state school for the blind because they reached out to me and wanted to know about the program and was looking at trying to implement it.

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> Speaker B>Okay. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Yeah.

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> Speaker B>Um, that's the biggest struggle with, um, schools.

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> Speaker B>There's no national high school system, so you have to work school by school by school. Um, but definitely open to working with anyone who wants to work with the program. Uh, we don't normally say no. If there's a way to make it work, we will find that and do that.

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> Speaker A>That brings me to my last question. Throw out the website to the program. And also, if somebody out there is interested or know somebody that's interested in the program, tell them, uh, what they need to do to get signed up or to try to see if they're eligible.

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> Speaker B>Sure. Uh, the website is vapexprogram.com.

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> Speaker B>Um, and if you go to that website, there's an information form where you can fill it out and you can check whether you're a student, vocational, um, rehab counselor, uh, an employer, and that will pop in our inbox and we'll reach out, um, and coordinate with you. Um, that's how we've gotten into a couple of states is that vocational rehab counselors have reached out for information. Um, but once we have your information, we generally will set up an appointment, get into what your interests are and what you want to do, and then work with you as a student to work with your vocational rehab counselor or find funding. Um, I'm proud to say that not a single student has paid a penny to take the class.

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> Speaker B>Uh, we've worked with funding from grants to vocational rehab to things like that. And that's our biggest goal, is that we don't want students to have to pay for this. Um, there's lots of programs out to assist with that, but again, the website is theapexprogram.com.

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> Speaker B>Um, and there's an informational form that you can fill out. And, uh, either I or my admin assistant will reach out and set up a time, generally within the same day or next day, uh, to talk with you.

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> Speaker A>Ladies and gentlemen, theapexprogram.com.

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> Speaker A>If you know, or if you're interested, I know of anybody that's interested in this program, please follow rate review share this website to as many people as possible. Check out the documentary I will put the documentary in the show notes. If you have any guests or suggestion topics, cjackson 102 at cox. Net is the place to send them.

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> Speaker A>As always, thank you for listening. And Dave, thank you for joining us. And thank you for creating and helping create this program.

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> Speaker B>Thank you. I love being here and I love what we get to do.

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> Speaker A>For more information on m the living the Dream podcast, visit ww www.djcurveball.com.

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> Speaker A>Until next time, stay focused on living the dream.

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> Speaker B>Dream.