Originally planning to pursue a career in sports journalism, Blake Walters joined Rapid7 ready to roll up his sleeves and learn about an entirely new field—cybersecurity. Walters always had an interest in computer engineering. However, he craved the ability to connect with people and build relationships instead of working deep within coding.
Walters is a learner by nature and is not afraid to take on new challenges or face new risks. Living by the mindset, “If I don’t know, I will work to figure it out,” he began his journey as a recruiter in the technology space. This gave him a great opportunity to learn more about how software is built, which eventually led him to Customer Success, where he could build relationships with customers and help others.
Walters had his first personal brush with cybersecurity when a client he was working with, a small hospital, got hit with Wannacry ransomware in 2017. He became even more curious about cybersecurity as he witnessed firsthand the impact it had on his client.
“You know what cybersecurity is and you know people get hacked all the time, but unless you are in it, you don’t realize the ins and outs of what that impact is,” he said. “There were 4-5 weeks where they couldn’t access hospital records, patient information, company files, ANYTHING. That’s a big challenge for a small hospital, or any company.”
From there, the stars aligned, and Walters was approached with an opportunity to join Rapid7. He noted that during his interview there was less emphasis on having a vast amount of cybersecurity knowledge. Instead, the focus was on his ability to build relationships and proactively use the re ..
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