Georgia Weidman

Georgia Weidman

Founder and CTO


Shevirah, Inc.

Washington, DC USA


I’m always going to stand out, so I may as well stand out the way I like.

Videos

By Roadtrip Nation

Georgia Weidman

Milestones

My road in life took a while to figure out.
Both of her parents worked in technical careers, and her mom held a Ph.D. in computer science, so she had a female role model in technology from a very young age.
Her mom encouraged her to pursue tech, but like any typical teenager, she didn’t want to be anything like her mom, so she decided to major in mathematics instead.
She completed a bachelor’s degree in math, but as she started working on a Ph.D. program, she realized that math didn’t have many applications outside of academia.
Her parents still encouraged her to keep up her schooling, so she left her Ph.D. program and decided to get a master’s degree in computer science.
During that time, she participated in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, where she was introduced to penetration testing.
The first team of penetration testers she saw was made up entirely of white men, but she kept the image of her mother in her head and pushed forward in her pursuit of the field.
After school, she got a government job as a penetration tester, but she soon realized that she wanted to take her career to the “next level.”
She’s since started two companies to improve various aspects of mobile device security, and wrote Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking, a popular industry handbook.
Keep following my journey

Career

Founder and CTO

I am an expert in the field of smartphone exploitation and work to keep your devices secure.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Entrepreneurship
Technology
Accomplishing Goals

Day to Day

I'm a serial entrepreneur, penetration tester, security researcher, speaker, trainer, and author. Doing all of these things have prepared me well for founding a startup - as a solo founder, I've had to do literally everything that my company needs.

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for high school students

While getting a degree is helpful for getting that first job and checking the HR boxes, practical skills are way more important in computer hacking than education. So I would recommend higher education but, if you are already computer literate, major in what you what. Don't get stuck in the idea you have to do only computer science if you are interested in other things.

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Peers:

"Taking on this grant would be a dumb decision. You don't have what it takes. "

Challenges I Overcame

Learning Issues

Interviewed By

Life Hackers

Life Hackers

Cybersecurity careers and pathways