From Rock Bottom to Breaking In: How Last Mile Helped Me Build a Cybersecurity Career
Devonie Nelson, Last Mile Alumna
In May 2023, I was sitting in my car outside my internship with my bank account in the negative, expired car insurance, and bald tires that probably should have gotten me pulled over weeks ago. I'd just been denied a Last Mile award a few months earlier, and I was seriously considering dropping out of school to work an extra job just to get caught up on bills.
I applied to Last Mile again anyway. Not because I thought I'd get it, but because I had nowhere else to turn.
Starting From Zero
When I began my journey into cybersecurity in 2022, I was newly separated with a newborn baby. A week before I was supposed to return from maternity leave, I got laid off from my customer service job. The timing was devastating, but it also forced a decision I'd been putting off:
I needed a career that could provide real stability for me and my daughter.
I'd been considering cybersecurity for a while, so I decided to go all in. The problem? My biology degree from undergrad came with a GPA that most programs wouldn't touch. I found exactly one university that would accept me, the University of Houston Downtown, and enrolled that same month.
From there, it was pure hustle. I was taking classes, attending networking events, working on personal projects, attending a coding bootcamp, and participating in a WiCyS winter bootcamp, where I earned my first certification—the Certified in Cybersecurity from ISC2. I was doing everything "right," but I was drowning.
The Breaking Point
My biggest challenge wasn't the technical learning. It was navigating all of it while dealing with a recent separation, adapting to new motherhood, and being completely broke. I'm a first-generation college graduate, so I didn't have a roadmap for any of this. I was on government assistance and still struggling to make ends meet.
By spring 2023, things had gotten worse. I'd landed an internship, but it paid almost nothing. My car was genuinely unsafe to drive. Bills were piling up. My account was in the negative. I kept thinking, I can't keep doing this.
The rational choice seemed obvious—quit school, work full-time in customer service again, maybe pick up a second job, and survive. But I'd already invested so much. I'd already proven I could do the work. The only thing stopping me was money.
The Moment Everything Changed
I found Last Mile through the WiCyS website earlier in my journey and applied for an award in November 2022 and was denied. By May 2023, when I reapplied out of pure desperation; I was almost out of hope.
When I got the email saying I'd been awarded the funds, I was at my internship. I stepped outside and broke down in tears.
I couldn't believe there was an organization that would help me this much with no strings attached—just because they didn't want to see me quit when I'd started to better myself.
It wasn't just the money.
It was someone saying, "We see you, we believe in you, keep going."
The first thing I did was pay my car insurance and get my tires replaced so I could drive safely. I caught up on bills. And for the first time in months, I could actually focus on doing everything I could to break into cybersecurity instead of constantly doing math in my head about which bills to skip.
I got my first cybersecurity role two months later.
Building in Public
That first role was a contract position in July 2023. Two months after that, I landed my first full-time role as a junior security engineer—before I even finished my degree. A lot of this came down to one strategy: building in public.
I shared everything I was working on through LinkedIn. Projects, certifications, lessons learned, even my struggles. When opportunities opened up, I was easy to find. The hiring manager for my full-time role didn't just see a resume, he saw proof of my work and my commitment to the field.
At that point, I only had the ISC2 certification. I earned Security+ later while on the job, continuing to upskill as I went. I eventually completed my master's degree in December 2024, two years after starting my journey.
Where I Am Now
Today, I work as a GRC engineer at a healthcare startup, and I'm proud of the work I'm doing. I can see the "why" behind compliance requirements, and I genuinely feel like my work is enabling my team and company to be both secure and profitable. It's not just checking boxes; it's making a real difference.
I also mentor people breaking into tech, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, through both direct conversations and by sharing my experiences on social media to reach more people than I could one-on-one.
What I Wish You Knew
If you're in the situation I was in—broke, a single parent, breaking into tech, considering quitting—or if your circumstances are different but feel just as impossible, I need you to know one thing: It's okay to admit you need help.
When you're struggling, it can feel like a badge of honor to just push through on your own. But there are people and organizations out there who want to help you. They just need to know you need it and that you'll take the help and pay it forward, whatever that looks like for you.
Last Mile gave me more than financial support. They gave me breathing room to stay on track. They gave me confidence at a time when nothing seemed to be going my way. They showed me that when you open yourself up to receive help, there are people willing to give it.
And that lesson—that it's okay to ask, okay to receive, okay to be vulnerable about your circumstances—changed everything. It gave me the confidence to keep seeking opportunities, to not get discouraged when I heard "no," because I knew another "yes" was on the horizon if I kept trying.
You don't have to do this alone. And asking for help isn't weakness—it's the move that might change everything.
