I am not bothered by the fact that she is an art major. The reality is that Security was not a Major when she went to school. Its not a major now in most CS programs. While security is part of most CS programs. The real issue here is whether or not she had any control. Having a Security VP does not mean that she has any control over how the IT is run. She may just doll out passwords. And go to forums about security.
The reality is that the CTO is the guy who let in the hacker. Its his job to keep out the bad guys. Its the CFOs job to pay for up-to-date equipment and software. And its the CEOs job to allow the others to put in security processes and allow them to be enforced.
Finally some sanity in this thread.
Thank you.
I would also add that I know many people who have worked in computer and network security and none of them have a degree in the field. They all do very well.
No system is 100% safe. That’s reality.
“I am not bothered by the fact that she is an art major”
What bothers me, a Music major, is that Music is considered one of the Arts. To me, arts generally are free-form airy-fairy types of endeavors. True music is highly structured and disciplined. If someone wants to call jazz “music”, then I guess that could be considered an art. (I consider it the Tourette’s Syndrome of music.)
I believe that learning Music Theory starting at around four years old made it possible for me to comprehend many different concepts throughout my life more easily than I could have without it. In my career I often was called upon to manage projects that people with degrees in the respective fields couldn’t do; and I had no degree. There’s a good chance this hire will do a kick-ass job in this position. And maybe she won’t. I’m just saying it’s possible.