Student Sebastian Valenzuela

Sebastian Valenzuela 

Sebastian Valenzuela, a current NOVA student, is one of our rising stars in Cyber Security. Originally from Santiago, Chile, he began his formative educational studies in Northern Virginia and is a trained musician and technologist. Amazon Web Services highlighted Sebastian for his excellence in the AWS curated Associate of Science in Cloud Computing program here at the college. In 2019, he spoke before hundreds at a variety of engagements to promote educational programs such as; ‘The AWS Worldwide Public sector 2019 All Hands’ and ‘The AWS Public Sector Summit.’

Writing and playing music are also his interests. He began his college career with a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies (Guitar Performance) at Loyola University in New Orleans. He later earned a Master’s in Music Composition and Technology at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

While pursuing his master’s, Sebastian developed a particular interest at the intersection of music and technology, writing music that incorporated software and live performers. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, he enrolled at NOVA to earn an Associate in Computer Programming. Still, he ended up changing to Cyber Security due to a professor who sparked his interest while often discussing the news headlines of cybersecurity breaches. Sebastian finished at NOVA and earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Cyber Security from George Mason University.

While attending conferences, workshops, and meet-ups, he connected with various leaders in the industry who inspired him to pursue a career in Cyber Security. One such person, a mentor from FireEye, showed him how cloud computing services changed the way IT professionals conduct their jobs. This inspired him to further his studies and return to NOVA and obtain his Associate in Cloud Computing. Recently, he attained two additional industry certifications in security and cloud computing: CompTIA Security+ and AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

He is currently awaiting his U.S. residency through a labor certification case and knows that his studies will land him a great job in the tech sector. His goal is to work in a Security Operations Center as a malware analyst or threat hunter. We love it when our Nighthawks soar!