Purpose Forged: Pat Smith, Oracle Principal Security Engineer and Army Veteran

Speaker A: Boom.

Speaker B: You're listening to the Oracle Maven Podcast where we bring people together from the veteran affiliated community to highlight employees, partners, organizations and those who are continuing the mission to serve. Welcome to the Maven Podcast. I'm, um, your host, Chris Spencer and in this episode I'm joined by Pat Smith, Oracle Principal Security engineer and army veteran, where we explore Pat's journey. Rooted in strong family influence and an innate drive to pursue her goals without hesitation, Pat opens up about her path to self discovery. Shaped by a deep sense of self awareness and unrelenting competitive edge that pushes her to rise above every challenge she faces. Grounded in possibility and resilience, Pat highlights the value of thoughtful observation, knowing when to pause, evaluate and listen before speaking or acting. Her ability to take on tough, high stakes tasks reflects a rare combination of courage, adaptability and solution oriented thinking. Pat doesn't shy away from discomfort. Instead she leans into it, earning the trust of those around her by demonstrating competence, reliability and strong commitment to results. Whether you're navigating a career pivot or working to better understand your own capabilities, Pat's insights will inspire you to think more deeply about identity, preparation and how to effectively translate your existing skills into new opportunities. She encourages others to research what's required for the next role, embrace continual learning and take bold steps towards their goals with clarity and confidence. This episode is a must listen for anyone who wants to lead with purpose and grow through challenge and be recognized as someone who delivers real impact. We have all we need to become the person we want to be. Let's remember how to connect with others with sincerity and genuine intent as we continue the mission to serve. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy this episode and please remember to check in on your buddies and family. Pat's contact details are in the podcast description and you can always find me on LinkedIn.

Speaker C: Good morning, Pat. How's it going?

Speaker A: Good morning. Going great. How about yourself?

Speaker C: I'm doing all right, thanks. Happy Monday. It's a funny thing, people say that. What do you think people say? Happy Monday.

Speaker A: I don't know, because Monday, everybody usually dreading after the weekend, right?

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: They want their weekend to be a little longer.

Speaker C: A little bit longer, yeah. So. So we talk about the weekends and coming to work. You know, we're going to talk a little bit about you and then what you do. And before we started recording for everybody out there, I asked Pat how it was going and I guess the Monday already started, so there's a lot of, a lot of things going on already and it's interesting if you, uh, as you hear Pat talk about her, not only her experiences here at Oracle, what she does, and you probably understand how things keep moving and, uh, what we do for our customers and for the. For the company and supporting the effort of what. Whatever the collective organizations do, um, it'll be clear. So. But before we get into all of that, Pat, once you tell us a little bit about Pat.

Speaker A: Good morning, everyone. My name is Pat Smith. I've been at Oracle roughly three years. I am former military Army. Go Army.

Speaker C: Go Army.

Speaker A: Um, I served in the army and in the Army Reserves as well. I went to Germany and many different places. I ended up deploying to Southwest Asia as well. And I once, uh, I got out of the military, I started working for Department of Defense. Um, I work for dod. I've been, uh, a member of Homeland Security, where I work for US cert, and I also work for the FBI, uh, before retiring from the FBI and going into the civilian sector.

Speaker C: Boom there in a nutshell. All right, all have a good day. No, thanks for that. And so you've done a lot. And so for all of us out there, sometimes I learn things because I. I would like to have, uh, the guest share for the first time, some of their experiences. And so some of these things I'm learning for the first time. So let's talk about, um, why you joined and wherever you grew up and kind of the circumstances you found yourself in. To find yourself in, to be able to land on. I think I'll join the service. And why Army?

Speaker A: So, um, I came from a military family, I guess you could say. My father was Air Force. All my. I'm the youngest of six, and all my brothers and sisters had gone into the military. Some were officers, some were enlisted. And I graduated. I was in high school, and I was like, well, to get some little extra money over the summertime, I'll go into the reserves. It's a couple hundred dollars for a weekend out of a month, you know, to go to drill, and I'll have something in my pocket. So for me, it was just like, okay. And then it'll teach me the discipline and my thing about discipline and knowing how to do stuff on my own. Transitioning from being a high school student to eventually having to be out there on my own in college. So I went into the reserves when I was in the 11th, um, grade. My mom had to sign because I was too young to sign for myself. I was underage. And, uh, I went under what they call deferred entry. So one year I Did basic training, and the next year when I was a senior, after my senior, I did my AIT training. So I did that for. I was in the reserves for about four years. I went, went to Louisiana Tech University, uh, where I majored in biomedical engineering. I stayed in, uh, college, did through college, and then I'm from Louisiana, and I was like, okay, I want to get out. I want to see, I want to travel, and I don't want to pay for it, but I want to be able to still be able to maintain a lifestyle and take care of myself and not have to call home, mommy, daddy, can you send me money? So I was like, well, military family, I can go travel for a couple of years, do what I want to do, and come on. So that's what I chose to do. I got into, uh, the Army. I enjoyed the Army. The army was a great experience. It taught me a lot. Definitely discipline definitely taught me a view of dealing with a lot of different people from different places, different personalities, which was really a very good experience for me. And after a while, I ended up staying there, ended up getting married, having two kids and going Iraq.

Speaker C: Not for the honeymoon, I'm guessing.

Speaker A: No, not for the honeymoon.

Speaker C: 11th grade. How was that. How was that experience on campus in high school when you chose to do that? And was it common in the high school that you were. You were going to. To where other kids were. Were choosing that?

Speaker A: I didn't know anybody personally that had. That had gone into the reserves. I just checked into it. I thought about it. I checked into it. Like I said, coming from a lot of my brothers and all my brothers and sisters being in and my father being in, I was like, hey, it doesn't seem too bad. It seems like a good benefit. And plus I would get the money for. To help out with my college education as well. M. So it was intimidated to be the youngest person there, one of the youngest people there. Walking into basic training, first time, really being by myself, where there's no family member with me, having to go out there in the world and listen and do all this stuff, it was intimidating. But once I got into the flow of everything and understanding, I really enjoyed it.

Speaker C: Got it. And, and how was, how was it breaking it up and over the. The summers to. To go to boot camp and then ait how, uh, how did that did. Did you learn anything from the first time you went in and then when you went to ait?

Speaker A: I think the AIT session, it made it a. To me, it made it a little bit better because I got that chance to kind of like decent decompress from the intensity of being in boot camp and, you know, all the high energy, you have to run to get places faster. You gotta be here on time and all that structure. And just. It was a little. Basic training is a little intense. And then having that time to go back, relax, reset, going to drills still during that year's time and then going to ait, AIT was a little bit. Was way easier to me. And it wasn't the physical aspect of basic training that I found to be, you know, stressful because I'd always, like, ran track, played basketball. I was already an athletic person. So the physical part wasn't. It was just getting used to the structure. Sure. And, uh, you have to be here on time. If you're on time, you're late. So you have to be everybody at 15 minutes early. You have to make sure, you know, and the rushed nature of things and the precision of things, getting used to that. But once I locked in, I was good. So when I went to ait, I didn't. I had the time to, okay, I got this. I had everything organized in my mind, how I knew it was going to be. So it flowed really easy.

Speaker C: Got it. So you slid in there that you were an athlete, huh? How did that competitive nature contribute to the ease as you're going through not only AIT but even after that, how did that contribute to the choices you've made?

Speaker A: Runs. I always want to be at the front of the line. I was not going to let anybody outrun me.

Speaker C: Got it.

Speaker A: I had to. I, uh, always shot to be okay. I want to be. If I'm not number one, I'm gonna be at the, in the top five. I want to be at the top of the list. I wanna. And. But that's. That was me even before I went into the military. Just kind of have a competitive spirit and more so not with other people. Outdo myself. If I did, if I did a, uh, certain score one time, okay, we're gonna have to work to do better, the next step, the next time, and to just constantly improve. And I, I take that into just everyday life. I want. One of the things I always tell my kids is I want to be better today than I was yesterday every day. And it doesn't have to be. Everybody thinks when you say something like that, it has to be something groundbreaking or something like life changing. No. If you learn a new skill, if you learn something about your job that you didn't know yesterday, you've Improved. If you learn a new vocabulary work that you didn't know yesterday, you've made some type of progress. But just make sure that you're progressing in some way every day to improve upon yourself and not let yourself just stay stagnant and get complacent with and comfortable with where you are.

Speaker C: I like that. That, that's a hard one because you, you nailed it. You know, a lot of times people think they got to go big to, to have that feeling of, of progress or success or an achievement. And you're right. The little things. And I, I'm um. I appreciate your perspective on that because it is sometimes misguiding and then we yeah. Might hesitate.

Speaker A: Everybody thinks that they have to, they think they have to change the world. But you can change the world one step at a time.

Speaker C: Mhm.

Speaker A: That's like the saying they always say you eat an elephant one step at a time. And air. All the little steps add up to that monumental thing and lead you to. Towards that goal that you want. One step at a time.

Speaker C: Got it. I like that. So we're going to put a pin in that one too because we'll come back to that.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker C: Because. Because it is, it is, it is a mindset and somewhat sometimes a conflict for, for those that get used to having to achieve, even at some point, the conditioning of achieving little things that build up the attention to detail and you know, if, if taken out of context of what you're trying to achieve for goals, life goals, professional goals, career goals, educational goals, whatever it is, um, you can, there could be a misstep. Uh, so, so let. We'll come back to that. Um, so biomedical engineering.

Speaker A: Yes. Okay. I had a minor computer science.

Speaker C: That's amazing. What, what, why that, what was, was there anything leading up to that that got. You had the curiosity?

Speaker A: I was a nerd at heart. I got my first home computer. I'm not gonna say what it is because I'll date myself. Uh, I got my first computer at home computer and I fell in love and I just became. I was the type of nerdy kid, that popular nerdy kid that I love computers, I love technology. Ever since I got my first computer and biomedical engineering, I became really, I wanted to help people with computers and I thought medical would be a great place to help people to help engineer something that could save somebody's life or make their lives better. So that's why I chose it.

Speaker C: Got it. Any specific circumstance that had you specifically land on that, that, that you envisioned then and then chose that path or Was it just a general focus area that somehow you were influenced by?

Speaker A: I had um, I had one of my grandparents kidneys started to fail and I started thinking about people that have things like kidney failure and heart failure and have to be on these different types of light, uh, maybe Dallas machines or different machines that will help them to improve their lives. And so that kind of like got me to start thinking. I would love to be a part of people who could engineer stuff like that to be able to help people to better their lives or correct conditions possibly that they ran into. Mhm.

Speaker C: Got it. All right. Moving through this because you laid down a lot. So you graduate college and then um, help us see where your, your mind's at now. What, what direction are you pointing at that at that time?

Speaker A: Uh, burnout from education a little bit. Being under the guns with such an intense class schedule and just wanted to take the time out and I wanted to travel, see the world and I didn't want to pay for it. That's the bottom line. I didn't want to pay for it. So what job could I get at such a young age that I could go different places and they'll pay for it? The military. And so I said, okay, the military is great. Out is. I didn't see any negative to being in the military because as long as you think with an open mind and don't put yourself in a box, you can turn stuff to your advantage. And to me, the military had all the advantages of things that I want. I would have, I would get paid, I would have a place to stay that I don't have to pay for in the barracks. I get food, I stay in shape because I have to run every morning. And I go to different countries, I can go to another country, I can go to Germany, I can go to Korea, I can go to different places. And so it was just, it was just college burnout.

Speaker C: Yeah. Uh, that's a combination I guess is like I'm relaxed so let's all expense paid for a career choice maybe. Exactly what mos did you end up.

Speaker A: I ended up going and uh, I ended up going into computers.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker A: When I was in the military and working in Signal. And so I ended up being the Isso when they found out. Okay, you went to college for this. Okay, well you're going to be our computer person. So I was always doing everything, you know, the, the person in the oily room when you mess up your stuff for your computer. Well, I can't get this done. Making sure before they called the Information system. Cyber security, shall I say is the new term. It was information system security. Um, where you secured. Making sure everything was secure, virus scans, update all the systems going around making sure all the systems was update. And then once 911 hit the big cyber word came out. I was like, well, we were doing that before cyber became the buzzword, but now that's the buzzword for it. So I've been. So I'm kind of dating myself, but yeah, I was doing it before with the big cyber word.

Speaker C: Got it. So I'll. I'll help you with the dating yourself and I'll. I'll get in front of that for you. So I remember when I was at Fort Hood, the. There are our tech and I forgot his name, but our tech for. At the time where I was working, he had access to Windows.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker C: And so the IBM PC something or other. 386. Yeah, that thing with the floppy disks. Right. So, you know, I needed to work and I wanted to work from home and I had one and it, uh, he said here, and he gave me it. But he didn't know what kind of computer I had. But so it was a shot in the dark. It. I literally stayed up, I don't know, 12 hours trying to install that on. On the machine. I never. I was never successful because I. I didn't understand what was going on, but.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker C: He told me what to do. So. Yeah, I remember those days when you had to, uh, Software, hardware, sometimes incompatible issues where you just think it should work and you hoped it would, and sometimes it. It didn't do as you expected.

Speaker A: Exactly.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: But that's the fun stuff. Figuring it out, making it work.

Speaker C: Absolutely, absolutely. But you have to have the background and I guess the curiosity, like you did. Right. Okay. So how long. How long were you in the army?

Speaker A: 10 years.

Speaker B: 10 years.

Speaker A: I ended up getting out after a few years after my deployment, I came back with a condition that was that I got while I was over there and I ended up being medical out because I couldn't stay in. Not because I didn't want to, but because my condition wouldn't allow.

Speaker B: Hmm.

Speaker C: Was that. Sorry to hear that. Was that. That must have been a conflict. I mean, because you just said you didn't. You didn't necessarily want to get out, but you had to get out. So how. How did that. How did that feel?

Speaker A: It was hard because I felt like I didn't end on my terms. And I'm one of those people, I want to end it on my terms if at all possible. Um, and it was hard, but then it was the understanding where I had acquired a life threatening situation where just because of the medication I took made me ineligible to stay in. So there was. I really had no option to stay in because the medication that would save my life made me ineligible to stay in the military. Wow.

Speaker C: I can't imagine it was a hard

Speaker A: adjustment just knowing that, okay, you're dealing with something that's a big deal. So what happened? I end up coming back with a. It's a blood disorder and I just throw random blood clots at any time. I can be okay one minute and then I can just get a random blood clot anywhere. And because I had to be on blood thinning medication, it's automatically disqualifier for me. At that time in the military, um, it was hard dealing with. Cause you're dealing with multiple things. You're dealing with coming back from war, you're dealing with coming back and finding out you have a medical condition that now impacts you for the rest of your life and then you're told that you can't stay in and do your job. So it was a lot to deal with, a lot of disappointment that I had to go through it and deal with, amongst other things, like I said, not getting out on my own terms. Okay, Pat, what are you going to do now? How am I going to manage this disorder when I get out and everything? But then I just had to, uh, after feeling, I guess, sorry for myself for a small time, had to say, okay, what's best for you, what's best for your family, what's best for your kids? And how are you going to make the most out of this situation? Because it's easy to lay down and give up. But I'm not a quitter. So I fought and I found my path and it led me to Oracle.

Speaker C: I love it. It's somewhat of a conflict because it's, you know, so how, how are you? How's the fight going now?

Speaker A: The fight is actually going good. I've actually been, um, my condition is actually really stabilized a lot. So now I don't have as much battles because initially I was in the hospital at least two or three times a year, uh, for extended stays because of it, um, and almost died a couple of times. But I fought through. But now I'm in a more stable, a very, the most, the most stable honestly I've ever been since I've had the condition, uh, which I'm thankful to God for. So everything is actually going really well right now that's good dear.

Speaker C: Good to hear and glad to have you here.

Speaker A: Thank you. Glad I'm still here for a long time.

Speaker C: Yeah. Yes, yes. Here's to that. Okay, so then, so then you get out and now you've, you worked and you, you talked about three organizations. Homeland Security, US Cert and FBI. So let's, mhm. Let's listen to what you, what you did.

Speaker A: So once I got out, I actually, the crazy thing about it is I was actually flying home when the Twin Towers got hit. I was in Germany. Um, that's where I got out. I was in Germany. We were scheduled to fly home on 911 and we got the news and I was in the uh, hotel on base, on Rahman Air Base. And uh, we saw it hit and we were out processing. So we found out that all the airlines were to ground. The only one that they would let fly back into the United States was Lufthansa. And we managed to get on that flight the next day in the chaotic airport which was filled with everybody from the United States seeming like they were trying to get home. And I remember being in the airport with my husband and my two kids who were about to turn one and one was three and this airport attendant, she was like, hold my hand and don't let go. I'll get you through the crowd because you have small kids. And she literally got us through those hundreds and hundreds of people that see a people and got us to where we could check in so we would be ensured to make the flight. So I definitely am grateful to her for doing that. And then we kissed the ground when we got back home. So yeah. And then after that I went to um, we were stationed in Hawaii, so I went to Hawaii where we were at Schofield Air Base. I got a job working as a federal employee on Schofield Air Base. I started out in G4, um, working for the lieutenant colonel there. And then I went to G6 and eventually to G2. I worked on Schofield for a while. Then I moved to um, Fort Shafter where I work with gccs, ah, Global Command and Control Systems for a few years. And then we moved um, to Fort Gordon, Georgia and I worked at the Wounded Warrior Division that they had just stood up. I worked there. And then we're doing another move to Virginia. So I said okay. I saw some DHS jobs, I said, okay, I'm applying. I don't know if I'm gonna get in. I'll apply. So I applied for dhs and miraculously before I Left Fort Gordon, I already had an interview to go into Homeland Security and get the job with US Cert. But in between this time, I had an unfortunate medical incident that almost took my life. And I was in the hospital for a long time and I physically, I had a blood clot that was so catastrophic I couldn't walk. When I got out of the hospital, I physically couldn't walk. So it took me a while to go from not being able to walk to walking with a walker, uh, to a cane, to eventually rehabbing myself. And that happened over probably like a year and a half time where I couldn't just walk on my own. I got to Homeland Security, I went into US Cert. I was on the detection division. So we did things like write the scripts and everything that went into the sensors. Uh, we monitored things around the world. I can't say too much about what it was. And when the new center that they had opened for Homeland Security, I actually got to meet Janet Reno. Dating myself. But it's okay. Janet Reno and President Obama actually came to the facilities when we did the ribbon cutting and everything. So that was a great experience. Um, I worked there and for, I was there for, I think for like five years in dhs for like five years. And one day I was, I came home and I got a call and uh, he said, this is Charles Gibson from FBI. And I was like, stop prank calling me. I thought it was a prank call because I had never applied for a job at FBI, so I didn't understand how they got my information. And while I was getting a call, so I thought it was a joke. And he was like, no, I'm serious. I'm not joking. And I was like, okay. And then he said, I have a job that I think you'd be wonderful for. Are you interested? And I said, oh, uh, I'm saying to myself, of course this is the FBI. Most people would love to get it. So I went in and I interviewed and I stayed at the FBI for about four years. At the FBI. I worked on the, uh, cloud first project, um, working with a lot of cloud vendors to help FBI move their things into the cloud and become more cloud friendly. I was over. I actually wrote their, uh, cloud security guide and helped um, for FBI and helped wrote some stuff for the secret, working on the, um, secret side on the cloud and things as well for them. So a lot of regulations, uh, documentations, a lot of the Cyber tiger, uh, teams like that did the um, high three for in the Cloud. I was on that tiger team that Produced those high three requirements. And then, um, after that was done, that was a. That project took a while, a few years, because it was big getting them in. And then I said, okay, I want to go see what the civilian sector has to offer. I don't necessarily have to get totally away from government, but I want to work for a civilian company because with the military, anybody knows everything is a little bit more restrictive on what you can and a little less innovative in some ways. Not less innovative, but there's just more it takes. Got it.

Speaker C: Before we go too deeply, is. Is what's high three?

Speaker A: So they're the standards for the FedRAMP. The high three standards are standards that have to be met in order for a cloud service provider to be able to process classified government documents on the system within that cloud.

Speaker C: Got it. Did you ever find out how your name got in front of the FBI

Speaker A: agent that called you to this day? I don't know.

Speaker C: You didn't ask?

Speaker A: They didn't tell me. Okay. They didn't tell me.

Speaker C: That's great. Yeah. I mean, your. Your brand obviously preceded you at that point.

Speaker A: Uh, or somebody. Or somebody spoke it somewhere. So, yeah, it ended up there.

Speaker C: So I mean, you just said it and that. That's a good one. So it stood out to me. So, uh, as you're working through the choices you're making and the effort you're putting in and the results that are the outcomes that have occurred based off of what you were doing, how was that working as far as building a reputation, building your brand, getting your name to be recognized as somebody that will be top of mind when they have an open position and then. And they call you. Did. Did it ever occur to you while you were making the choices and doing these jobs, performance, taking on the difficult

Speaker A: projects that everybody goes away from. M Seeing. Seeing the whole. I try to see the whole picture and see what the holes are in it. So, for instance, like when I went to FBI and I walked in, they had that cloud first project that President Obama had signed for federal organizations going to for almost two years. But because it was so huge, nobody, nobody either wanted to or they didn't have a person that was willing to or with the knowledge to do it because nobody had dealt, I guess, with security in that form of going to the cloud or didn't want to learn it. So I took it on and I said, okay, I'll make it happen, and made it happen. So, uh, it's thinking of. I try to think outside the box. Okay. My job says this, but My job goes into how does it connect into the other things around me or what the organization does. And that's how you see the holes in what you might currently have within your organization. What do I connect to? What is the goal of what, what we have to accomplish for an organization? And I think by taking on those things where you have to go and I had to go and um, have meetings with people at the, uh, Googles, at the Microsoft, you know, at the Verizon cloud people I had to be, deal heavily with Amazon and go to talk to them. Just being willing to put myself out there and be like, okay, I'll take it on, you know, and just not limiting yourself. Because I find that a lot of people, it's not that they can't do it, is that restriction they put on themselves for the fear of doing what if I mess up? Okay, if you mess up, correct it and move on. Most great lessons, um, are learned were when you make a misstep and then you come up with, um, a good comeback that's better than what you thought before. But a lot of people just limit themselves in their mind because it's all about how you think. It's a mindset now is that.

Speaker C: It absolutely is mindset. And I, I love that. So the versatility of being able to see things that maybe sometimes others aren't focused on or.

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker C: You just have what on the sports, right. The, you see the field to play, you're seeing things develop. Um, is that, is that something that you had a strong hold on early in your life, or is that something that just developed over time with your experiences up to that point to where it refined your ability to see things that others weren't paying attention to?

Speaker A: I think it came from my parents. When I grew up, I was always that really quiet, observing kid. I was a kid that read the encyclopedia and dictionary over the summer just for, just for kicks. So that's how nerdy I was. I still am. So it was just always being, always knowing and understanding from my parents. The loudest person in the room is not necessarily the person that knows the most or has the greatest insight. Before you speak, take time to step back and hear everything and look at the full picture. And my parents always taught me that. So I always live that way. And I always tell people. I don't speak up much in meeting initially because I'm trying to assess the room. I'm trying to assess what's going on and get a complete picture. And then that way in my mind I can say, okay, well, there's a hole here, or, uh, this goes with that and it gives me a clearer picture and a better understanding. And I think that's why I can see the holes.

Speaker C: Did you ever encounter anything that, that was misunderstood as someone that would just sit back and be quiet in meetings and it would be mistaken as some other, uh, behavioral component or, you know, those types of things to where you'd miss out or.

Speaker A: I've never missed out, but I, I think it initially, when I initially do that for a few meetings, people think, well, she doesn't speak up until I open my mouth and I'll tell people, I say, I speak up. I said, but I like to speak with information and inform them to just speak to be heard. Because a lot of people speak because they like the sound of their voice. That's another thing my parents taught me, don't speak just to hear your own voice. When you speak, you need to have something to say. And so that's how I kind of guide myself. It hasn't, it's never hurt me. And then once they work with me, they understand. It's like, oh, she's analyzing everything because I'm very analytical. She's analyzing and looking at everything and then she's going to speak when she has the information. Because I don't want to misspeak and be misinformed because to me that's worse than not speaking at all.

Speaker C: Nice. It's probably considered, in my opinion, only my opinion, a, uh, lost art. I agree the way, the way that I, I believe the way social media is influenced to feel like we have to, um, top somebody or, you know, pull out the more extreme. Now everything has to happen faster and, and first, um, that it kind of interferes with the ability to have that innate ability to do what you just said, sit back, observe, absorb, you know, watch things as they occur and then get to a part to where it matters to speak.

Speaker A: Speak with purpose and in the business sector. And I'll take Oracle as an example to me, like there were a lot of cloud service providers before Oracle came out, right? Amazon hit the ground running, got the first thing with the government, and they were locked in with the government for a while, and they were the big dog with the government. But Oracle came over their cloud and they paid attention. Oracle did the exact same thing that I do, but on a corporate scale. Oracle sat back, they watched, they watched the mistakes that others made. They watched where the holes and the gaps were, and Oracle came in and filled them. So they did exactly that thing. It's almost like a corporate strategy or uh, you know, a strategy that businesses use. You don't have to be first. Look at Apple. Apple, they don't have to be first. Other companies do stuff, but they're standing in their trillion dollar company because why they let you go, make the mistake, then they come back and they find the hose that you missed. They, they correct your mistake and make an even better product to sound bite.

Speaker C: And this is unbiased, but not if you know, you know, you, you nailed it. A lot of times people will say, and I'm absolutely not an expert in this part, but it's just an observation that you don't find that Oracle goes out loud. Right. And you know the types of marketing is very intentional and deliberate and things like that. So you know, a lot of times people, I mean. Well, let me ask this. Did you know about Oracle before?

Speaker A: Oh yeah. I'm a nerd.

Speaker C: Yeah. It's probably a dumb question, of course. Yeah.

Speaker A: But Oracle is the quiet kid in the room. Oracle was the quiet kid in the room observing. They were the observing one doing their analysis, paying attention and that everybody was like, okay, they're quiet so they must not be doing anything. But Oracle was working in the background. They weren't the loud kid on the bus saying, yeah, I'm doing this. They was like, they're the quiet kid taking notes, being observant. And then they just moved in silently.

Speaker C: Got it. So FBI changed. Now you're looking at the next move.

Speaker A: Kpmg. I went, I worked for kpmg.

Speaker C: What made you go there?

Speaker A: They had a job that was really interesting to me, um, that I wanted to do. Uh, I wanted to move out in the civilian sector and make a difference there. But knowing that because of my clearance level that of course I was going to be involved in government stuff as well still, um, which was fine. So I moved to kpmg and I was with KPMG for like three years and I left and I went to another cyber company that was veteran owned. And what pulled me to there was because it was veteran owned, it's called Invictus. And I went there because it was veteran owned and I liked the fact that it was veteran owned. They came in, they offered me another position that ended. Uh, I had a contract that worked with dia. Them worked on some projects and they had the contract ended. So I ended up getting laid off during the COVID for like seven months. So in between that seven months, once again, don't know how. I got a call from an Oracle recruiter don't know where that came from either. I imagine it was probably my LinkedIn profile, I could say. And they reached out. Her name was Ron and she was very, very upfront with what Oracle was looking for. She was very upfront with the process, the amount of interviews and Oracle was getting their certification during that time. She said so she said, I'm going to be honest with you, we're going under this. So our interviewers might be busy, it might take a while, but if you're just hold on. We're serious about the offer basically. Um, but just let me know if you decide to take something or if another organization is looking for you. And at the time I was actually the, um, Situation Room at the White House. I was under consideration for that position and I actually interviewed for it. I actually got it and I told Ryan and I thought about, I got it and I accepted it. And I was like, okay, White House Situation Room, Oracle. Then I said, after I accepted it, two days later, uh, I, uh, rescinded my acceptance because I wanted the opportunity. I saw in my mind the opportunity of Oracle being greater than working in the White House Situation Room. I know that sounds crazy to a lot of people because a lot of people will be like, why would you, why would you rescind the offer to the Situation Room? Because it's high vis and you get to do this, that and the other and you're in this places where all these political people and you'll be able to see this. And that wasn't important to me. The thing about it is I'd work for all the big three letter organizations in partnerships with projects and things. So how does that benefit, how is that going to benefit my career going forward? Outside of that aspect, how is it going to grow me as a engineer? How is it going to grow me as a person? In my skill set, it wouldn't, but Oracle would. Oracle would give me that ability to work on these different projects, to expand my different horizons, to be able to work in stuff like generative, uh, AI or to new up and coming technologies where I wouldn't get that in a White House situation. I'd get what I've always been working on for the past several years, for most of my life in the federal system. But Oracle gave me something different to actually go out into those civilian areas and access areas that I wouldn't be able to access working with the Situation Room.

Speaker C: Got it. So I was gonna, I was gonna take a minute to go back to you. I was like, well, yeah, your LinkedIn profile probably contributed to it, but we have some pretty good recruiters also. And it seemed, um, it seems though that, uh, although that is true, that is a more interesting thing to cover real quick. And you landed on this, and I love that you did because the fact is, it's what you want. And I think that's if we kind of peek into transition and the components. And you've transitioned several times. So not just from the military, but even for that, you know, you transition from high school mindset into a military environment with a different mindset to come back to high school, to go back to the military and then go to college. And then, I mean, all of that shift in focus and attention, it's no wonder you just ended that statement with this is why I chose this path is because it's going to give you the things that you want. And you landed on that. How did you land on that specifically to know exactly where you can assert probably, arguably, just for context, two of the most significant choices one could ever have at the White House or private sector.

Speaker A: For me, I look at the long haul, and when I say that, I mean the long haul for your security. As a person. What do you want as a person? It goes back to kind of like the loud kid in the room versus the silent kid. Right? The White House working on White House situation. Okay. Plenty of publicity. You can be in the limelight, you can be in the thick of things, you can be in that, in that area. But with that comes a lot of extra stress on top of the job. Right? Just being in that environment and all it entails. So I was like, yeah, that'll be nice. But I don't really. I'm not a need to be in the limelight at the forefront with my name shining. Type person. I'm the type person. I can work. I can work silently in the background, and I'm happy either way. But to me, because of who Oracle is as an organization, what they've done, I already knew about Larry Ellison and just how they were as a company. To me, that value was more than anything. Knowing that I will have the opportunity to work on innovative technology, to move forward that can make changes in everything and just how people use their computer and how people with disabilities use the computer and how you research things and how just everybody, elderly people might use a computer or see computers and how we store that data and secure that data at, uh, a more global scale, because not everybody's going to be on a federal system. So, okay, once we lock those down, they're locked in. But what about everybody else in the world? What about your kids and your grandkids? You know, how are they being able to touch them? Because I had worked and done this presentation on something called Cyber Kids before, teaching kids about the security of, uh, the Internet and the pitfalls of the Internet and how to stay safe and how parents can keep their kids safe online. So an organization like Oracle would let me do that part, and it would also let me defend it against those bad actors like I had when I was in US Search. So I can kind of do the military thing without it being military.

Speaker C: That's amazing. That. Because that it's hard to say because I don't want to consume time on it here, because it, it's hard to believe that it's. You know, sometimes people will say they hear what you just said, and they'd be like, okay, m. But the, the depth of what the words are that you just talked about to explain the purpose and, and again, it's a biased perspective. But, you know, the things that Oracle's involved in and how, how far and how deep these things contribute to the things that we take for granted and the simplicity of those things. I mean, you've certainly oversimplified it with the depth of all the complexities. You know, it's all of these bigger institutions. Yeah, but what about these? And the folks that are easy to be lost in the shuffle because it's, you know, not big money, not big opportunity, whatever the reason is. And so you got to focus on these, these other little areas that are very specific to how we operate as a, as a global economic contributor to not only society, but things in general, education and whatnot. So how, how excited. So shift gears. How excited are you with the, the AI project?

Speaker A: Oh, um, I haven't worked on it much. I've looked into the generative AI here I was on. I got a free beta into it here. But Oracle, I'm very excited to eventually. But I got put on another, bigger project that I'm working for our team right now for Oracle. And what I see of what Oracle's doing is exciting. But every little piece that Oracle's putting in place is a big picture plan. It's like the, like I said, it's bites from the elephant that Oracle strategically place it while everybody else is like, I have to be the first one and I'm gonna put it out, but you're putting out a subpar product. It looks good, it's shiny, it works, you know, for the most part, but it's missing some depth to it and Oracle's that once again that kid in the background that paid attention and they're strategically placing their chips so foundationally they're going to be more set, they're going to have more of the basis covered and it's going to all feed into that big picture of what Oracle has and what they want to move into the future.

Speaker C: Got it. So as we kind of segue and transition out, now that we just talked about that and having been here over three years, what are you doing here at Oracle?

Speaker A: I'm a principal security engineer with a threat vulnerability management team where we deal with the different threats and vulnerabilities that are out there using the um, NIST CVSS vulnerability listing and things that come out with our teams and helping teams to make sure that their systems are secure and within compliance. So that's where I'm working right now.

Speaker C: Got it. And what are you, what are you interested in in the future? What do you have your sights on since your ambition and all of your um, aspirations have clearly been indicated in this conversation? What's next? What are you looking to do either on the next project or in addition to what you're, what you're working on now?

Speaker A: The next project or things after this, I would like to do, I would like to get more into the AI field, more into, involved in seeing how Oracle's generative AI functions and getting some, getting involved in that. That would be the next big thing that I would like to delve into.

Speaker C: Got it. So going back to the pin, uh, where earlier you were, you were talking about one step at a time and, and I'm just uh, paraphrasing. So when we transition and, and this is somewhat of a message to those that are still serving or maybe got out recently or maybe not even recently, but they're, they're in a situation, I wouldn't call them stuck but they're contemplating the next move. What do you recommend is the kind of this, the high level steps to follow to, to help them just achieve what it is that they're trying to do.

Speaker A: I think one of the biggest things that I've noticed that a lot of military have in the transition and it's hard because first of all the military is its own world. How you think about things and how you uh, carry things out in the military is different than a civilian sector. And I think a big part of transitioning is, has to be a mindset shift from military to civilian. And a lot I don't think enough of that is talked about because it's a hard shift to make, especially if you're a person in leadership. You're, uh, NCO or officer, and you're used to giving orders. Well, the civilian sector doesn't necessarily work in that way. And you're very structured on rank structure in the military. A lot of times, civilian sector doesn't want work that way. You can be talking to svp, and you just might be, uh, a regular IT person, and they'll talk to you there. Is this more? Yeah, we have this rank, but we're kind of flat. We respect that you are that svp, But I'm still a person. Right. And a lot of it is the transition into how, honestly, the civilian sector no longer sees your military. Who you are as a military person, and that is part of your identity as a person is being sergeant such and such. Our, uh, major such and such, uh, in whatever service, that is who you were. That was your identity. Well, when you step away from the military and you retire, you get out, you no longer have that identity. That's not. It's part of who you are personally. But the world doesn't see that, you know, as long as you're in the world of the army or whatever military service, they see that because you wear it every day. You wear that ring every day. But the world doesn't see that. So it's not taken into account, you know, so they don't see you as that person. They see you as civilian Peter Smith, you know, or, uh, whoever. That's. That's what they see. So when you're transitioning from the military to the civilian sector, the mindset needs to be is, uh, how do I want the civilian sector to see me? How am I going to present myself as a civilian? What skill sets do I need to have in place while I'm transitioning? Or do I need to work on years in advance, whether it be certification, finishing my degree, and all of that. What can I get while I'm still in the last three to five years to get completed so I can present myself the way I want to be presented in the civilian sector and kind of like have those milestones in place when you know you're getting out? And then if you don't have the luxury of doing it for planning out that far in years and you get out, uh, unexpectedly, then, okay, what are my next steps? What do I need to do to make myself competitive in whatever field it is I want from a civilian perspective, not from what I did in the military, but Just as a sheer civilian, what are the things that I need to do to project myself the correct way and to make myself formidable in the marketplace just as plain old Patsmith, not a Sergeant Smith, you know, so that's, that's the first step I would do. And then go do those things one step at a time. You don't have to. You don't have to defeat all this at once. One step at a time. Little things. Making sure that you have a good resume that's well written. Make sure all those classes or courses that you might have taken in the military, if they convert over to knowledge in the civilian sector as a part of the knowledge base, make sure you convert that over to civilian knowledge, because it counts. And we don't think in the military, some of the stuff that we did we think is regular, everyday stuff. And we take the classes, whether it be computer classes, um, whether it be other engineering, whatever, because it's just part of the job and dealing with the equipment that we deal with. So we don't take it into consideration. But that converts over to a civilian course somewhere. So take advantage of doing that. And the biggest thing is the mindset. And then you don't have to do everything all at once. In the military, we used to, okay, get it done, just make it happen. But you can take time out on civilians, like, okay, how do I need to go? Where do I need to go? What steps do I need to take? Research those steps. Research those things on whatever job it is you need to do. If you want to be a nurse. Okay, what nursing school can I be an LPN first and just go to a technical college for 18 months and get my LPN and then work towards getting my degree so I can be an rn? Or, uh, can I go and be a CNA and do steps, you know what I mean? To, to kind of like not shake your life up as much as, as much as possible to make a smooth transition, put those baby steps in there. Whereas the RN is the ultimate goal. But if you get out and you get a CNA position, you can still work towards your LPN degree at night. Then you got your lpn. Well, you can work towards your RN license and make it as steps instead of big projects. And I seem that's not as stressful dealing with the transition. And ask questions, research stuff on the Internet. Find people that you might know that are in your field that are not in the military. Talk to them, hear what they have to say, listen to the things that they say. Okay, you need to have this, but reach out to people. Form m. A network of people that are already in there that you might know because it might be other people, even in the military, they might know of people that are transitioning out or, uh, have people that they know in the civilian sector that can give you some partners and find a mentor. Find a mentor of somebody that's already transitioned out that can help you through and take advantage of. Some of. The VA does have programs for transition. Take advantage of those things. I know it might seem small, but every little bit of assistance in transitioning that you can get, the better. So take advantage of those things because it'll help change your mindset and make the transition easier for you.

Speaker C: That was amazing.

Speaker B: And I'm not.

Speaker C: I mean, you hit all of the bigger items, the check, check. Not check boxes, because it's difficult. Identity. That's. That's probably the first one. And this is not for me. It's not debatable. For some that maybe don't have yet realized it like you have. Identity is the number one prevention from moving through. The other things that you talked about is deciding, remembering you were. You were somebody before you hit the rank or the command or things like that. And that's what people will. Will look at. Um, so I love this. So identity. The mindset shift to understand identity, skill development, networking, relationship building versus networking. Networking is different. Very intentional, very specific thing, which is fine. But relationship building is the other thing.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: And that's probably the distinction. And then, of course, the planning of, uh, being able to, once you identify all of these different components, you plan for it, work the plan and go.

Speaker A: Exactly.

Speaker C: Yeah. Pat Smith, I love the way that you stated these things in such a methodical way, in order. It explains exactly the path that you kind, uh, of walked us through. I enjoyed the conversation. I appreciate you making time. Any final thoughts for anybody listening?

Speaker A: No, I just want to say thank you for having me on the podcast, Chris. I really appreciate it.

Speaker C: Oh, you bet. And then thank you. I'm grateful that, uh, we were able to connect. I do love the way that Maven does their stuff internally to where even for us, it introduces folks that right beneath our nose, we have a lot of relationships that we still need to continue making and. And creating.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker C: Connections. So, um, it's a pleasure to have met you and had this conversation. Thank you so much.

Speaker A: Thank you, Chris. You have a great rest of your day.

Speaker C: You too. Hard at one. Keep moving forward.