Description

In this episode, we trace an unlikely career pivot from fine‑dining bartender to the helm of Verve's OT cybersecurity lab. Join host Ken Kully, Systems Support Lead at Verve Industrial, and his guest Andrew Wintermeyer, Team Lead, Device & Integration Research, as the latter discusses breaking into the field, learning on the fly, and why forgotten manuals can be more dangerous than zero‑days.

Key Takeaways

• Curiosity compounds — an hour of self‑study each week can snowball into deep expertise.
• Real‑world OT risks often hide in "maintenance" passwords and long‑running configs.
• A safe testing lab accelerates learning and de‑risks production environments.
• Soft skills from hospitality — patience, improvisation — translate surprisingly well to cybersecurity.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction

00:05 – Holiday bartending burnout sparks a career rethink

01:40 – Six‑week help‑desk contract at Madison Power & Electric turns into a year

02:40 – Landing at Verve as a COVID‑era lab assistant

03:13 – First solo day in the lab: imposter syndrome & safety scares

03:50 – The breakthrough that changed everything

04:59 – Finding your place in the field

05:20 – Sunday‑night learning ritual and compounding knowledge

06:30 – What happens in the field matters

Guest Information

• Andrew Wintermeyer: OT Security Specialist and lead for Verve's North American lab. Former bartender turned Java programmer, now wrangles PLCs, SCADAPack, and virtualization stacks to keep client environments safer.

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