International Women’s Day Interview: Sarah Hampton (Senior Director of Security Engineering)

In honor of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, RapidAPI interviewed four of our team members to learn about their experiences. We will be sharing their answers throughout the month!

This is our second interview featuring Sarah Hampton, RapidAPI’s Senior Director of Security Engineering.

1. What do you do at RapidAPI?

I am the Senior Director of Security Engineering at RapidAPI. My primary goal is to design, build, and implement security tooling to help RapidAPI be great at security. I have a unique opportunity to build strategy but also be hands on with the technical implementation. My role requires partnering across the organization to drive security change, and I am fortunate to be surrounded by people who make my job easy.

2. Why do you think International Women’s Day / Women’s History Month are important?

We are still talking about equal pay. Let this hack speak for me: https://twitter.com/PayGapApp

3. What advice would you give to someone looking to get into your field?

My curiosity is what led me to Security, and that is where I tell people to start.

So my advice? Don’t wait for something to happen to you, and take the steps needed to make something happen for you. Do you want to brute force a password? Write a keylogger? Intercept web traffic? Cool cool, try it out! (But make sure you understand the laws). The best way I learn is to do it myself.

If you feel the same way, start by taking small steps and learning one thing at a time. The terminology and technologies in Security can sometimes be overwhelming, so start with the basics and work your way up. Youtube and online courses will be your friends.

After your exploratory phase, if you are still interested in this as a career, try out some local Security meetups or conferences. These are great places to find Security professionals to help you along your journey.

4. What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I always enjoy spending time outside and looking for new adventures. On a normal Austin weekend, you can usually spot me in Zilker Park with my dog and husband, paddleboarding on Lady Bird Lake, or at a patio with live music and cheap wine. I also enjoy venturing out and traveling to new places with a good travel partner. I’m on my way to visiting all fifty states and as many countries as I can.