Masters at Work

“the best virtual internship you’ll ever have”

“Masters of Work” is a new career series Simon & Schuster launched in 2019. These are all shorter books heavy on character: the stories of people who’ve made it in a profession. How they got where they got. (Spoiler: It’s rarely a straight path.) What they’ve learned along the way, including the risks and rewards of our dream jobs. And advice for those who might want to follow in their wake.

Invited to write three books for the series, I chose venture capital and computer security, because those are topics I’ve reported on for years, and sports agent, because I thought it’d be an interesting world to explore. (It was.)

MASTERS AT WORK: Becoming a Venture Capitalist and MASTERS AT WORK: Becoming an Ethical Hacker were both published in the spring of 2019. MASTERS AT WORK: Becoming a Sports Agent will be published in early 2021.

“Choosing a profession begins with imagining yourself in a career,” reads promotional material Simon & Schuster created to describe the series. “Discover what leading practitioners actually do every day. Here is the job as it is performed, not as it is taught.”

I talk with Marketplace’s Jed Kim about how “ethical hacker” is a big and growing job category.

Give a listen: “Careers in cybersecurity are a pretty sure bet.”