Publications
Free reading for the career you're building.
Short papers, field notes and a monthly on cyber talent in Africa, written for learners, lecturers, employers and anyone deciding where to begin. Everything here is free: search it, and leave your name and email once to download.
The OCH Monthly
First issue · end of OctoberWhat's happening in cyber talent, once a month.
- News from Africa and the world, in plain words
- What it means for learners, lecturers and employers
- What we're testing at OCH, and what we've learned
Subscribe, and start reading tonight.
We'll send you the six whitepapers straight away, and every paper and Field Note below opens for you in this browser.
Free. One email a month. Unsubscribe any time.
6 papers · 92 Field Notes
Whitepapers
Six short papers on what a cyber career is built on
Each takes about ten minutes and covers one of the things we think a cyber career is really built on.
Paper 01 · Career strategy
The Certificate Is Not the Strategy
Download the PDF →
Paper 02 · Domain depth
Depth Is Knowing Why
Download the PDF →
Paper 03 · Career mastery
The Fluency Trap
Download the PDF →
Paper 04 · Deep work
Small Enough to Start
Download the PDF →
Paper 05 · Know the business
You Cannot Defend What You Cannot Price
Download the PDF →
Paper 06 · Know yourself
Strengths Are Found in the Record
Download the PDF →
Field Notes
Field Notes: 92 ideas you can read in a minute
Each Field Note takes a single idea about learning, work or a cyber career and makes it fit on one page. Tap any of them to open it full size, and share the ones that help.
Career strategy
6. Be the only
9. Three three three
16. Career capital
17. The talent stack
18. Show your work
19. The strength of weak ties
55. Plan a b and z
56. Strategy is saying no
57. Place little bets
58. Givers rise with boundaries
59. Signals hard to fake
60. Mentors and sponsors
61. The twenty minute conversation
62. Be t shaped
63. The regret test
Domain depth
20. Know your work role
21. The five stages of skill
22. Think like the adversary
23. A latticework of models
24. Second level thinking
64. The swiss cheese model
65. Design principles that last
66. Zero trust
67. Break one link
68. The pyramid of pain
69. The ooda loop
70. The incident lifecycle
71. Start with the basics
72. The six levers of a scam
73. Stride
Career mastery
1. The 23 hour gap
2. The forgetting curve
3. The fluency trap
4. AI answers vs hints
7. No prompt no behaviour
8. Learning is a skill
10. Feeling sure isnt knowing
11. Explain it or you dont know it
25. Mastery has an apprenticeship
26. Practice with purpose
27. Mix it up
28. Learn it as if youll teach it
29. The pre mortem
74. Small gains compound
75. Feedback about the task
Deep work
14. Flow lives at the edge
30. Deep work
31. Attention residue
32. Switching has a cost
33. Sleep is where learning sets
76. Block your day
77. The phone in the room
78. How the best practise
79. Rest that restores
80. Close the open loops
81. If then plans
82. Interruptions cost energy
83. Multitasking doesnt train
84. Work in sprints
85. Move to think
Know the business
5. Security starts with the business
12. The trust equation
35. Think like a mama mboga
36. Five parts five attack surfaces
37. Protect the job not the server
38. Read the numbers like an owner
39. Price an hour of downtime
40. The busiest day is the riskiest
41. Data protection is a business risk
42. Owners buy shillings
43. Go and see
44. Every control is a trade off
86. The business on one page
87. Follow the value chain
88. Your suppliers are your risk
Know yourself
13. Find your strengths from evidence
45. The excellence trap
46. Use your strengths in new ways
47. Catch yourself in flow
48. Your reflected best self
49. Manage energy not time
50. Know how you work
51. Confidence is built
52. Your blind spot
53. Your interests are a map
54. Act your way to who you are
89. Know your values
90. Know your traits
91. Nerves are fuel
92. Kindness keeps you trying
From reading to practice
Ready to practise, not just read?
Debbie, OCH's cyber-career coach, sends you a short drill on WhatsApp most mornings and gives you hints rather than answers when you're stuck.