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When dreaming about the career he desired, Adam Tischler always wanted two things: to serve others and to make an impact. As a cybersecurity operations leader at ECS, he feels like he’s achieved those goals. Adam works on the continuous diagnostics and mitigation (CDM) dashboard for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which serves to strengthen our nation’s cybersecurity posture. Recently, he received Elastic’s Certified Professional of the Year award during their company’s annual excellence ceremony.
Q: You recently were named Elastic’s Certified Professional of the Year, an award that recognizes excellence in and contributions to the Elastic platform. What does that award mean to you?
A: I am extremely honored to be named Elastic’s Certified Professional of the Year. I could not have won the award without the support and mentorship from my ECS peers and leadership. They pushed me to grow my skills, develop my career, and become the professional I am today.
I should also mention the role ECS’ amazing training benefits played! These benefits helped me seek out and develop new skills including all the Elastic certifications: Elastic Certified Engineer (ECE), Elastic Certified Analyst (ECA), and Elastic Certified Observability Engineer (ECOE). In fact, ECS has the most Elastic-certified professionals outside of Elastic! I’m proud to have helped contribute to that.
This award energizes me to continue that growth. I want to bring everyone to the party now!
ADAM TISCHLER
2023 Certified Professional of the Year
Q: In their selection process, the judges mentioned the professional impact of your work. Can you tell us about your role at ECS?
As a cyber operations leader, I support our work on CISA’s CDM dashboard. CISA plays an important, but often unseen, role in our nation’s security. They are responsible for coordinating and overseeing our nation’s cybersecurity infrastructure and resilience, and the CDM dashboard is a critical tool they utilize in protecting America’s assets.
Part of my role is helping CISA, and other federal civilian agencies, extract the full value of this dashboard. As a cyber operations leader, I serve as a bridge between our customers and technical teams, working to understand agencies’ needs and transform them into successful dashboard solutions.
Q: How does the CDM dashboard help strengthen our nation’s cybersecurity posture?
A: When people think of protecting our nation’s cybersecurity, they often think of the data of the FBI, NSA, or the military. But non-DoD agencies also harbor a wealth of data and knowledge. Picture the Department of Health, the Department of Education, or the Department of the Interior.
These federal civilian agencies serve important missions but are not necessarily experts in security. That is where the CDM Dashboard comes in. Designed and maintained by ECS, the CDM dashboard is a CISA-owned tool that helps provide visibility over systems and assess an agency’s security posture.
Q: You pride yourself on your ability to merge technical expertise with approachable communication skills. How has this skill impacted your career and why do you find it important?
A: I try to speak like a human when it comes to demonstrating and explaining technical concepts. This idea drives how I communicate with people across our company and government, and I see the impact of this in my work: it has strengthened my ability to serve customers and buoys their response.
Being able to explain concepts in an approachable way, however, requires I understand the technical aspects of a tool or system. The two skillsets exist in tandem, and for any young tech professionals looking to succeed in this field, I think it’s critical not to overlook communication skills in your career development!
