Jonathan Hernandez is an Information Security and Risk professional at Nationwide Children's Hospital and a CISSP-certified cybersecurity expert with experience across governance, risk, compliance, and ethical hacking. He is also a public speaker and a Master of Divinity student at Southern Seminary, and in this episode he shares the story behind the credentials, starting with the day he arrived from the Philippines at nineteen, looking for Disneyland and touching snow for the first time, and the loneliness and identity loss that followed.

Jonathan talks about why he walked away from a booming tech career in Columbus to study theology full time while working full time, and how he came to believe that career change is not about money but about purpose. He explains how his faith became a real anchor during rejection, visa delays, and starting over from scratch, and why he refuses to let a title or a paycheck define his worth.

We get into the place where his two worlds meet: ethics in cybersecurity. Jonathan shares how an ethical hacking professor's warning shaped him, why he grounds his ethics beyond just not getting caught, and how he uses his skills to protect churches, nonprofits, and everyday people who cannot afford enterprise grade security.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Jonathan Hernandez
02:01 Journey from the Philippines to the U.S.
04:58 Navigating Loneliness and Identity
10:00 The Intersection of Faith and Career
14:58 Redefining Success and Purpose
20:04 Living Out Faith in Technology
24:59 Protecting Human Dignity in an AI World
40:00 Final Thoughts and Reflections

LinkedIn · Website

Episode 158 of the PreVetted Podcast.