cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
rokey1
Newcomer I

Looking for advice on career change into Cyber Security

Hello,
I'm looking for some support as I am currently working in the world of Social Media, however am keen at looking into changing my career. 
I'm very interested in Cyber Security, and have spoken with friends who work in the field.

I wanted to ask for some expert opinions on how likely this would be, and what people believe the best method might be.
I am not looking to go back to study full time and that's not a feasible option. 

I'm wondering if part-time self-study is best, and which courses they may be and why?
Is experience more important first and how would someone go about getting that chance? It feels a little chicken and the egg.

Would a role in IT be a good stepping stone first?

I'm really excited to hear from yourselves, so if you have any support at all please do respond.

16 Replies
rslade
Influencer II

> rokey1 (Viewer) posted a new reply in Career on 02-11-2019 03:46 PM in the

> I'm
> also interested in the threat and risks within social media, and wonder if I
> could use this as a way to boost my chances of an entry level role.

There's always *lots* of opportunity for improvement there ...

====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@computercrime.org
Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the
house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into
being? - Isaiah 66:1,2
victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm http://twitter.com/rslade
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/author/p1/
https://is.gd/RotlWB

............

Other posts: https://community.isc2.org/t5/forums/recentpostspage/user-id/1324864413

This message may or may not be governed by the terms of
http://www.noticebored.com/html/cisspforumfaq.html#Friday or
https://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/1468
rslade
Influencer II

> rokey1 (Viewer) mentioned you in a post! Join the conversation below:

 

> I'm
> quite interested in social engineering, and ethical hacking, however I do not
> have coding skills.

 

You don't necessarily need coding skills, although knowing a few languages (particularly assembly or machine language) helps a lot.

 

Social engineering doesn't really help you much in terms of defence.  Protecting *against* social engineering requires significant knowledge of education and psychology.

 

Ethical hacking definitely needs tech skills, and plenty of them. If you are simply going to use commonly available tools to do some fuzzing attacks, well, clients could do that themselves. You need to know network and operating system internals to make a contribution in that area.

 

> I came to this
> forum for support, hopefully your response could be exactly that

 

You gonna take any of the advice?


............

Other posts: https://community.isc2.org/t5/forums/recentpostspage/user-id/1324864413

This message may or may not be governed by the terms of
http://www.noticebored.com/html/cisspforumfaq.html#Friday or
https://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/1468
Leoh
Newcomer I

The field seems to be saturated with lots of "CISSP guys". I don't know if you absolutely need this cert even though you are not going to be managing anything in the beginning.

Job descriptions can be pretty unrealistic but again that is in any IT field. Be prepared to write on your resume that you have Cisco + CompTia + Oracle + French + Japanese and 50 years of experience... or be very good at lying about having those skills (yes, people DO lie to put bread on their tables when applying for unrealistic job postings).

I suggest getting into GRC Governance, Risk Management and Compliance Management which is, well, the name explains it all....basically business security and is more streamlined in terms of career, I'd say it has a broader scope than cyber sec because in GRC you will measure the effectiveness of cyber sec among other things, cyber sec is just cyber sec but if you like it go for it.

Keep in mind that technical positions generally make less money than managerial/governance positions which is why I left software engineering to go into business analysis/GRC.

mango
Viewer II

Hi Rokey1,

Cybersecurity professionals are in great demand. A career in cybersecurity is as rewarding as it is equally demanding. Cybersecurity professionals are wanted in large numbers worldwide because of the vast gap between the number of existing cybersecurity professionals and the cybersecurity challenges faced daily. There are various levels of roles that can be taken in the profession, from entry-level positions like Network Administrator to the advanced role like Cyber Security Architect.

joseph_butler
Newcomer I

@rokey1Check out this site...there are quite a few opening for "New" Cyber professionals....https://jobmine.himss.org/ 

 

 

Respectfully,

Joseph Butler
CISSP, CAP, CASP, MCP, ITIL, VMWare
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephebutler/
CISOScott
Community Champion

Look for experience where you can get it. Is there anything at your current company that is in IT/security that you could take on? I rose in my career by noticing jobs that weren't being done and volunteering to do them, even if I was being paid the same. I was getting paid in experience, not dollars. I surpassed many people in career advancement because I was willing to do it for free now and get paid by advancement later, versus waiting to get paid more and then doing higher level work.

 

Need experience? Create your own. Go buy second hand computers/routers from junk/thrift stores or buy old ones from individuals. Then create your own network at home. By building a lab to work on, you will gain experience and see if you really like this type of work. It will also give you an understanding of how the technology beneath the security roles you seek, actually works. By knowing how stuff works, you can learn how to attack it. And then learn to protect it. Plus, if you own it, you can legally hack it (provided you do not stray beyond your legal boundaries.) Download free security tools and play with them. Don't know programming languages? Then learn Python. By teaching yourself you will learn lots of things. You really could choose any language but Python seems to be of use in the security roles. There are plenty of free resources out there.

 

Can you get rich in information security? Depends on how motivated you are. The profession does pay well and you can go as high as your ambition will take you. I make six figures in the U.S. Many people consider that rather successful. However the most important thing since I got back into IT/IT Security is that I LOVE WHAT I DO. I got back into this field 18 years ago and do not feel that I have really "worked" a day since then. I have loved coming into work and never dreaded it during this time. I also am ambitious, a continuous learner, and have learned leadership, management, and the difference between the two. I also thoroughly love being in IT and IT security. Having said that, I will also say this: Don't get into the IT security field (or any field for that matter) for the money alone. You will come to despise your career. I have seen many people burn out in their careers because they were not willing to keep up with the constantly changing environment. They also stopped progressing in their careers because they hated having to try to keep up. They got into INFOSEC for the money and ended up hating their careers, but then felt locked into them so they "couldn't" quit. If this career path does not excite you, then find another career path. There are many different careers you can have in IT and IT security so try several of them.

 

I recommend getting experience in a helpdesk role. It will help you to learn customer service. That skill becomes very important if you want to get into management. Too many in the security field want to say no before understanding the customer need. You need to be innovative and look for solutions instead of just offering one solution.

sherfy77
Viewer II


@rokey1 wrote:

Hello,
I'm looking for some support as I am currently working in the world of Social Media, however am keen at looking into changing my career. 
I'm very interested in Cyber Security, and have spoken with friends who work in the field.

I wanted to ask for some expert opinions on how likely this would be, and what people believe the best njmcdirect method might be.
I am not looking to go back to study full time and that's not a feasible option. 

I'm wondering if part-time self-study is best, and which courses they may be and why?
Is experience more important first and how would someone go about getting that chance? It feels a little chicken and the egg.

Would a role in IT be a good stepping stone first?

I'm really excited to hear from yourselves, so if you have any support at all please do respond.


I would suggest you to change your career into cyber security if you're really think that you've passionate about cyber security.

 

It's a huge field and it'll take you some 4 to 5 years to be a giant in this field. 

 

Well in this time, nothing is impossible and if you've created your mind to change your career into cyber then i would must suggest you to some of the documentation and online courses which must surely would help you to acheive your goal and persue this new journey. 

 

https://www.cybrary.it/course/social-engineering/ 

 

Here some of the online courses you can find on

 

cybrary

udemy

edx

coursera

simplilearn

 

Hope these would help you to persue your career in new field. 

 

Best wishes.