Navigating the Cybersecurity Career Path

CHAPTER 1How Do You Become a Security Professional?

Summary

How do you write your own security story?

• Know your why: Understand your strengths and likes and values, and be able to articulate why security aligns with those things.
• Stay open to opportunity: The security path will be unexpected. Be prepared to take on projects and roles that you might not have originally anticipated. Be open to roles that might not be an exact match for your expectations or skillset.
• You don't need to be perfect: No one will have all the skills at exactly the right time. Consider taking opportunities as a way of learning new things.
• Stay curious: To be successful in security, there will always be something new to learn. Actively seek knowledge and apply it quickly. Stay in roles long enough to learn all you need to know, and don't skip from role to role too quickly.
• Find out how others made it into security: Your path will be different; take what works for you and leave the rest.
• Network: Finding the next role will be easier if you have a wide range of people helping you.

Asking someone how they got to their current security job    is a great way to break the ice and build a relationship. It is interesting to know how someone made their way through the maze of security functions, corporate politics, and human error to land in their current role. The thing to remember is that a person's story is just that — their story — and is not something that you can copy for yourself. My story ...