Navigating the Cybersecurity Career Path

CHAPTER 14How Can I Know If It's Time to Move On?

Summary

• Know yourself: Be clear about what you like and what you don't in your current role. Be intentional about what a different role would need to offer you to make it worthwhile to leave.
• Are you finished with your current role?: Have you done all you set out to do? Have you done everything, learned all you need to, gained the experiences that you wanted?
• Network: Talk to your manager and others in your company about other jobs and projects you can do to keep growing. Talk to the security community to better understand opportunities outside your company.
• Is where you are headed better than where you are now?: Changing jobs takes a lot of effort. Make sure you're leaving your current role for something worth the effort to change.
• Communicate well and often: Let people know you want to grow — from your immediate manager to the broader security community. If they know you are eager to advance/change roles, they'll let you know when opportunities arise and perhaps mention you to hiring managers.

There comes a time in every person's professional life when they wonder if it's time to make a change. Some of us are easily bored, and this feeling arrives more frequently. Some of us are in a role that just isn't working out. Some of us are just done with learning whatever the current role has to teach.

There are typically good things about a current job that make it tempting to stay where you are. There is comfort knowing ...