How to Get Into Cybersecurity with No Experience [Video]
I came across a great YouTube video titled, “How to Get Into Cybersecurity with No Experience” by Gerald “Gerry” Auger (Twitter, LinkedIn) of Simply Cyber.
With Cybersecurity being in the headlines more and more, especially as companies and individuals grapple with the new Covid-economy, the demand for well-trained information security professionals continues to grow, exponentially. It is consistently listed in career/job outlook forecasts as one of the top sectors to watch in the coming years.
So it comes as no surprise that the interest in this sector is growing and many are looking for ways to break into the field.
Cybersecurity is especially interesting in that there seems to be a myriad of ways to enter the field from traditional college degrees, to online programs, to certifications and the always-vaunted “hands-on, in-the-trenches” experience.
While these issues alone can provide fodder for a variety of posts, I wanted to highlight Gerry’s video in the way he covers all the topics and the perspective he offers as an industry professional, holding a PhD himself. Gerry hosted the live-cast video (embedded above), in coordination with the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NIST NICE).
I love Gerry’s straight-forward approach to informing the viewers of the realities and myths surrounding the industry, and along with a Q&A session in the latter half of the video, he provides many tips, tools and advice including best ways for job-seekers of all backgrounds to gain some information that can be valuable and applicable to many different situations.
Gerry offers a wealth of information about this much talked about issue and the video is substantial clocking in at just under 1 and 1/2 hours and he also provides time stamps of the video broken down into the following sections.
TIME STAMPS (2 parts ➡️ Structure Talk and Q&A)
Structured Talk
4:10 Agenda
6:27 Who am I (Gerald Auger)
7:04 Who is the intended audience for this talk?
11:27 Entry Level in Cybersecurity – A few Truths you need to know
20:00 The breadth of different Cyber Jobs out there
24:35 Certification vs. Work Experience vs. College Education
34:10 How to get cyber work experience WITHOUT a job
Q&A
50:41 CISA Cert vs. ISO 27001 Cert
51:44 Is CCNA and Linux Essentials a good path for becoming a malware analyst?
53:30 Have a BA and Masters and OSCP; What job should i look for?
56:52 – Difference between Security+ and SSCP?
1:01:20 – What do you think about cloud security?
1:03:24 OSCP vs. eCPPT
1:05:01 Should I include Coursera work on my resume?
1:06:25 How does a lawyer work in cybersecurity?
1:08:33 How do you transition from non-IT career into cyber without starting at entry-level pay?
1:10:23 Should you wait to apply for cyber jobs until you earned a particular certification?
1:12:17 Does cybersecurity favor certain degrees over others?
1:13:53 Is CySA+ worth getting if I have Security+?
1:16:31 What does an InfoSec Employee do?
1:19:26 How can you merge Real Estate and Cybersecurity?
1:21:00 Would doing a class in C++ help you in Cybersecurity?
1:23:24 Should I start my own cyber consultancy?
1:25:44 What are your thoughts on SANS GIAC certification?
Again, a highly-recommended video and don’t forget to subscribe to Gerry’s YouTube channel here to catch all his videos.
See also:
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The Covid-19 Crisis Highlights the Need for “Digital Upskilling”…
Covid-19 “Dramatically accelerated” e-Commerce Up to 5+ Years: Kohl’s CEO…
2 Comments
Gerald Auger
Thanks Aaron for the kind write up. The talk itself had an energy and great audience engagement. Not only are there multiple on-ramps to breaking in, but there is a diversity of individuals seeking to break in. Recent college grads seems like an assumed group, but tranisitioning military and mid-career pivoters make up their fair share.
This is so much free {training, education, conferences, opportunity} that breaking in is almost about how much are you willing to invest in yourself (your time, your focus, your vigilance) to break in and have that career.
Trust me, we need as many cyber skilled practitioners as there are. Theres a lot of work to do.
Thanks for linking to my YouTube channel, I’m trying to help anyone and everyone make and take a career in cybersecurity further, faster.
-Gerry
AMDiazNYC
Agreed, Gerry!
There is so much opportunity out there right now and especially as the economy continues to transition through this tech-industrial revolution that began the past few decades and continues to evolve, especially with the unfortunate events of 2020, which I feel only accellerated the transition.
Your video was so interesting and especially how it touched on the various aspects of entering the industry. The non-traditional route alone goes down a rabbit hole that I was itching to go down and explore!
I am very interested in seeing how industries across the board in various sectors deal with the current educational dilemma and how students and job-seekers alike are rethinking the traditional path. I have contacts currently enrolled in college/university who VERY dismayed with the virtual “zoom” schooling and they feel like they are getting a raw-deal, and could be learning much of the material on their own for many subjects (speaking broadly across the board). And many are in fact paying premium prices for what has in essence become defacto online-schooling. This is a topic that could spur many videos and blog posts, as I’m sure you know. It will be very interesting to see how this impact plays out the coming years.