Government reports show that there is up to a fifty percent gap for information security needs to those able to fill them.
This means that more and more people will attempt to enter into the information technology security field as the compensation for those who have security talent rises.
I have been in technology, if you count the eight young years of programming, for thirty some years. I have seen what it takes to be successful, or at least productive, in the field.
Now I’m doing security work.
I believe successful information technology professionals constantly pursue knowledge in the focus they go for and it is possible to be cross-trained.
I’ve heard many theories on how to get into security, but I would like to suggest for people to better learn systems they would like to work on and how to secure them.
Go for the technical side because that is where the necessity for talent is.
Many people are able to write documentation for upper management, to review, but they are not actually able to harden the systems. This gives a false perception on the true posture of the organization at the top.
Newcomers do not need to get security-focused certifications to be proficient. It is actually possible to learn everything in good books - or even better, on the Internet.
Technology systems revolve around end-points, servers, networks and applications. Training is suggested as a full time pursuit because there is always something new to learn.
There has to be an interest in and understanding of what people read. There are other security jobs with requirements of a proficiency in writing as well.
Research the security problems and the solutions or the mitigations for them. Learn how the detect threats or weakness and how attacks work so you can secure a system from them.
I can’t think of any certification without a technical base that would help one keep up in a security technical interview, and that is a big determiner in landing jobs.
All certifications help with getting the interview, but once you are in the process there is a lot of conversation.
