Not Many People Want to Do Cybersecurity
I read an article titled “Most Workers Not Interested in Switching to a Cybersecurity Role” written by Phil Muncaster. It sums up how 69% of people think cybersecurity professions are a positive career path, but few people think it is a good career for them. They believe that it takes a significant investment of time and money in training and gaining the accrual of knowledge needed to be respected in the field. The article goes on to say that these perceptions were formed because 77% were never offered an option to take that as part of their school career. They also found that GenZ’s were “least likely to view cybersecurity professionals in a positive light.”
Why I Think They are True
When I read that article, I thought “Holy cow, they are pretty much right! Why are there not more younger people in an industry they might resonate with because they grew up with technology all around them!?”
Here’s my thoughts:
We Did a Terrible Job Telling Gen Y & Gen Z Education is a Must
Don’t get me wrong, I think a college education is important to help young people figure out what they want to do. Its history was based on a good thing. Many of our grandparents weren’t given the option to get a college education, our parents got their jobs through college and Gen Y & Z were told is a requirement to get anywhere in life. The problem with this mentality is the same problem I have found throughout my education.
Settle down for a lil history with Ray. If you want to get on, skip this paragraph. When I was in high school, I was always the one who never fit in with the general math, history, & science. It bored me to tears, I never did well in it and I couldn’t stand it. My mind was on technology. I finished high school and moved on to the next phase: college. I loved technology, but didn’t fit into the “software development” pool. Didn’t really like I.T.... I really don’t mind fixing problems but some days its like “did you plug it in?” IT people you feel me, right? So what was my option? Economics. What whaaa?? How are you someone who loves technology and chose Economics? I needed something technical. I sorta liked economics, but needed something that would look good on my resume and it was better than a BA in creative arts or something. Maybe not the best plan but thats what I did.
The problem is the traditional education system is DECADES behind where we need to be to keep up with technology. But still we require it to get anywhere in life. So what do we do? We follow along with the requirement even if its a Masters in Basketweaving because as long as you have a degree you must be smart, right? Most schools that teach tech are schools that are not as well respected. Once about 10 years ago, when I heard an old co-worker scoff at one of my other co-workers on the fact that “why would he get a degree in social media, what’s he gonna do with that?” I thought, that’s the reason why I hate school and the stigma around degrees based in some future of technology. We need to get out of this mentality that higher education is the be all and end all of education.
There is so much information out there
Now this is where school is helpful. They take all the information in the world about a subject and organize it into digestible and passable sections. Why is this important?
Settle in for another lil story time with Ray. Skip this if you like. Last year I decided, I wanted to get started with cybersecurity. I really thought I would like the challenge, I think it’s an important career decision, especially since a degree in Economics isn’t really going to cover me if something happens at work and people go poking in my past and realize I’m “not qualified” to do the job. So I did. I got started. And fell right into a sand pit of information and marketing. I looked. I researched. I said, let me do get a degree. I looked it up, found out I would need to find about $12k-$20k to get another bachelors or do a boot camp. Yeah... That’s not gonna happen. Then I said, I’d educate myself. OK, lets do it. Where do I start. I looked on Reddit, Google, Troy Hunt, Daniel Miessler, and more. I spent over 8 months trying to find a path that would work for me, that was relatively inexpensive and something that I could focus on. I then came across Matt Day’s Start a Cyber Career. His blog was really the only thing that really helped solidify my direction because of his practical easy-to-digest-after-work format, and the reason why I’m blogging.
Finding the right information about how to get in the industry and what is relevant to study is not an easy task. There are so many books, so many paths, and finding the one that works well for you can be almost an insurmountable path without some help. I think industry experts and certification groups should spend more time focusing on general technical education and connecting people to others in the industry rather than specific test facts and letters behind your name.
Complicated
I’m sure when people think of cybersecurity they think of a hacker who has had years of practice coding and knows how to hack the NSA. The behind the scenes technology scares people. Being a systems manager people sometimes think what I do is dark magic. It really isn’t. Once people can get over the fact that behind the scenes technology isn’t scary and that just a little bit of Googling and a troubleshooting thinking cap, can get you a wealth of information.
Litigation/Liability
This one is scary. Litigation is a real aspect of cybersecurity. With breaches becoming more prevalent, the cybersecurity experts will become more exposed legally than before. In some ways its a blame game. Someone has to pay for it, and if its a bad enough breach someone who hasn’t spent years in college getting a cybersecurity degree, will likely be more exposed from a public relations standpoint than someone who had gone to college, even if they are equally certified and continue education for that position.
TL; DR
I know this blog is a long one. So let me sum up what I covered.
There will be a shortage of cybersecurity experts over the next decade.
Many people don’t know how to enter the cybersecurity industry.
College is good, but should either catch up to current technology or stop their iron fist on peoples future.
There is a lot of information about cybersecurity and industry experts need to do a better and getting information in the hands of people interested in studying it.
Behind the scenes technology scares people. In some ways, people just need to overcome that fear and make the leap into something new and undiscovered.
As breaches become more prominent we will need to find a way to manage the litigation and liability for cybersecurity through either seriously overhauling the way companies hold data, or overhauling liability around cyber breaches.
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