One of the questions I get most from people looking to switch or start fresh in a new career is where do I start? The answer: All roads lead to cyber. There is no one right way to get into cyber security.

I was reading a book on Imposter Syndrome by a guy who transitioned from a career in BARTENDING into cyber security. He used his knack for communication and his skills as a people person to get into Social Engineering. My point is that there are so many types of jobs in cyber security that you can use get your feet in the door.

The key to getting into cyber security is knowing where to start. There may be multiple skills or knowledge areas that you have that translate into a particular sector of Cyber security. What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What skills do you use at your current job, or which skills would you like to use? The National Institute of Science and Technology(NIST) developed a workforce framework to help translate skills and knowledge areas into specific jobs. NIST’s Workforce Framework, called the National Initiative for Cyber security Education (NICE) Cyber security Workforce Framework is set up into workforce Categories, Specialty Areas, Work Roles, Tasks, Knowledge Descriptions, Skills, and Abilities. Review the lists of Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge Descriptions and take note of which ones you have and or which ones you would like to learn. From there in Appendix B you can find which jobs use those specific skills. That will tell you the names of the types of jobs you should be looking for[1].

In the What Do I Want To Do category within the BlackGirlsHack blog, you will find a listing of those jobs tied back to salary, pay, required amount of education, and Job Outlook for the next 10 years which represents the projected percent change in employment from 2018 to 2028.

[1]https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-181.pdf

[2]https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/home.htm