According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are approximately 5.3 million people in Computer and mathematical occupations. Of that number only 25.8% are Women, and only 8.7% are Black. For Information Security Analysts during this same time frame there were 125,000 people reported. Of these 17% were women and 15% were Black. Women are grossly underrepresented in Computer related fields representing 23.6% of other computer related jobs with Black women representing only 12.7%. Black Girls Hack was created to help show Black women and girls the job prospects in Cyber Security, people in the field who look like them who are doing the jobs, and provide training and resources to help reduce the gap in the Cybersecurity field.

https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm

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

Representation Matters. Black children see Actors on Television and on Movies, and Athletes playing major league sports and they want to be the people that they look up to. Black girls and women need to see black women in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The Representation Matters blog was created to show black girls and women people who look like them who are in STEM and Cyber security fields. The Representation Matters blog will showcase black women in Cyber Security who are hack or who do work in the cyber security field.

Welcome to Black Girls Hack where it is our goal to share resources, information and provide training to increase representation of Black Girls and Women in Cyber and Information Security.

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