Takeaways for Cybersecurity Professionals
As with past reports, cybersecurity professionals—especially those in the early stages of a cybersecurity career or individuals seeking to enter the field—should use this research for career planning. Therefore, cybersecurity professionals should:
Start networking, keep networking. Survey respondents recommend that entry-level security professionals join a professional organization as a means for getting their first job. The data also shows that professional organizations act as a catalyst for job hunting, career development, and continuing education. Taken together, the ESG/ISSA research demonstrates that professional organizations can help throughout a cybersecurity career, paying dividends on time and money invested. ISSA itself is a good choice, but the data seems to indicate that cybersecurity professionals will benefit from other regional, industry, and professional organizations.
Resist certification loading—it doesn’t pay. After five years of research, it’s clear to ESG and ISSA that a CISSP and a few limited other certifications can be valuable building blocks for a cybersecurity career. Others may look good on a resume or business card, but cybersecurity professionals consistently claim to get far more out of hands-on experience like internships, mentoring programs, or staff rotation. Security certifications should be consumed for specific use cases, to meet job requirements, or to augment on-the-job experience period.
Make a personal commitment to skills development and training. On an average year, cybersecurity professionals are expected to get about 40 hours of training. This year’s research revealed that 54% of those surveyed reported having more than 40 hours of training in the past year, 24% have had about 40 hours of training, and 21% have had less than 40 hours of training. This data seems positive, but ESG and ISSA also found that many hours of “training” are really used as a means for fulfilling CPE credits rather than real skills development. A cybersecurity professional career is analogous to a physician in that continuing education is critical for each type of profession to keep professionals’ skills and knowledge current and relevant. Therefore, cybersecurity professionals must make a commitment to skills development and training even if this means investing their own time/money or pushing back on employers that minimize continuing education. Given the ever-changing nature of cybersecurity, individuals who invest in their own skills should get a strong ROI throughout their careers.
Pick a technology or business path to pursue. Cybersecurity careers lead to two main roads. One aligns security and business operations, culminating in “C-level” jobs like CISO, data privacy officer, etc. The other digs into the technology toward positions like security engineer, cloud security architect, threat analyst, etc. Obviously, each road requires different skills, but the ESG/ISSA research shows that many cybersecurity professionals are managing their careers haphazardly with no end goal in mind. Indeed, it’s hard to see five or ten years into the future, but at the very least, cybersecurity professionals should decide whether they see themselves in technical or business roles. Upon making this decision, they should set their sights on the chain of command and what skill sets and experiences they’ll need to climb to the next most senior positions.
Remember that when considering a new job, relationships matter. The ESG/ISSA research indicates that cybersecurity professionals get job satisfaction from things like competitive compensation, the ability to work with a strong team and leading technologies, and additional perks for travel, training, industry participation, etc. While these are certainly worthwhile incentives, information security pros should remember that there should be plenty of open jobs offering these benefits. Therefore, ESG and ISSA recommend digging deeper by asking questions like: What’s the relationship like between security and IT departments? Do these teams collaborate well or is there friction? Do executives and the board include cybersecurity in strategic planning and decision making? What’s the relationship between the security team and HR, legal teams, and lines of business? Since cybersecurity is truly a collaborative effort, these relationships could determine cybersecurity program success. It’s worth doing some background research, asking questions, and meeting with non-technical managers as part of the interviewing process.