Are you interested in securing a challenging and rewarding career in cybersecurity but worried about your lack of experience? Don’t let that discourage you!
While experience can be helpful, it’s not always a prerequisite. More specifically, many employers in the cybersecurity field may value your skills, certifications, and passion for learning more than your years of experience.
In this article, I’ll guide you about how to get into cybersecurity, even if you’re starting from zero.
Can I Get Into Cybersecurity Without Any Experience?
Yes, you can jump into Cybersecurity without any prior experience. To be more specific, hiring managers associated with the cybersecurity field more about your certifications and skills.
So, if you’ve:
- A degree in Computer Science
- Strong soft skills, technical skills
- Certifications in Ethical Hacking
- Also, you’re eager to learn something new every day
You may easily find entry-level jobs related to cybersecurity using job boards and different online platforms, such as LinkedIn.
How to Get Into Cybersecurity
Here’s a simple pathway for you to step into Cybersecurity:
1. Research About Cybersecurity Career Paths
Before you make a lateral move, the first step is to research about different types of career paths or options in the domain of Cybersecurity. For instance, you’ve to decide whether you want to give a try to:
- Formal educational route: Getting a degree in cyber security.
- Alternative Training or Program route: Consider any technical program to fast-track your career in cyber security.
- Self-Learning Route: Using online mediums such as Google, YouTube, Coursera, etc to build expertise.
- Certification Route: Pursuing cybersecurity certifications that can assist in building your skill set.
- Hybrid or Mixed Route: Doing a mix of all of the above paths to grow at a faster pace.
Notably, while choosing a path, you’ve to research about job nature, or type that you want to do.
For instance, you might be interested in becoming:
- Cybersecurity analysts
- Information security officers
- Cybersecurity risk managers
- Training and security awareness specialists
- Security consultants
- Security marketing managers
- Security sales engineers, etc.
2. Enhance Your Skills
After figuring out which type of Cybersecurity job you want to do, start polishing your skills. To be more specific, you’d have a solid understanding of the following:
- Coding skills related to different programming languages, including, Python, C++, C, SQL, JavaScript, etc.
- Knowing the ins and outs of system and network administration.
- Familiarity with various cloud security platforms.
- Being able to work with several operating systems, especially Linux.
- Security auditing and risk analysis.
3. Consider an Online Course or Certification
An online course or certification is not as expensive compared to a college or university degree. It also covers almost everything you need to know about information security and cybersecurity.
In addition, registering for an online course assists in gaining access to mentors and career support which would help in securing a suitable job in the cybersecurity field.
4. Work with Cybersecurity Software and Tools
Getting familiar with the common cybersecurity tools, hardware systems, and software is also important along the way. So, it’s better to get hands-on experience on at least one cloud platform, such as Azure.
Notably, some programs also support free trials to get expertise and be prepared for any scenario.
5. Gain Some Work Experience
Working on real-world cybersecurity projects is one of the best ways utilized to represent your skills to prospective employers or gain exposure.
So whether you want to work in incident response, consulting, or auditing, apply for an entry-level position or an internship that works in these particular areas.
6. Start Growing Your Network
Networking is another key factor that sets you apart from other candidates in the job-hunting process. For instance, you may get introduced to the targeted company through a mutual connection or a referral.
Therefore, grow your network by reaching out to LinkedIn professionals or sending a personalized invite or message to hiring managers to let them know about your interest in the related cybersecurity job.
Conclusion
You can easily start a career in cybersecurity even if you don’t have any experience. By learning new things, getting the right skills, earning certifications, and meeting people in the industry, you can find a great job. The most important thing is to be open to learning new things and keeping up with the latest cybersecurity problems and solutions.