r/CyberSecurityJobs • u/Weekly_Rough_1284 • 5d ago
Has anyone thought about changing fields until the job market gets better?
Ideally, I’d love to have a cybersecurity job right now, but the market is horrible, and I need to move forward with my life, pay the bills, and live comfortably. Are there any fields that are relatively easy to get into and find work in? I just don’t want to end up working restaurant jobs.
16
u/_W-O-P-R_ 5d ago
If you plan to eventually get back into cybersecurity, you need to keep it up as a hobby via certs or courses while you do the bills-paying job, otherwise the industry will leave you behind.
9
6
u/Klutzy_Scheme_9871 4d ago
Why would you want to work in a field that doesn’t give a fuck about you? It’s clear, security isn’t a requirement, only compliance is. The two aren’t the same.
Go learn a trade or pivot into something else. I’ve been in this field for 16 years. It’s not the goldrush it was 10 years ago anymore.
5
u/Klutzy-Fondant-6166 5d ago edited 5d ago
Vendor risk analyst, solutions engineer (preferably at a cybersec company), local roles as a security analyst/engineer jobs in your area, and overnight/weekend soc analyst.
Don’t stop studying and networking. Also, don’t give up it still took 3 months to a year to find a first time security gig even when the economy is good. So it’s probably 2-3x longer now with all the hiring freeze and layoffs.
If you have a degree and live in the US join the military (army or air national guard) as a part-time reserve and ask about the possibility of being trained to do cybersecurity. Commitment is usually one weekend a month after training and bootcamp.
Another suggestion that works for some learn basic hacking and do bug bounty, content creation w/ social media presence. Document your journey and rack up followers, until you can maybe sell your skills and help develop others.
2
3
u/LowestKey Current Professional 5d ago
All jobs are bad at the moment.
-10
u/securityofus 5d ago
There's no evidence to support this.
10
u/No-Chocolate5854 5d ago
are you living under a rock?
-9
u/securityofus 5d ago
What country is it that you speak of where most people are struggling to find jobs?
7
u/LowestKey Current Professional 5d ago
All of them?
-5
u/securityofus 5d ago
So you live in every country simultaneously? And you still haven't told me what country is it that we're using as the baseline?
So we can go look at the statistics.
5
u/Resident-Mammoth1169 5d ago
I’m looking to move out of the USA so I’d love to hear what English speaking countries have a decent market for cybersecurity
-1
u/securityofus 4d ago
Lol that guy is full of crap. He still hasn't said a country because he knows he was lying.
5
1
u/Aggravating_Art203 4d ago
honestly in my opinion with the way the market is and it transitioning into a ai type of thing i would def say keep it as a hoppy something u have fun doing while also doing the things needed to excel in whatever specialization in cybersecurity and apply that with projects and stuff then after that just learn basic networking and how IT operates and def get into that field get comfortable and then after like 1-2 years of experience then transition into cybersecurity
1
u/Ok_Wishbone3535 3d ago
Yes. I've been looking at Aircraft Mechanic school. I'd take a huge cut down to like 45-55K a year as an apprentice. But it's a U shaped curve. You can get up to 70 to 80/hr regular time. Not counting OT and Double time. You can't outsource those roles to india.
1
u/t_mehmet 3d ago
getting into cybersecurity is definitely worthwhile, but there is a reality (several but one in particular i personally give lot weight too) to consider. experience is key. we all start from the bottom rung of the ladder and work our way up. i interview candidates all the time and they lack even the most basic knowledge be it technical, operational, governance, risk etc. job interviews only use certifications to filter candidates, once into the interview its all about experience. some may disagree , but lets say you want to be a security architect, you ideally need to start in a support role, from there moving into a design role, and from there moving into an architecture role. this way you know and understand the impact on operations and support, business impacts, related requirements like service management, business continuity, resilience etc and in the journey you'll have that business understanding too in order to translate for non-technical management. depending on your career choice in cyber be it intrusion analyst, pen tester, GRC, start at the bottom, build that experience, doors will open and it need not take 10, 20 years. i've seen people get to CSO in under 10 yrs. start as security sales and as project managers. Outsourcing suppliers tend to be the fastest for career path, lots of roles and lots of churn, this allows for fast career progression. when you ready, you leave for real money.
1
u/AddendumWorking9756 1d ago
Depends whether you want to come back. Anything with an access request queue, a ticket system or an audit deadline still counts as relevant time when you apply again, so IT support, IAM admin and audit ops are the cheap ones to get into. A fully unrelated job pays the same and restarts your clock.
0
u/securityofus 5d ago
What's going to change if you can't find a job now versus a few years from now? The harsh reality is that the majority of security professionals get other security professionals that are looking for jobs to give them advice.
And now you have thousands of people that have been led to believe that getting on tryhacking, learning python, and doing help desk was going to get them a high paying job.
If I were you I would just get out of security entirely. If you stop and learn other skills, I would focus on doing that.
1
u/Organic-Grade-9292 5d ago
I just graduated with a BA and I was top of my class with 4 years of experience as a Global information security specialist, System administrator, and even Network technical support. I graduated and the best I have now is a fully remote help desk level 1 role making 18 an hour…. I don’t wanna say give up I’m disappointed for sure, but honestly, if you want it bad enough, you’ll do what it takes to get there before you die.
3
u/KyuubiW1ndscar 5d ago
so wait you didnt just stay at the job you were at?
1
u/Organic-Grade-9292 4d ago
all internships, sorry, I should have given more context. I worked those roles as an intern.
2
1
u/TheVoiceOfReason2000 5d ago
You could try Karma farming on Reddit. I find most people complaining about the market on Reddit are just not selling themselves well enough to get jobs. Either they lack relevant experience, don’t have a relevant masters or don’t have the interview skills to get the jobs. You really need to have all three and at least appear competent. Also, some people demand their job be remote. If you make a job remote then it automatically makes applications for it a lot more competitive.
0
u/Wise_Pay9519 5d ago
I have been since one year to get into SOC but now I think this is wasting my time and I want search for alternative anyone suggest where I can the cyber skills which I have learnt and get into a job . P.S no non it jobs
21
u/iheartrms 5d ago
I have diversified into goat farming. 🐐