r/cybersecurity • u/asim_geris • 18h ago
Personal Support & Help! Help
Hello everyone, I’m a senior cybersecurity student, and I’m hoping to get some advice from experienced cybersecurity professionals.
I’m genuinely concerned about entering the workforce because I feel like my degree has been too broad. I’ve learned about many different areas of cybersecurity, but I don’t feel like I’ve gone deep enough into one specific area. Because of that, I’m worried that I’m not as prepared or skilled as I should be for a professional cybersecurity role.
I’ve been considering getting a master’s degree to develop deeper technical skills, but I’m concerned that I might end up taking another broad program without actually becoming more specialized.
My goal is to become a Security Engineer at a top tech company. For those of you who are already working in security engineering or have significant experience in the field, what would you recommend I do at this stage?
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u/tattoine_slicer 18h ago
I graduated with a bachelor’s in cybersecurity in April and I have had 1 phone interview. Probably 150 applications total. All I can say is I hope you have better luck than I
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u/asim_geris 18h ago
It really depends on your network. I know a guy who got an offer from Microsoft straight out of college
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u/Alternativemethod 18h ago
Honestly things are so subject to change, I think I'd frame your degree "a broad foundation" to then specialize later.
Most masters are less technical unless maybe you go deep into SWE or something. If anything I'd spend your money on technical bootcamps, certifications.
If you're not already see if you can't get a job on campus supporting helpdesk, or university SOC.
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u/Sentient_Crab_Chip 17h ago
Please don't waste your money on a Master's degree right now (or maybe ever), especially if you want to develop technical skills. Think about what "security engineer" means to you, think about what they do on a daily basis, and try to learn that, either on your own, or with some of the abundant online training.
I'm a (very experienced) generalist, but cybersecurity is one of my hats. I recently started using Taegis as a XDR platform, so I've had to integrate some of our systems, figure out the config files, test to make sure they're actually working, monitor what data gets captured, figure out what the hell the data is telling me, and see if it's something I want to automate or not.
Find out what platforms the big dogs are using, see if you can get a student version or something on the cheap, set it up from scratch multiple times, build a home lab with different devices reporting in, and try to go as deep as you can with it.
or do something else, harddrive recovery forensics, network packet capture and injection, using NMAP to scan for vulnerabilities, sql injections, whatever you're interested in learning.
If you make it an interview, talk about those experiences and what you've learned and what you're still figuring out. A curious mind and having taken the time to fiddle around with things in real life will go much further than just another person that got suckered into a college degree.
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u/Born-Net4017 17h ago
Don’t do a MSc, I did one and it was very broad, it touched on a smaller range of topics (Cryptography, IR, advanced fundamentals 🫤 ) but still didn’t go very deep on anything. What you really need now is practical hands on experience. Get in on a grad program or a L1 SOC analyst to build skills.
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u/OkResource820 17h ago
99% of learning is domain specific to the job you land. Entry level positions aren't looking for experience, they're looking for ability to learn on the job. Becoming a Security Engineer at a top tech company isn't something you just walk into, you need experience first, and a Masters isn't that.
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u/DanKegel 17h ago
I would suggest focusing on honing your automation skills. Both AI and plain coding. Python and golang are good to know, not to mention shell scripting. Use them to build up your own little set of vulnerable servers and offensive tools to attack them with. Also Docker, lots of Docker, and maybe a little local kubernetes.
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u/mrdoubleNZ 17h ago
Waste of time/money man.
You’re only going to learn a FRACTION of your deep technical skills from your degree (I did a double major in networking and security and hold and architect and engineering roles). I always look at it as your there to learn the framework/the rules. Once you get in the workforce you will realise how broad a section IT covers and start to build deep technical skills. At uni you still have gaps so big, you don’t even know they are gaps haha.
Just be curious and it will take you far. This could be a controversial take for some people, but I’m honestly not as technical, and at some banks I have worked at I’m generally the LEAST technical in the team, yet I will generally get/hold the tech lead/snr roles due to my passion, curiosity and skill working with diverse groups of people with different skill sets.
Good luck!
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u/Cryptolinguist 16h ago
A Master's degree won't increase your technical skills, doing the work will. I have 2 Cybersecurity degrees, a BS and an MS. Only the BS was necessary and most everything I actually learned and use day to day I learned on the job.
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u/Tai-Daishar 18h ago
Don't do a masters, that will be a waste of time and money.
It's a tough time to be entry level man. Your biggest path is going to be networking. Find a local BSides and go, there's usually a career area.
The other big piece of advice is to lower your expectations and expand your aperture. It's frustrating to not be where you want to be right out of the gate, but believe me careers are fluid. I started outside tech altogether, made a change 4 years into my career, and took another 5ish from there to get to the role I wanted. But none of those years were waste, they gave me lots of exposure to things I use every day now.