In this world where no one is secure with their jobs, employees must be proactive with their careers. The world has transitioned from the one where one could stay in one job for their entire life to a world in which people change their jobs 10 to 15 times in their life.
Needless to say, with this uncertainty of the global economy and the changing contracts and rules of the industrial and business markets, indeed no one’s job is secure.
To some relief, this article is written solely to help you learn how you can change your career from IT to Cybersecurity.
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Why to choose Cybersecurity?
It is no doubt that the IT department has enormous job potential in today’s world, but guess what is coming with a greater job potential other than the IT field, Cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity within its domain has multiple job functions. The demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals is so high that the supply does not meet up the demand, as a result, the salary goes high up.
Studies have shown that in most parts of the US the cybersecurity professional earn a six-digit salary. These various reasons like the constant challenge, variety of job functions, higher pay are reasons enough to switch to cybersecurity.
A person with an IT background can move swiftly to cybersecurity because of the following two benefits:
- A candidate coming from an IT background will be preferred more than a candidate from a non-IT background.
- A person with an IT background will understand the computer-related aspects much better than a person from the non-IT background.
Now, go through the following step to transition from the field of IT to Cybersecurity:
1) The fundamentals should be brushed up
Having a career in the IT field you will already be known to the basics of the cybersecurity world. You will have knowledge of operating systems, distributed computing, and bugs.
Buffer overflows and other such problems and knows how to solve them. Hence, you will be able to protect the system.
2) Focus on your interest
With the amount of competition going on, so one needs to be a specialist and not a generalist. To do so, you will have to understand your area of interest in the respective field.
As said earlier, cybersecurity has multiple job functions in its domain itself, like cybersecurity analyst, ethical hacker, cybersecurity consultant, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), etc.,
So, you need to have a clear vision as to which genre you have to specialize in to work as a cybersecurity consultant.
3) Gain Practical Experience
No matter how many books or how many guides you have read, until and unless you have practical experience in the real world, all of these are of no use.
You can take up any beginner’s level job in the real world and start working, or you may get into some internships. The more practice you will gain, the more it will help you in the field.
4) Certifications
One needs to add CyberSecurity certifications in his/her profile, to have a kick-start in this domain. These certifications are provided from the beginner level to the advanced, some of them are:
- Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
- Certified Cloud Security Professional (CSSP)
- Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) and etc,
5) A Proper Resume
Updating the resume is one of the most important work while switching a job. Add your college degrees, relevant job experience, hard IT skills, professional IT certifications, and other achievements.
With all of this, you will be able to swiftly change your career from IT to Cybersecurity. Enjoy your life with constant challenges put in front in this field and the high pay scale.
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