Cybersecurity Professionals

One of the most important aspects of determining if cybersecurity is right for you is understanding the requirements that make this field unique.  Understanding these requirements will help you achieve the most success in planning your career.  There are a number of factors that drive the nature of the work and the work environment.  Likewise, a number of requirements result from that unique environment.       

The Cybersecurity Work Environment

During times of crisis, cybersecurity workload priorities must be able to adjust from a steady-state operating environment to a surge capacity. Therefore cybersecurity professionals must be able to participate in surge situations like Denial of Service or virus attacks.

Cybersecurity requires its professionals to be ready to rapidly respond to threats as soon as they are detected – the knowledge and ability to act in a variety of functions is closely linked to the capacity to surge and support efforts as needed in a real time setting.

To maintain high performance during steady times and effective support during a surge in workload, the cybersecurity workforce must be agile. A cybersecurity professional must have a broad knowledge base, range of skills and capacity to function in a variety of activities.

The cybersecurity workforce must also possess a range of technical abilities, while retaining a willingness to work in a dispersed environment and remain extremely collaborative.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) found that cybersecurity work includes analysis of policy, trends, and intelligence to better understand how an adversary may think or act - using problem solving skills often compared to those of a detective. This level of work complexity requires the cybersecurity workforce not only have a wide array of technical IT skills, professionals also have advanced analysis capabilities.

The IEEE states that cybersecurity professionals need to be those who can see themselves in fast-paced, busy environments, as well as people who understand that their job hours might be a bit unpredictable.

The transformative nature of the work is providing for varying career paths – establishing a workforce with different educational backgrounds, an interest in innovative problem-solving, and a higher-than-average percentage of young professionals. Cybersecurity professionals thrive in an informal atmosphere of casual dress, unconventional working hours, and shifting work responsibilities aimed at keeping knowledge fresh and work exciting.