No Cyber Security Experience? No Problem !
How your non-tech experience can map onto a cybersecurity job
Let's face it .. the tech job industry is no longer the mighty behemoth it once was.
You only need to look at your LinkedIn feed to see the amount of (highly) qualified tech professionals who are looking for jobs.
But at the same time .. Cybersecurity has remained relatively resilient despite the massive job cuts in the industry.
It makes sense as things like budget cuts or hiring freezes do not bog down Cyber-criminals!
Boards have become more and more tech-savvy and want to avoid seeing their company’s name plastered on news as the next big data breach.
Thus, Cybersecurity remains a safe bet as a current or future job choice.
But if you don't have any prior tech experience, then breaking into Cybersecurity can seem like an insurmountable challenge
As someone who has coached countless people on how to move into Cybersecurity .. I am here to tell you that that is not true !
Most people who do not have a tech background might have decades of experience in another field .. all that hard work does not have to go down the drain
You leverage that experience .. it is simply a matter of finding the right cybersecurity field!
Meet Jack
Let me tell you a short story about someone I know .. Let us call him Jack
Jack was a school teacher in his 40s who had a thing about numbers and math
His school moved to remote learning when the pandemic and Jack found himself with more free time on his hands
He noticed an article about how resilient the cybersecurity job industry is and how it is essentially future-proof proof as tech risks will always exist
Jack wanted to change careers and move into Cybersecurity
The problem is that he had ZERO experience and no tech skills
But Jack did a bit more research and realized Cybersecurity is a massive domain that can accommodate all sorts of skills
He saw that Governance, Risk, and Compliance roles do not require deep technical knowledge but a good understanding of regulations and standards
Absorbing and applying knowledge is something Jack had no problem with with this two decades of experience as a teacher.
His natural talent was taking huge amounts of information and breaking it down into easy chunks, which had been honed from years of experience
He downloaded EVERYTHING he could find on regulations like GDPR and PCI DSS and started learning in his free time
He took Udemy courses to supplement what he was reading
He also applied to a few jobs here and there on Upwork that needed someone to review their PCI DSS or GDPR documentation
Slowly, he was able to build a small portfolio of customers that led to a job interview a few months down the road.
He impressed the hiring manager with his knowledge and passion for the subject despite not having direct on the job experience.
He was also able to leverage the customer references he had obtained on Upwork.
Needless to say-Jack landed the job.
Lo and behold, Jack had managed to pull off the trick of moving into Cybersecurity without any prior experience!
Was it easy? NO
Jack faced numerous challenges along the way, but he succeeded mainly because he mapped his experience onto an existing cybersecurity domain
This gave him a massive starting boost.
Jack is currently the go-to guy in his company for simplifying complex security issues and creating policies/standards around the same
The whole point of his story is to make you understand that Cybersecurity is not about things like encryption and firewalls but also about policies, procedures, and other areas that can easily be mapped onto your existing skill set.
Let us take a look at a few examples.
Map Your Non-tech Experience to Cybersecurity
Jack was one case .. let us take a look at a few others and how they can map to cybersecurity
🔍 Finance & Accounting -> IT Auditing
Passionate about numbers and auditing?
I recommend moving into IT auditing, which might be your gateway.
Your existing experience in deep data analysis can be a game-changer in this niche.
📢 Marketing -> Cybersecurity Awareness
Marketers know how to grab attention, and this is invaluable in Cybersecurity Awareness
Most professionals will tell you cybersecurity awareness are snooze-fests that puts everyone to sleep
If you can create compelling material that gets people to pay attention .. you have a long career ahead of you
🔧 Engineering -> Network Security
Engineers can leverage their analytical skills to move into Network Security.
This is possibly the most accessible shift, honestly, once you get solid foundational knowledge.
There is a tremendous amount of learning material, from YouTube tutorials to certifications such as CCNA, that can get you up to speed on Network Security and onto your new career!
🍎 Teaching -> Governance, Risk and Compliance
Already covered this with Jack!
👮 Law Enforcement -> Security Incident Response
If you have law enforcement experience, then you know how to deal with pressure, and this is essential in security incident response.
You are still dealing with criminals, but in the Cyber world
Your real-world experience will be invaluable in this field!
I hope this gave you a good idea of how to take your existing experience and use that to move into Cybersecurity. Hopefully, this inspired you to take the plunge into the Cybersecurity world.
Good luck with the fantastic career ahead of you!