The Ultimate Guide to a Cybersecurity Career Path for 2024

Finalize your career path in the coming year!

Cybersecurity is one of the best professions to choose to go into 2024

But .. it can become quite confusing if you do not have a career path defined

• Which path to choose?

• Which certification to get?

• What are the long-term career prospects?

These are just a few of the questions I regularly get asked, which is why I made this career guide.

More and more specializations in Cyber-security are emerging, and I wanted to highlight what career paths are available in 2024 if you want to transition to cyber-security

I hope you find it useful!

Cyber Security Career Paths

There are numerous specializations available in Cybersecurity for you to explore.

Let us take a look at some of the most in-demand below :

1. Security Operations Engineer / Incident Response

2. Security Architecture

3. Cloud Security Engineer

4. Penetration testing / Red Teaming

5. Cybersecurity Manager

Let's take a look at each in detail.

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Security Operations / Incident Response

Data breaches are, unfortunately, a daily occurrence, with news of DDOS, ransomware, and data thefts all over the news.

Companies cannot afford their name to show up on one of these headlines; this is where Security Operations Center Engineers appear.

Incident Response is the game's name; a SOC engineer needs to know where and how an event is happening and respond quickly.

This role is for you if you love dealing with security incidents and being at the front lines of cyberattacks.

Skills needed:

• SIEM tools and configuration

• Elastic Stash

• Log Analysis ( Excel is still the king ! )

• Forensic Analysis

• Ability to work under pressure

🎓 Certifications: GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH), EC-Council Certified Incident Handler (ECIH)

🔥 Future Career Path: SOC manager, Head of Incident Response, Independent Consultant

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Cybersecurity Architect

As a security architect, you will be responsible for defining a company's security architecture and reviewing projects to ensure that the new architecture does not introduce any risks.

This role requires a deep understanding of system components, networking, and APIs and a good handle on documentation and presentation skills.

You usually need a few years of experience in enterprise architecture before taking on this role.

Skills needed:

• Networking and security protocols

• Threat modeling / Flow Charting

• Presentation and documentation. You should be able to articulate complex technical issues to stakeholders in an easy-to-understand way

• DevOps

• Pragmatism! You need to know when to be firm and when not to become a blocker for business

🎓 Certifications: I suggest you use TOGAF instead of a security cert. If you want to, then do TOGAF with a CISSP, and you will stand out

🔥 Future Career Path: Cybersecurity Manager, Head of Security Engineering

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Cloud Security Engineers

As a Cloud Security Engineer, you can expect to do the following :

• Identify threats to Cloud Infrastructure and application.

• Identity risks in migrations of critical cloud workloads

• Implement cloud security controls as per best practices.

• Be able to identify opportunities for automation in security events.

Skills needed:

• Cloud Platforms ( AWS, Azure, GCP )

• Basic scripting and programming ( Python is always a plus )

• Automation and APIs

🎓 Certifications: Security cert of one cloud provider.

🔥 Future Career Path: Cloud Security Manager, Head of Cloud Security, Independent Consultant

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Penetration testing / red teaming

By far one of the most exciting fields, penetration testers and ethical hackers are usually the “rock stars” of cybersecurity teams, finding vulnerabilities where no one knew they existed.

Offensive security and red teaming, where you proactively try to bypass a company’s defenses by role-playing as an attacker, remain among the most sought-after positions.

Pen-testers also usually moonlight as bug bounty hunters and use this to augment their profiles.

As a penetration tester, you’ll seek to identify and exploit system weaknesses to help companies build more secure systems.

As an ethical hacker, you can try out even more attack vectors (like social engineering) to reveal security weaknesses.

Skills needed:

• Passion for this field. This is not your average 9 to 5 security job.

• Scripting and programming

• Social Engineering skills ( technical skills are not enough )

🎓 Certifications: Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), CompTIA PenTest+, GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN), Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)

🔥 Future Career Path: Head of Security Assurance, Head of Security Testing, Independent Consultant

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CyberSecurity Manager

If you are passionate about cybersecurity but want to move towards a more senior position and influence a team of people, then this position is for you.

You need to have the ability to interact with stakeholders across the organization and oversee teams.

This job needs to juggle technical and managerial skills and be able to articulate complex issues easily to the C-level.

This job is usually a stepping stone to becoming a CISO

Skills needed:

• Communication and presentation skills

• Team management

• Budgeting ( yes, there is no escape from that )

• Vendor Management

• Skill development

🎓 Certifications: Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional)

🔥 Future Career Path: Head of Cyber Security, Chief Information Security Officer ( CISO )

For more job paths .. check out my video below!