Career Advice: 7 Things They Don’t Teach You In School
I recently had an opportunity to participate in a panel about Career Planning for students in Cybersecurity and similar degrees. We talked about a lot of things. There were a number of things that I wanted to say but just didn’t have a chance. And that’s ok. I love working with people that have a goal, that want to learn, and who are putting effort in. So, I thought about what are some common pieces of advice that I give or that would give to someone looking for detailed advice. Here are a few:
Don’t align your identity with your career, it’s not worth it
Too many people do this, and if something in the economy shifts, if they have a life/family event that causes change, if they get burnt out, it makes things worse. This is also dependent upon your goals, as there is a time where someone may desire this in various ways, and that’s ok, but my advice is by default, avoid it.
Consider your long term goals (and consider the world outlook in this)
This is a tough one, but I stand behind it. Some of my kids are approaching this age, and are very much aligned with technology and cybersecurity careers so I have a stake in saying this. Make sure you are prepared for what going into cybersecurity means. There are many paths, not just one ‘cybersecurity.’ Also, cybersecurity is hard. It will burn you out, corporate politics will burn you out, big corp will burn you out. You need to think about short, mid, and long term desires and expectations and just do a regular pulse check on if you are where you want to be. Example data point to consider: https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market#--:explore:outcomes-by-major
Gain some financial literacy. I’ve left millions on the table by not understanding company benefits and basic finances early on.
Not everyone is the same here. I have learned a ton about financial literacy and have helped people with this. But you need to understand cashflow, compounding interest, 401k, IRA, stock options, employee stock purchase programs, reserved stock units, tax loss harvesting, short and long term capital gains taxes, 529 plans, etc. You don’t need to be an expert in these, but understanding them conceptually will go a long way for your “20 years in the future” self and the decisions you need to make.
Don’t overvalue education.
Most skills you need for a job you’ll learn on the job. I’ve never hired someone because of a cert or post grad degree. I know people with every cert that I would never hire and I know people with no certs that are on my short list. Use education as a gateway if there is a condition you need to meet, use education to prepare for a novel thing, and use education because you love to learn. Don’t use it to ‘get into cyber.’
Avoid boot camps and pay to play recruiting. They are not in your best interest most of the time. Either there are people who will help for free or the information is already freely available.
Don’t undervalue writing. (This does not include output from an LLM)
Even engineers may spend 20-50% of their time writing: emails, chat, PowerPoint. documentation, comments. There are numerous opportunities in a corporate environment that require finesse and skill in writing narratives, persuasion, argumentative, compare and contrast, and summarization. These are all huge differentiators and value add for you. Don’t leave it on the table. Really hone your ability to summarize something to a non-technical audience and apply it to their reality.
Networking above applications.
Who you know is way important than what you know. Don’t buy networking, but take full advantage of local conferences, local meetups, and local groups. If you’re not part of ISSA, ISACA, InfraGard, AWS meetups, bsides, you’re missing out. Most conf have student passes. Go force yourself to present at a bsides. Connect with local industry leaders, they talk to each other. Blindly submitting applications doesn’t work like it used to. The ratio of noise is too high. To set yourself up for success you’ve got to connect with people.
Never burn a bridge
I’ve been dependent upon someone who used to report to me. I’ve hired someone who was many levels above me previously. I’ve connected people from several years past to people I know. I have met people across the country that are on a first named basis with people I know locally. It will follow you. Do everything in your power to take the high road and keep all bridges intact.