In this episode, the focus will be on the third most frequently asked question that was received from our user survey: what tactical skills are most important or valuable to employers?
Getting your first cybersecurity job is a bit of a contest, not only between you and the other candidates, but also to some extent with the hiring manager. Kip has hired a couple of people who interviewed spectacularly, only to wonder who this person was, and who showed up to work because their performance on the job did not match up to what was seen in the interview.
A masterclass is one of the ways that you can educate yourself to know tactical skills. In this episode, Kip shared an invitation to his Masterclass on helping people get hired into their first cybersecurity job. That program is no longer being offered, but has since been replaced with Hired in 21 Days. You can find out more about this new and improved Masterclass at https://www.hiredin21days.com.
Kip Boyle:
Hey everyone. This is Your Cyber Path, the podcast that helps you get your first cybersecurity job. I’m Kip Boyle, I’m an experienced hiring manager of cybersecurity professionals. If you want to give me feedback on the show, or if you want me to answer your question on a future episode, please visit the show page at anchor.fm/yourcyberpath. When you get there, just click on the message button and start talking to me.
If you’re new to the podcast, I need to tell you that we’re planning to run an online class to help you get your first cybersecurity job. And to make sure that class will really help, that we’re going to add some real value, we’ve been running a survey to find out what you’re struggling with. And so in this episode, I’m going to tell you about the third most frequently asked question that we’ve received from the survey. And that question was, what tactical skills are most important and most valuable?
Now, this question takes a little decoding, tactical skills is a phrase typically used in sports. And I’ll be honest, I don’t have a lot of experience playing team sports, I had to look up this little phrase to make sure I got it right. So I went to an official looking website and I read there that tactical skills are the decisions and actions of players to gain an advantage. Okay, I don’t want to overdo it on the sports metaphor here, but I think this makes a lot of sense. Getting your first cybersecurity job is a bit of a contest, not only between you and the other candidates, but also to some extent with the hiring manager. And in all honesty, I’ve hired a couple of people who interviewed spectacularly only to wonder who actually this person was, who showed up to work because their performance on the job did not match up to what I saw in the interview.
About two episodes go I told you more about how the masterclass is going to work. I don’t want to repeat myself here because most of you probably heard it, but if you haven’t go back and listen and get caught up, but what I can tell you is that the masterclass is definitely going to provide you with tactical skills. So there are several lessons. We’ve got one called, Getting Real-World Experience. We’ve got another one called, The Most Valuable Tools to Learn. There’s one called, Getting Human Eyes On Your Resume. And there’s one that is called, Negotiating Compensation. All great examples of tactical tools. Now I want to give you a quick preview of some of the course content in this area. So, here’s kind of a sub question that we’re going to tackle, is programming the most valuable skill that you need to get a cybersecurity job. And here’s my one word answer, no.
Now let me explain a little bit, I can’t see how understanding programming or scripting is going to hurt you. If you don’t code now maybe you should consider taking an aptitude test to figure out how hard you’ll have to work to become a coder or at least to get a strong understanding of the discipline. But, the idea that you need to master programming or coding or scripting is really going to greatly depend on the job that you take. For me, I was a programmer during the first couple of years that I was in the Air Force, and as I sit here now and look back, I was glad that I had that experience. Now I haven’t actually written or read any code in years, but when it comes to understanding how it is that vulnerabilities are turning up so often in the products that we use, the software and the hardware network connected stuff, I get it. I definitely understand the explanations of buffer overflows and cross site scripting and things like that, I get it. But, is that essential? Probably not. Again, it’s going to depend on the job you get.
Now, we’re going to go into greater detail about that and other tactical skills that you’re going to definitely need and others that you want to strongly consider getting. But for those of you in the audience who want in on the masterclass, if you’re not already on the student roster, the class is called, How To Get Your First Cybersecurity Job, As Told By Hiring Managers. And here’s what you do, so just tell me your number one question about getting your first cybersecurity job, and you do that by using an online survey that we’ve set up. And when you do that, and I’ll give you the URL in just a moment, I’m going to give you free access to the four week online masterclass we’re going to start that on April 6th, 2020. And as a bonus, I’m also going to give you a free copy of my Amazon bestselling book, which is called, Fire Doesn’t Innovate, The Executives Practical Guide to Thriving in the Face of Evolving Cyber Risks. Now you can keep the book, whether you come to the masterclass or not, that’s how much we value your input in telling us what your number one question is.
Now, you can reach the survey by going to this URL b.link/cyberpath. That’s the letter B dot L-I-N-K forward slash cyberpath, that’s all one word, and share that link with everyone who might be interested the more, the better. One of the things that we’re strongly considering is standing up some kind of an online group for everybody. Who’s going through the class together. That way you can meet each other and help answer each other’s questions and maybe help each other get jobs. I mean, we’re going to do our best to set you up for success, but I figured let’s have a group effort here.
Okay. That’s enough for now. Next time, I’m going to tell you the fourth most frequently asked question that we received from everybody who responded. So until next time, remember, you’re just one path away.
YOUR HOST:
Kip Boyle serves as virtual chief information security officer for many customers, including a professional sports team and fast-growing FinTech and AdTech companies. Over the years, Kip has built teams by interviewing hundreds of cybersecurity professionals. And now, he’s sharing his insider’s perspective with you!
YOUR CO-HOST:
Jason Dion is the lead instructor at Dion Training Solutions. Jason has been the Director of a Network and Security Operations Center and an Information Systems Officer for large organizations around the globe. He is an experienced hiring manager in the government and defense sectors.
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