Cybersecurity has a promising career outlook as an industry. This industry has low unemployment, and many countries actually have a shortage of employees. If you’re qualified, you can expect to be unemployed for a long time as a cybersecurity professional. The pay is also higher than the average, which is a great bonus. It is a solid career choice but has its drawbacks as any other. This article will discuss cybersecurity as a career option.
Cybersecurity is a great career.
Low unemployment: One of the greatest benefits to getting into cybersecurity is that there is high demand. A global shortage of cybersecurity professionals was found in a 2018 cybersecurity workforce study. It showed that there were approximately 2.9 million people without a cybersecurity degree. This has led to a very low rate of unemployment for cybersecurity professionals. It was around 500,000 in the US. It is important to have the skills that you can find work, even in economic downturns, especially in times like these where covid-19 has cost so much of people their jobs.
The average salary for cybersecurity is: Because of the high demand and low supply of qualified labor, there are very good ranges in salaries. The average salary for cybersecurity-related jobs in North America is 90,000, compared to the 40,000 average salary. With a minimum of experience and certifications, you can expect to earn twice the national average.
Remote work: Before covid-19, most of the work is technology-related and you can often work remotely. This can be a negative for some people who enjoy socializing at work, but it is often a positive thing for others.
Education and certification: You don’t have to be a cybersecurity major in order to enter the field. This could be a problem for certain career paths, such as being a doctor or lawyer who needs to spend a lot of time in formal education to enter the field. On the other hand, cybersecurity has many self-taught experts and people who have degrees in completely different fields that have been successful in making the transition. You can also use certifications to get into the field or move up in the ranks without having to return to college/university.
Job Satisfaction: 71% North American respondents said they were satisfied with their job in an ISC2 survey, while 36% stated they were very satisfied. Similar survey by PayScale showed that cyber security engineers gave an average job satisfaction score of 3.83 out 5 This is about 10% over the average of 51% among US workers.
Why is cybersecurity not a career choice?
Stress: When things aren’t going as planned, you will often be called upon by cybersecurity professionals. You’ll often need to ask people for things outside their normal business operations. They won’t be happy because it makes them feel like you’re telling them what to do. It’s not something that will impact their bottom line/evaluations, so they are going to try to spend as much time as possible on security work. It can be frustrating to try and do your job while the people you need are hindering you. It’s crucial that you only work with companies/clients who have the right authority to perform your job. Otherwise, it will always be difficult.
Technology-Oriented:Cybersecurity focuses on technology. This means that even though you have a lot to talk to people, it is not an area where you will get many interpersonal interactions besides business-related conversations. If you enjoy working with people and building relationships with them, cybersecurity may not be the right choice for you.
Overtime: It all depends on where you work, but if there is a risk of a data breach or a potential one occurring you might be required to work overtime.
It’s not something anyone wants to pay for. In most cases, cybersecurity is considered a cost center. This means that it costs money and generates no revenue. It’s an expensive expense that must be paid in order to run a business. Therefore, it can be hard to sell the services to employees and customers outside of the company. You may find it difficult to sell cybersecurity services to customers outside the company if you are a cybersecurity sales engineer. They want to save as much money as possible. It can be difficult for employees to convince managers to allocate funds for new staff and software licenses. This is because you won’t make any money off that investment. That is why a business exists. This exception is only true if your company sells cybersecurity products and services. In that case, you are seen as a profit center and get less backlash when you ask for something. This problem has been decreasing over the past few years due to increased awareness about how many companies are hacked and how expensive it can be. Cybersecurity is more popular than ever before, but because it doesn’t generate profits, there will always be resistance. You can also expect to find companies that are willing to do what it takes to keep the system running.
Final Thoughts
As a career, cybersecurity has many strong points. You can make good money and you are less likely to be unemployed for a long time. Additionally, you can work remotely to cut down on travel costs. It is also relatively easy to get into than other high-paying careers. But this is not all. Some people don’t want to have to deal with frustrated, angry or panicked clients/managers when they work with computers. Some people might want to be more social and have more fulfillment. This is why I don’t think cybersecurity is the best job. Cybersecurity is a good career choice for those who want to make a good income, aren’t looking to socialize a lot, and love solving logic-based problems.
