When you’re ready to start or change careers, it’s important to consider your priorities. What is most important to you in a job – Salary? Work-life balance? Job stability? And the most important question of all: Is this even a good career to get into?
You might be wondering about all of these aspects and more if you’re starting down a cybersecurity career path. So, is cybersecurity a good career?
In this article, we’ll talk about why cybersecurity is a good career to pursue. We’ll also discuss cybersecurity salaries, jobs, and how to get your start in the field with Coding Dojo.
Is Cybersecurity a Good Career?
Experts maintain that cybersecurity is crucially important to any successful business.
Since every business needs it, there are a number of excellent career opportunities in both the private sector and government agencies for a cybersecurity professional.
Also, the skills and experience that you gain in either the private or government sector are sought by both types of employers. So, shifting between the two sectors is always an option – and it’s important to have options in a long and healthy career.
In fact, cybersecurity is a strong career choice to explore right now because the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment of information security analysts will grow 31 percent from 2019 to 2029 – while the average growth rate for all other jobs is only 4 percent.
Cybersecurity jobs are plentiful, secure, and continuing to grow.
Cybersecurity specialists are very important because they are tasked with ensuring that people’s data stays safe and secure. Data breaches can plunge a business into major trouble with its customers and find that its brand image is irreparably damaged.
A job in cybersecurity can be immensely rewarding as you can make a true impact. Obviously, this means the role can be quite challenging as well.
So, how do you know if a cybersecurity career is right for you?
5 Reasons Why Cybersecurity is a Good Career
Cybersecurity is considered an excellent career to start right now because there is a high demand for cybersecurity specialists.
There is a great deal of variety in the field of cybersecurity. You can end up working in businesses in a big variety of industries – from entertainment and retail to medicine and finance. Almost all businesses must maintain their digital security, so there are countless opportunities for you to find good employment in many fields and disciplines.
There are so many different roles available to you within cybersecurity that you can take your time to consider your talents, interests, and passions to discover the right fit.
There are many things to consider when choosing a career path, and job and tech experts agree that there are strong reasons to consider a career as a cybersecurity specialist.
So, why is cybersecurity a good career?
- Cybersecurity Jobs Are in High Demand
- Cybersecurity Salaries Are High
- Job Opportunities Are Projected to Grow
- There is an Increase in Cybersecurity Specialties
- A Cybersecurity Career is Interesting and Challenging
5 Entry-Level Cybersecurity Jobs
A quick search on popular job sites like LinkedIn or Indeed will demonstrate that there are a number of great career options for cybersecurity experts. There is a great variety of different roles and job titles.
In fact, cybersecurity professionals are in demand across almost all industries – from retail to banking to government. Employers need cybersecurity experts to protect valuable data and private customer information.
Depending on your talents and interests, cybersecurity jobs can vary greatly. You could find yourself doing systems admin for a television production company or working as a security administrator at a major bank.
So, what cybersecurity jobs can you expect to find at the entry level?
- Cybersecurity Analyst
- Cybersecurity Specialist
- Cyber incident Responder
- Cryptographer
- Junior Penetration Tester
What is the Average Cybersecurity Salary?
If you pursue a cybersecurity job in the US, your entry-level cybersecurity salary will be around $88,325 and top off at $164,861 per year.
The median average cybersecurity salary is $117,058 US per year if you work for a US company.
Some companies offer bonuses as well – those range from about $1,000 to about $6,000 per year. If you choose to become a cybersecurity engineer, your stock grants and profit-sharing can be from $995 to $10,000 per year.
What is the Cybersecurity Job Outlook?
You may be wondering about employment security if you pursue a cybersecurity job – does this career path offer secure employment?
Technology itself has had explosive growth in the last few decades, which brought a huge amount of cyber crimes along with it. For that reason, cybersecurity professionals are in high demand, and will continue to be as long as society continues to store data digitally.
As a cybersecurity expert, you may be responsible for finding protective solutions for intellectual property, fraud protection, and creating hack-proof client records.
Since cyber crimes are always a concern, top businesses offer competitive salary packages to cybersecurity professionals.
In other words, the cybersecurity job outlook is great.
How to Start a Career in Cybersecurity
So you see the benefits of pursuing a career in cybersecurity and you’re wondering how to get started. Can you even start a career in cybersecurity with 0 experience?
Your very first employment opportunities in cybersecurity may be in entry-level IT roles, like software developer, help desk technician, or network administrator. After gaining some experience in IT, a number of cybersecurity professionals enter the job market as junior information security analysts.
Before seeking your first role in cybersecurity, you should consider learning some basic IT skills such as networks and systems administration, programming, and cloud computing.
Even though a degree is not absolutely necessary to land a job in cybersecurity, being able to show employers that you have some form of training might give you a leg up over other job applicants.
So, what are your first steps towards a cybersecurity career?
Enroll in a Cybersecurity Bootcamp
Taking Coding Dojo’s part time cybersecurity bootcamp will prepare you for an exciting career path.
After completing the bootcamp, you will be ready to identify, assess, report, and mitigate technology and information security risks. You’ll be ready to land jobs as soon as you’re done.
This bootcamp covers the latest real-world deployment of cybersecurity management practices, including defensive and offensive tactics, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and event and incident management.
You will also gain access to a comprehensive set of career services to help equip you for success.
Get Cybersecurity Certifications
Cybersecurity certifications like CySA+ will help you to secure a position as a cybersecurity expert.
A Coding Dojo Cybersecurity certification can make you stand out from other job applicants and makes you mission-ready for a challenging and rewarding career.
Learn Cybersecurity at Coding Dojo
What are the benefits of taking the Coding Dojo cybersecurity bootcamp?
First, there are no professional experience requirements. Unlike other bootcamps that require work experience in IT or a 4-year degree, Coding Dojo recognizes that many cyber professionals are self-taught.
At Coding Dojo, you gain extensive hands-on training. The cybersecurity bootcamp features extensive offensive and defensive experience within the Coding Dojo sandbox. Near the end of course, up to 75% of your time is spent in labs, attacking and defending against each other in Capture the Flag games and other exercises.
The course is taught online for your convenience, and it takes 20 hours a week for 24 weeks. This allows you to keep working or studying or have time for your other responsibilities.
You will learn crucial skills that are applicable to cybersecurity certifications – like the CompTIA Security+, CySA+ , Network+, Linux+, Server+, Cloud+, and certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).
The bootcamp is a professional-grade program that provides information and tactics to identify and manage information system vulnerabilities, create effective defenses and deploy countermeasures against attackers.
You’ll graduate ready to hit the ground running.
For a curriculum overview and other information about the bootcamp, visit the Coding Dojo website.