Getting Into Cybersecurity and Tech

Often, I am asked by my friends, family, and acquaintances how to get into cybersecurity, or even just tech in general. Sometimes these are fellow gamers who you know have some tech savvy already, others may have less technical experience but are still smart and able learners. The path is typically the same, or at least should be, in my opinion. Start doing tech, build a website in the cloud, or build a home lab. These are both exercises in learning, and something that you will be doing constantly in a tech position.

Common Beginner Mistakes

One of the big mistakes beginners make is stopping when they hit a problem. If you do this you will quite simply never get anything accomplished, mistakes and issues happen frequently. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of people in the industry professionally employ this tactic successfully every day. Waiting for help, however, will never be the path to success. Instead, start googling for solutions and test things until something finally works. If the path to get to working was too messy, now you know how to do it right, start again and make it clean. If the path to working was acceptable keep moving forward. Take notes, backups, and learn to use trial and error to your advantage.

Advice for Practicing Safely

Of course, I never recommend doing these things in a production environment. In production, only break what you can fix rapidly without much notice or impact, best judgment should always be used.

Educational Paths

Many schools have implemented tech programs that teach program or cybersecurity. Some of these programs are fantastic. I like to highlight Western Governors University’s Cybersecurity degree path—it teaches a great mix of network, endpoint, and policy/process. To top it off, it has some industry certifications included that make entering the field that much easier. Also, don’t discount a Network or Endpoint technology degree, all aspects of technology have important parts to play in security those two most of all. The best security strategies start with good operational security and enterprise policies.