Easy Steps to Break Into Tech

Earlier this week, I created an Instagram poll to determine how many of my roughly 1000 followers were in Tech Jobs so I can best understand my audience as I prepared for launching thedukeofcyber.com. To those that participated in the poll, 58% were already in tech and 26% were planning on making a career change in the next year. Out of the ones planning to make a career change 86% didn’t have a clue on where to get started. As a professional whose been in the field for nearly a decade I’m inundated with the amount of resources to learn from, but it’s not the same for those looking from the other side of the canyon. This post is for people who tried to change careers but were turned down, who need guidance overcoming existing entrance barriers, or simply don’t know where to start.

Let’s Explore The Options

Whether you decide to go into Software Development, Computer Engineering, System Engineering, Cybersecurity, Tech Generalist, or Project Management you will still be working with very technical folks who may have many years of experience more than you. This is perfectly normal though, you want to be able to have individuals you can bounce ideas with and learn together with. It’s intimidating when you get started and that feeling tends to carry over even when you get promoted, when you start at a new company, and even when you’ve been in the field for 8+ years like me. The perspective to maintain is that of a beginner to continue learning even if you’re considered an expert by many. This prevents you from becoming a cynical, gatekeeping, and a know-it-all type of personality.

3 Types of Tech Jobs Simplified When Getting Started:

• Builders
• Protectors
• Breakers

Majority of computer science students will go to companies to become builders. meaning that they will build the software products, apis, and systems used at that company which generate revenue. Examples of these roles which will be in demand for a long time to come include:

Builders

• Software Developers
• Full-Stack Software Engineers
• DevOps Engineer
• Cloud Engineers
• Architect
• Web Developer
• AR/VR Developer
• UX Developer
• Front End Engineer
• Back End Engineer
• SQL, Python, C Engineer

Protectors

Long story short Cybersecurity is a fairly new term which has gained more popularity since 2013 when Barack Obama’s Executive Order directed that private companies and government should work together on this matter. Professionals have quickly learned to adapt to new buzzwords and ride the wave when they come. High level this is how roles have evolved over the past 20 years subsequently, first we had Information Assurance which was first used by the Government, then it became known as Information Security, and Slowly evolved to Cybersecurity which made the industry explode in demand.

For those that want to become protectors/maintainers of you may find yourself in roles such as:

• Threat Hunter
• Security Operations Center Analyst
• Security Engineers
• Infrastructure Security
• Cloud Security
• Malware Analyst
• Analyst/Engineer Managing Vendor Solution (SIEM, DLP, EDR, MDR, SaaS)

Breakers

Back in 2014, I knew I wanted to become protect systems from hackers or hack companies legally after attending my first ever Cyber Club meeting at Northern Virginia Community College on a Saturday Morning. Be prepared to dedicate more time to get into one of these roles as landing these jobs require passion, time, competency and an opportunity becoming available at the right time. This roles are typically more rigorous in their interview process due to the fact that you’re interacting with live production systems and require knowing the ins and outs of every tool you’re running to ensure you’re not liable for any damage. The not so entry-level exciting roles classified as breakers include:

• Penetration Testers
• Application Security
• Chaos Engineering
• Purple Teaming
• Incident Response
• Red Team Engineer

Become Intimate Friends With Google

Believe it or not, there is so much information available at our fingertips yet we don’t always use technology to learn new skills as we can be overly consumed by entertainment, memes, and what our friends are up to. This is challenge for everyone whether you’re looking to make a career change or are working professionally. Recommendations to solve this are reduce following pages which bring you negative emotions, follow pages that teach you skillsets in the area you want to work in, reduce screen time the first hour of your day (unless you woke up late).

Now that you have a better understand of the different type of roles in tech, I recommend googling the respective job titles and salaries for those roles, start getting comfortable with reading articles in those areas. You might find yourself learning fast or completed lost, both are part of the process. The first thing to do is to have a source where you can get information on the latest trends such as The Hacker News, Tech Crunch, and Reddit Communities such as Netsec. Next is to get familiar with the most basic fundamentals of how computers work, I recommend the following sources Roadmap.sh, History of the Internet, and create a GitHub or GitLab account. Next I recommend finding the best note taking app that you’re comfortable with, I’m currently using OneNote & Mem.io. This will help you stay organized and have somewhere to reference links. Next get yourself a password manager such as LastPass, 1Password, KeePass to keep all your accounts protected, last thing you want is to forget a password or feel overwhelmed by all the new accounts you’re about to create. Lastly, create a LinkedIn, Twitter, Telegram, and Discord these will be used to build your personal brand and get in touch with others.

Conclusion

Congrats, you made it this far down the page! You’re already making the right steps necessary to transition to a new career, change roles, and upscale your current knowledge. Before you leave this page, make sure to bookmark this website to ensure your ability to come back and reference all the to-do items you will need. To summarize all the key aspects of this blog:

• You have googled roles, responsibilities, and potential salaries
• You have 3 links to keep up to date with tech & security trends
• You have the roadmap.sh link which includes fundamentals and details that will put you in the top 25% 
• You have created or plan to create the social media accounts to obtain knowledge and build your personal brand
• Follow the social links at the bottom to send me any questions