When considering a career in cyber or a career change into it, you don’t have to know everything but do consider your greatest achievements.
Speaking at BSides Las Vegas in the opening session of the Hire Ground track, Lesley Carhart from Dragos Security highlighted two characters who were in other careers and looking for a change and another who was starting their career.
In the case of switching roles, Carhart asked the audience, “What is the one thing scares you most on making next move?” She also asked what alarms them the most and what makes them the most hesitant.
In terms of highlighting work experience on a résumé, she recommended adding three sections: action, impact and quantification. Action is what you have done and what you did to maintain your position. Impact is why what you did was important to the team and the company. Quantification is about the financial scope – what money was made or saved – and the numbers of people who were trained or nodes that were serviced. “This shows what pace you were working in and the value what you were doing,” she said.
In terms of understanding cybersecurity, Carhart said that no one really understands everything. Most people fall into a category and feel like impostors or are too terrified to ask a question.
“You will never ever know everything in infosec, and no one else does either; and the more you focus on one niche, the harder it is to keep up with others; and the more you learn, the more you find you don’t know,” she said. “Keep trying to learn: there are plenty who will help you; and help others.”