Looking to make a professional pivot from Office Manager into Cybersecurity.
Anyone have any thoughts on the best way to get into the cybersecurity space, specifically Governance, Risk and Compliance?
I started at the local community college for a cyber security certificate (which can land a well paying job).
The classes were 8 wks each and there 6 classes total with tests at the end of the course. I wasn't able to complete it due to too many other things going at the time but may pursue later.
Big difference in the cost at the community college compared to the university for the same certification.
Western Governors University has Cybersecurity degrees.
The coursework if fully online
Cybersecurity and Information Assurance – B.S.
Cybersecurity and Information Assurance – M.S.
The link to tuition costs is:
ttps://www.wgu.edu/financial-aid-tuition.html
try for an internship or special new graduate program
What type of internship were you thinking? A special new graduate program will not work for me as I am not looking to go into more debt with student loans.
They really want someone technical. You can start with looking for non- technical jobs first, like project manager or someone like this, but in a security department and then move to more technical field.
I disagree, as there has to be a way to get into cyber security without the technical, as not all jobs in the space are technical.
There are many jobs that are obtainable without specific skills, meaning there has to be a back way in to the space, no matter the job.
If you don't have any cybersecurity training, I suggest getting some training:
-- Youtube is your friend.
You can learn the basics of cybersecurity, learn about the tools (all software companies including those in cybersecurity have explanatory videos on YouTube) all by watching YouTube videos.
-- watching YouTube videos can help you narrow down what field or cloud provider you want to work on (AWS, Google, Oracle) or the specific type of cyber security (Quantum Security is fascinating) or the activities within cybersecurity like white-hat hacking etc
-- Udemy has plenty of security training options
Many courses on Udemy are affordable and many public libraries offer free access to Udemy courses (and it's free to join your public library)
--- AWS offers links to training for the Amazon Security cert (assuming you want to learn cloud security on AWS. https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn and both both Google and Oracle has similar programs. I think all of the cloud providers offer a mix of free and paid training (through online training platforms)
Good luck in your journey
Thank you - looking to get into Governance, Risk and Compliance - there are many jobs where you do not need technical skills. Just trying to figure it out and help others, once I do, to get in the space.
Interesting you posted this, as I am considering the same thing! You may know this, but Coursera has certificate programs specific to Cybersecurity entry roles. https://www.coursera.org/certificates/launch-your-career
Best of luck!
Certificates don't get jobs, and many executive assistants have skills that get overlooked that are very valuable in the cyber security space.