How to Get into CyberSecurity | Step by Step Roadmap (2024)
Summary
TLDRIn this informative video, Caleb, a certified cybersecurity professional, shares a clear and simple roadmap for beginners aiming to break into the cybersecurity industry. He emphasizes the importance of understanding IT fundamentals through certifications like CompTIA A+ and then advancing with cybersecurity-focused courses or certifications available on platforms like Coursera. Caleb advises viewers to identify their areas of interest within cybersecurity, align with job descriptions to acquire necessary skills, engage in practical projects, and document their experiences. He also discusses the challenges of entry-level positions and suggests starting with IT support roles to gain experience before transitioning into cybersecurity roles, reminding viewers to keep their ultimate goal in sight.
Takeaways
- 😀 Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility within a company and involves roles beyond just engineers.
- 🔐 Start with the basics: Understanding IT fundamentals like networking, hardware, software, and operating systems is crucial before specializing in cybersecurity.
- 📚 CompTIA A+ is a recommended certification for building a solid foundation in IT.
- 🎓 Cyber-focused courses or certifications, such as Microsoft's Cybersecurity Analyst Professional Certificate or Google's Cybersecurity Professional Certificate, are valuable for advancing in the field.
- 📈 Utilize platforms like Coursera for online learning and to take advantage of their 7-day free trial.
- 📝 Job descriptions are key to understanding the specific skills and areas of cybersecurity that employers are looking for.
- 🛠️ Engage in practical projects to solidify your understanding and demonstrate your skills, ensuring they are well-documented on your CV.
- 🔎 Look for entry-level roles in IT support or related fields if you're struggling to find a direct entry into cybersecurity.
- 🚀 Use your experience in IT roles to pivot into cybersecurity, highlighting relevant skills and knowledge gained.
- 🔄 Keep learning and updating your skills in cybersecurity even while working in other IT roles to stay on track for your ultimate goal.
- 🌟 Persistence and continuous learning are essential for breaking into the cybersecurity industry and advancing your career.
Q & A
What is the speaker's name and what does he specialize in?
-The speaker's name is Caleb, and he specializes in the tech industry, specifically in cyber security.
What is the main purpose of the video?
-The main purpose of the video is to provide clear and simple steps for beginners to start their journey in breaking into the cyber security industry.
Why is it important to understand that cyber security is not the job of one person?
-It is important because it emphasizes that cyber security is a shared responsibility within a company, involving roles beyond just the cyber security engineer or analyst.
What is the first step Caleb suggests for someone looking to break into cyber security?
-The first step Caleb suggests is to learn the IT fundamentals, such as networking, hardware, software, and operating systems, through certifications like CompTIA A+.
What does Caleb recommend for practical learning of IT fundamentals?
-Caleb recommends taking apart a system unit, like an old laptop, to physically understand the components like the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and optical drive while studying for CompTIA A+.
What are some of the cyber-focused courses or certifications Caleb mentions?
-Caleb mentions the Microsoft Cyber Security Analyst Professional Certificate and the Google Cyber Security Professional Certificate on Coursera, as well as CompTIA Security Plus and ISC^2 Certified in Cyber Security.
What does Caleb suggest doing after completing a cyber security course or certification?
-Caleb suggests figuring out the specific skills and areas of cyber security one is interested in by looking at job descriptions and learning the required skills.
How can job descriptions help someone interested in cyber security?
-Job descriptions can help by providing a clear understanding of the skills and qualifications employers are looking for, which can guide further learning and training.
What is the importance of doing practical projects after learning new skills?
-Practical projects are important for solidifying the understanding of new skills and providing hands-on experience, which is valuable for both the CV and interview settings.
What advice does Caleb give for someone struggling to find an entry-level cyber security role?
-Caleb advises that if one is struggling to find an entry-level cyber security role, they should consider starting in an IT support role and use that experience to transition into a cyber security role later.
What is Caleb's final reminder for those starting in a non-cyber role with the ultimate goal of cyber security?
-Caleb's final reminder is to keep focusing on the end goal of breaking into cyber security, continue learning in that area, and use the experience gained in the initial role to transition into the desired cyber security role.
Outlines
😀 Introduction to Cyber Security Career Path
The speaker, Caleb, introduces the video's purpose, which is to guide those interested in breaking into the cyber security industry. He shares his personal experience and emphasizes the collective responsibility of cyber security within a company, not just the duty of a single engineer. Caleb suggests that understanding the basics of IT, such as networking, hardware, and software, is crucial before specializing in cyber security. He recommends obtaining the CompTIA A+ certification as a fundamental step and suggests practical experience by disassembling a computer system to reinforce learning.
🎓 Cyber Security Education and Certifications
Caleb discusses the importance of acquiring cyber-focused courses or certifications as the second step in a cyber security career. He highlights two professional certificates available on Coursera: the Microsoft Cyber Security Analyst Professional Certificate and the Google Cyber Security Professional Certificate. Both are praised for their quality and the opportunity to start with a 7-day free trial. The Microsoft course is noted for preparing students for the SC-900 certification with a 50% discount. Caleb also mentions alternative certifications like CompTIA Security Plus and ISC^2 Certified in Cyber Security, suggesting that these can provide a solid foundation and understanding of cyber security concepts.
🔍 Identifying Interests and Skills in Cyber Security
The third step involves identifying specific interests and skills within cyber security. Caleb advises using the knowledge gained from the cyber security certification or course to understand personal preferences, such as cloud security or penetration testing. He recommends reviewing job descriptions on platforms like LinkedIn to clarify the skills and experiences employers seek. Caleb stresses the importance of learning the skills listed in job descriptions through various online courses and emphasizes the value of practical application over theoretical knowledge alone.
🛠️ Practical Experience Through Projects
Caleb outlines the fourth step as engaging in practical projects to solidify the skills identified in the previous step. He suggests taking online courses to gain a thorough understanding of the required skills and then applying them through hands-on projects. Caleb recommends documenting these projects and being able to articulate the experience in a CV and during job interviews. He also provides examples of YouTube creators who offer practical projects to enhance understanding in various cyber security areas.
🔎 Navigating the Job Search in Cyber Security
In the final paragraph, Caleb addresses the challenges of the job search in cyber security, particularly the common requirement for extensive experience. He encourages those new to the field to consider starting in an IT support role to gain relevant experience before transitioning into a cyber security position. Caleb advises maintaining a focus on the ultimate goal of a cyber security role and continuing to learn and develop skills in cyber security while working in an entry-level position. He concludes by asking viewers to like and comment on the video if they found it helpful, offering a roadmap for beginners to start their journey in cyber security.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Cyber Security
💡CompTIA A+
💡Fundamentals
💡Cybersecurity Engineer
💡Coursera
💡Certifications
💡Job Description
💡Projects
💡IT Support Engineer
💡End Goal
Highlights
Caleb shares his experience of breaking into the cyber security industry.
Cyber security is a shared responsibility within a company, not just the job of one person.
CompTIA A+ certification is recommended for understanding IT fundamentals.
Practical experience with hardware is suggested alongside studying for CompTIA A+.
Coursera offers cyber-focused courses like Microsoft Cyber Security Analyst Professional Certificate.
Google Cyber Security Professional Certificate is an alternative to Microsoft's offering on Coursera.
CompTIA Security Plus and ISC^2 Certified in Cyber Security are other notable certifications.
Identifying specific areas of interest within cyber security is crucial for career progression.
Job descriptions on platforms like LinkedIn can guide skill development.
Free resources like YouTube offer practical cyber security project tutorials.
Documenting projects and being able to discuss them is important for interviews.
The job search in cyber security can be challenging due to high experience requirements.
Starting in an IT support role can be a stepping stone to a cyber security career.
Maintaining focus on the end goal is essential when starting in a non-cyber role.
Continuing education in cyber security while working in other IT roles is advised.
Caleb encourages viewers to like the video to help others starting their cyber security journey.
Transcripts
you want to break into cyber security
but have no idea where to start I've
been working in cyber security for the
past year and a few months now and I've
gone through those steps of learning and
breaking into this industry and I can
share some really good steps that could
help you do exactly the same if you're
worried and don't know where to start in
getting into this industry in this video
I'm going to provide some clear and
simple steps for you to start your
journey in breaking into cyber please
enjoy this
video
my name is Caleb only certified I love
to make videos on the tech industry and
if you take any value from this video
please like this video to make sure that
it goes out there to as many people as
possible that need this video so yes so
I've been working in cyber security for
over a year now and I will be providing
you with some steps to start your
journey in this industry but before we
get into it there's one thing that I've
thought about that I kind of want to
mention it's important to note that
there is cyber security in so many roles
it is a common Concept in companies and
in the workplace that cyber security is
not the job of one person it's not the
job of an engineer a cybercity engineer
it is the job of everyone at the company
and this could mean simple things like
cuz you're not a cyber SEC engineer
doesn't mean that you don't protect your
data or it doesn't mean that you don't
protect your password or privileged
information and so because of this there
are loads of roles outside of being a
cyber security engineer or analyst that
have the concepts of cyber security
involved in them like even as an it
support engineer there's many aspects of
cyber security involved in your role and
even as an infrastructure engineer
there's loads of those concepts of cyber
involved in your role as well and there
are so many other examples of that and
that is an important thing to know when
you're getting into this industry and
you'll find out why I mention that later
in this video but let's get into the
steps Step One Is to learn the
fundamentals the it fundamental
networking Hardware software operating
systems the basic concepts of it before
you're able to become a cyber security
engineer these are things you need to
know and understand pretty well and you
might be thinking how do I go about this
how do I get my fundamental
understanding of it and know these basic
concepts and have a great understanding
of networking and hardware and all these
things well there are definitely many
ways of doing this but I can only say
the way that I did this I did this
through the compta A+ and I'm sure
you've heard of this certification
before compta plus is an amazing
fundamental certification
that will give you a good understanding
of all these Concepts whether it's
networking or Hardware or software or or
troubleshooting and many other things
now if you're thinking about taking the
comp A+ to get your foundations in order
there's one thing that I will mention
now when I took the compt A+ I didn't
just take this exam and study for it and
pass it with just knowing the knowledge
and information I also went about
practicing this information to make sure
I really grasp the knowledge that I was
learning for example right here I have a
system
unit and if you're taking the compt A+
and learning a lot about Hardware a
really good thing to do would be to take
this apart grab yourself a screwdriver
break this apart and start looking at
the insides find the motherboard find
the CPU find the ram find the flipping
optical drive and study all of these
things that you're learning in the
compta plus when I was taking this exam
and studying for this exam I had a
really old laptop that was sitting in
the corner I broke it apart and studied
where the CPU is where the ram is how
much RAM is in there loads and loads of
stuff like that and identified
everything that I was learning in the
CompTIA A+ courses and that is what
really helped me to fully grasp my
understanding of fundamental it now if
you see this as an option for yourself
and you want to start learning and
getting that fundamental understanding
and taking the compta A+ then I'm going
to put some links to some really good
courses for the compta A+ in the
description of this video you can go and
start your Learning Journey with the
compy A+ courses so that's step one
getting the it fundamental now step two
is a very important learning process and
I've kind of put down step two as
getting a cyber focused course or
certification and I have an amazing list
of courses and certifications that I can
go through with you guys and all of
these are pretty good and you kind of
have a few options when going into this
and my first two options are options
that you can study and go for using
corsera now corser is a learning
platform that loads of people use it's
probably one of the most popular ones
out there right now and just so you know
I'm not being sponsored by Kera I'm
actually saying this because it is a
really valuable platform and if you're
trying to get into cyber there are some
really good courses on there that could
help you start that Journey now the
first one I want to talk about is the
Microsoft cyber security analyst
professional certificate now maybe I
have a little bit of bias to Microsoft
stuff because I'm kind of a Microsoft
and is your engineer and as your focused
guy but I'm putting this as a really
good recommendation
to start this journey there is also a
competing Google certification which is
called the Google cyber security
professional certificate and both of
these courses are on corsera so if
you're interested in these go on and
start these coures one of the big things
and great things about corsera is they
have a 7-Day free trial so you can start
your Learning Journey and if at any
point you decide this isn't for me you
can cancel that and move on if at some
point you decide yeah this Cera course
is really good then you can start the
paid version and continue the learning
from there now another thing about the
Microsoft course is at the end of the
course is that the course kind of also
prepares you for the sc900 certification
and when you're taking this course you
also get 50% off taking the
certification which is amazing and very
briefly looking over some of the stuff
covered in the course there's an
introduction to computers and operating
systems there's introduction to
networking and cloud computing there's
even a lot of stuff on identity and
access management and loads and loads
more now these these are two Great
Courses I'd recommend I wouldn't
recommend one more than the other
despite my Microsoft bias so it's either
you prefer Google or you prefer
Microsoft but one of these courses is a
great place for the second step of
getting that cyber security Corso
certification done now if you're not
interested in either of these there are
other options that you can go for one of
these options is the really popular
CompTIA Security Plus certification and
another one is a certification I've
actually passed and made a video on
which is called the ISC squ certified in
cyber security Now now I haven't taken
the Security Plus so I can't say much
about the comparison between these two
certifications but what I have heard and
I can say is that the Security Plus is
slightly more Broad and practical and
probably a little bit better than the
certified in cyber security in some ways
but both of these certifications will
give you a good understanding and a
great knowledge base for cyber security
and help you to move forward into step
three now step three is to figure out
what skills and areas of cyber security
your really interested in and through
the cyber security certification or
course that you've just done this will
slightly become more and more clear to
you maybe it's going into Cloud security
maybe it's going into pen testing maybe
it's going into being a red team or a
hacker or whatever but this will become
more and more clear and how do you
solidify the skills that you need to
know to get into these roles well it's
time to bring out the job description
I'm on LinkedIn right now and I'm just
searching in a role in my area that I
would probably want to get into so cyber
security engineer now I've just found a
role as a security architect that I'm
really interested in now it's time to
look at the job description and look at
the requirements for this role this may
not be a role that you're directly going
to apply for tomorrow but the point of
this exercise is to look at the skills
and find out what skills they are
looking for in the person that will get
this role now some of the skills on here
include knowledge in a security domain
like identity and access management now
it's time to go away and from this job
description figure out how to learn this
skill it says it also wants some
experience in AWS some understanding of
security Technologies and whatever it
says on these job descriptions it's time
for you to go away and start learning
what you've seen there are so many
courses whether it's on YouTube or
flipping udemy or corera that you can
use to really learn and understand
whatever you see on the job description
and most of the time you won't even have
to pay for any of these courses you
could just go on YouTube and search for
a course on whatever you find and and
there's probably a really good course on
there for completely free I really
stress how important it is to look at
job descriptions and understand what
employers are actually looking for this
will really give you a good
understanding of your journey and how to
get to exactly where you want to be now
let's move on to step four and step four
is basically just learning and doing a
lot of projects on what you've learned
from the previous step now the skills
that you found on the job descriptions
is time to put them into practice and
and like I said go after those courses
online to get a really good
understanding of whatever is required
whatever that is and whatever skills are
required it's really important to go and
do some projects and to actually have
some practical understanding of these
things and not just a theoretical one so
to get a practical understanding
projects are required and generally
there are so many cyber security
projects out here on YouTube loads of
creators put out these projects to give
people a really good understanding of
what to do practically and I'll put some
of these up here from some of my
favorite YouTubers that really put out a
lot of content in these areas and help
people with projects to understand
things a lot better so check those
videos out and there are loads more on
YouTube now once you've done these
projects it's really important to
document what you've done and be able to
speak about these things in an interview
so make sure that these projects are
really well represented in your CV
exactly what you've done explained in a
few short sentences give a hiring
manager a good understanding that you've
actually gone through this and have a
good practical understanding of this
thing that you'll probably be working on
if you get the job they're interviewing
you for so making sure this is well
represented on a CV and also being able
to discuss this thing in an interview
setting is really important step five is
the job search and this is a really
interesting thing because when we talk
about the job search for cyber security
there's loads of things we could say
there's a lot of talk about how much
experience you have now a lot of the
time you look at cyber security roles
online and they'll be asking for 5 years
experience 10 years experience 7 years
experience and whatever the case may be
and loads of times this is really really
discouraged how are you going to get a
job to get experience when all the jobs
are requiring loads of experience it
doesn't make sense now a lot of people
say there is no way you can get a cyber
security role as your first role and
although that's not true you can get a
first role in cyber security a lot of
the times it can be really difficult and
there's not as many entry-level roles in
cyber as there are in other areas of
tech like an IT support engineer on the
help disk is a first role that loads and
loads of
go through and if you're struggling to
find roles that will take on entry level
cyber security Engineers or or analysts
then it's a great idea to go into an IT
support role as your first role and once
you have a bit of experience in it
support then you can start to look and
move on to the cyber security roles now
like I said at the beginning roles like
it support or even infrastructure
engineering or many other roles have a
lot of concepts of cyber security within
them so if you happen to get a first
role that is not in cyber and cyber is
your ultimate goal when you are moving
on into cyber security do use your
understanding that you've gained for
your previous role to get that cyber
security role be able to speak about the
aspects of cyber security that you
covered in your current role and this
will really help now another big thing
that I will say is that loads of people
get stuck in that first role especially
when we talk about it support people go
into it support and they get locked in
and are not able to find the way out out
to their end goal which is either cyber
or maybe it's cloud or maybe it's some
other area but once you get stuck in
that role you either get super
comfortable and forget to move on and
this part of the video is just a
reminder to focus on the end goal if
your end goal is to get into cyber
security and to break in as a cyber
security engineer if your first job is
in the is at the help desk or maybe some
other role make sure you're seeing this
as a way to get experience to reach that
role as you're working in these roles
keep your learning going in cyber and
cyber security areas and that will
really help you to focus on that end
goal and eventually after gaining the
experience you need moving on into the
role that you really want to be guys I
hope this video has been really really
good in helping some beginners to
understand the way that they can get
into cyber security and guys if you
found any value from this video please
leave a like below I want to get this
video out to as many people that are
starting their Journeys in cyber
security so they can have a great road
map that they can use to get started and
if this has really impacted you or
helped you to go further in your career
please leave a comment and let me know
how this has helped thank you guys for
watching and I'll see you in the next
[Music]
video
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