Already working in cybersecurity and starting NUS MComp this August — what would be the smartest way to use the next 1.5 years?
Hi everyone,
I'll be starting NUS MComp (Specialisation) this August and have been trying to think ahead a little instead of waiting until graduation to figure everything out.
I studied Cybersecurity for my bachelor's degree, spent about two years doing internships while in university, and have been working full-time in security for the past two years. I'm currently in the security team of a multinational company in China, and most of my experience so far has been in incident response, attack-defense exercises, security operations and penetration testing.
One thing I still can't get a good sense of is internships. NUS MComp (Specialisation) doesn't seem to have a compulsory internship component, and I've seen people mention that some companies prefer students applying through official internship programmes. Is that actually a significant disadvantage when looking for cybersecurity internships, or am I overthinking it? How early do people usually start applying, and is it common for international MComp students to land internships before graduation?
The other thing I'm trying to figure out is where I should be investing my time over the next few years. I enjoy the work I'm doing now, but I don't see myself staying on the operational side of security forever. My longer-term goal is to move into an in-house security engineering role, and recently I've been looking more at areas like cloud security, AI security, and SDL / product security.
For those already working in security in Singapore, if you were in my position, what would you focus on during the next two to three years? Are there particular skills, projects, certifications, internships, or experiences that ended up being much more valuable than you expected?
I'm not really looking for predictions about whether the market is good or bad. I'm more interested in hearing what worked for you, what didn't, and what you wish you'd known earlier.
Especially interested in hearing from people working in cloud security, product security, AI security, or anyone who went through NUS/NTU as an international student.
Appreciate any advice.