u/SheikhJayidLeno

I'm going to be upfront and say that my goal is to make a lot more money than I currently make, and this is what is driving my motivation to consider cybersecurity.

I've been a respiratory therapist for close to 18 years. I've worked in a variety of environments at various acuity levels, including neonatal/pediatric ECMO.

I currently work a full time job for a university run waiver program for medically fragile children. It's a desk job where I answer emails, audit reports, and help clean up data. I work part-time at a children's hospital as well.

The director at my full-time job told us years ago they were looking to get more involved in informatics, so I earned an MS Health Informatics back in 2017. It's done nothing for me career-wise. I can't even get interviews for entry-level Clinical Analytics jobs at the hospital I work. It wasn't a huge loss, as I get free tuition to any state school through my university job, but I feel like it was a lot of time wasted.

I've been researching a possible career pivot. Cybersecurity seemed like an interesting choice, as it checked off many boxes for me: high demand, less susceptible to automation/outsourcing, ability to work in industries outside of healthcare, but maybe able to leverage my current experience for better opportunities in healthcare...

I don't have to love what I do. I don't love what I do now, and the things I'm passionate about aren't going to make me more money, which I need in the future.

My other option is finding a higher paying healthcare specialty like perfusion science, but that would require me to stop working for a few years and likely go into student loan debt.

There are a few programs in my state that are 100% online that I could fund completely with my tuition waiver while continuing to work.

My plan is to take a couple required class for the program I'm looking at and see if I'm at least competent in the work. I would really like to do technical work and not just oversee Zoom meetings and create power points, because that is something I cannot do long term. I just won't be good in that kind of role.

However, the general consensus I'm getting looking at the cybersecurity sub is that despite all the projections in employment growth, the reality is pretty bad.

Considering I have very little IT experience and am already kind of getting old (40), I'm wondering if it's even worth considering.

For people in the industry, is it that bad? Does my background give me a leg up in any way?