r/SecurityCareerAdvice

So, next year I'm going to college, and I've always been interested in Cybersecurity. But for the last few weeks, I've been researching its job market, and it was awful to see how bad the market is; seriously, people with years of experience and technical skills are not getting jobs.

Because of this, I am genuinely scared to go into a CS major,

I really need help. What should I do?

Bro I just turned 26 and I’m trying to get into cyber security. I wanna be a pen tester how do I start my journey. I have 0 experience but I’ve been using hack me and hack the box for a few days but I wanna spend at least 30-45 more days just learning the basics through those type of resources before actually enrolling in school. Any advice would help

I’ve heard they are like the gold standard I have also heard they are overpriced as well. What’s the general consensus? Are they good at gauging if someone can do the work or are they better as a way to bypass a resume filter?

As the title suggests i want to start to get into cybersecurity, and do a career change. Previously i've done some programming mainly python, and some JS. Thing is i don't really know where to start everyone has a different opinion on where to start, and some make it sound very complicated. I've found a couple of courses on udemy regarding the COMPTIA A+. But i don't think that would he enough to start a career. After a lot of searching as well they recommended that i should learn networking along the way, and forensics.

Any help would be very appreciated, and when should i start learning networking?

A few days ago, I accidentally overheard my Chair, who has a very loud voice, saying from behind the conference room door: "We're going to let her go early next year." I had a bad feeling she was talking about me, and it turned out she was. (For context: I basically don't have any coworkers. It's a very small nonprofit with 4 people above me, and then I'm at the bottom of the ladder.)

This morning I was called in, and the president told me, verbatim: "There's no easy way to say this, but we're going to have to let you go." Then she explained the reason: that I'm not the right fit. I asked her directly whether I had done something major or if there was any misconduct, and she confirmed no, there was nothing like that. Then she gave me some vague feedback that wasn't very useful, and asked me when I wanted my last day to be.

I was very surprised, because in my head I was thinking... You just told me I'm being let go?? So I asked her, but in a calmer and more professional way, to clarify. So I asked her honestly but politely: "Are you asking me to voluntarily resign?" She got flustered and said: "No, no, we just want to know what your three weeks will look like. Think about whether you want to stay until October. You don't have to decide right now."

Am I understanding this correctly that they're trying to get me to leave the job on my own so they can avoid firing me/paying unemployment/or something else? I'm thinking I need to create an electronic paper trail immediately, because other than a lukewarm performance review from 4 months ago (which, looking at it now, may have been a half-assed PIP), the entire conversation was verbal. I feel like they're trying to gently trick me into resigning, right? She was strangely nice the whole time, which honestly made the whole thing even weirder.

I recently completed a Diploma in Network Security and have been offered a Security Analyst role.

At the same time, I’m considering pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, or AI.

So I’m stuck between:

1. Degree first — study full-time, then enter cybersecurity after graduating.

2. Work first — accept the Security Analyst role now, gain experience, and complete a degree part-time while working

3. Work for 1-2 years then quit and get a degree full time

I already have some SOC experience from my internship, including SIEM, EDR, alert triage, and incident investigation.

For those already working in cybersecurity, which route would you choose if the goal is to be in the strongest position 5–8 years from now in terms of salary, career progression, and job opportunities?

Also, how realistic is it to do a part-time degree while working in a SOC, especially with shift work?

I never thought I would ask strangers online for help, but honestly, I don't know what else to do right now.

I recently graduated in Cybersecurity and have been applying for jobs, but I'm barely getting any responses. I also need to start earning to pay my bills, and unfortunately, where I live, there aren't really any part time jobs or other opportunities available.

This situation has been affecting me mentally too. I'm struggling with depression and I'm honestly exhausted. I have tried my best to figure things out on my own, but right now I feel completely lost.

I'm looking for someone working in Cybersecurity, IT, SOC, Networking, Cloud, or a related field who might be willing to mentor me or simply look at my situation and give me some honest advice.

I want to know what skills I'm missing, what jobs I should realistically apply for, what I should improve on my resume, and what I should focus on learning.

I want to make it clear that I'm serious about this. I'm not joking or looking for shortcuts. I'm ready to work hard, learn, improve, and put in the time. I just need someone experienced to help me figure out the right direction.

I consider myself good at planning and strategy, but right now I need some guidance from someone who has been through this.

I know this is not the usual kind of post, and honestly I'm embarrassed to even ask. I don't expect anyone to give me a job. I just really need some guidance from someone who has been through this.

If anyone is willing to help, even a short conversation would mean a lot to me.

Thank you for reading.

I’m starting my first IT role as a Service Desk Analyst apprentice, gaining an SCQF Level 8 qualification in Cyber Security. My hope is to eventually progress to a more direct cyber security related role.

I have a decent basic knowledge of IT/hardware and roughly 2 months before I start the role due to security clearance.

My plan is to brush up on IT fundamentals (currently going through Professor Messer’s A+), then set up a virtual Active Directory lab to practise AD, Windows troubleshooting, networking and some basic PowerShell.

For anyone who’s worked Service Desk, is there anything else you’d recommend focusing on before starting? Anything you wish you knew going into your first role?

Grateful for any advice!

I would like to share my Linux Syscall Monitor project with you. It's a Linux process monitoring tool written in C that uses "ptrace" to observe system calls and generate behavioral reports.

Repo .

I welcome any feedback or criticism—whether it's about the code .

Hi everyone,

I’m currently transitioning into cybersecurity from a completely different academic background, and I’d really appreciate some honest advice from people already working in the field.

My undergraduate degree is in Animal Science from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria. I know that’s quite far from cybersecurity, but over the past period I’ve developed a genuine interest in the field and have been working to build my knowledge and practical skills.

My interest became very personal after I experienced cyber fraud twice. I lost my school fees during one incident and later lost my savings through a credit card breach. Those experiences made me want to understand how these attacks happen and, more importantly, how they can be detected and prevented.

Since then, I’ve been learning cybersecurity through self-study and practical training. I have completed Cisco Academy courses/certificates in Introduction to Cybersecurity, Networking Basics, and Operating Systems.

I’ve also had practical exposure through cybersecurity training with SBTS, where I’ve been learning about:

• SOC operations
• SIEM and Wazuh
• Wireshark
• Nmap
• Networking
• Linux/Kali Linux
• Incident detection and analysis

My current goal is to build myself towards a SOC Analyst / Cybersecurity Analyst career.

I’m also planning to pursue a Cybersecurity Conversion MSc, since my first degree isn't IT-related. I want the MSc to help me strengthen the areas I currently have gaps in and give me a more structured and advanced understanding of cybersecurity.

My biggest question is for people who are already working in cybersecurity:

If you were starting again from my position, what would you focus on over the next 6–12 months?

Would you recommend focusing more on:

1. Networking and Linux
2. SIEM tools such as Wazuh/Splunk/Sentinel
3. Blue-team labs and incident response
4. Certifications
5. Building a cybersecurity portfolio/GitHub
6. Getting an IT/helpdesk/networking role first

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who came into cybersecurity from a completely different academic or career background.

I’m not looking for shortcuts. I just want to make sure I’m spending my time learning the right things and building skills that actually matter in the real world.

Any honest advice, criticism or recommendations would be appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I’m a SOC Analyst from Germany with 10+ years of experience in cybersecurity/Blue Team, mainly SOC, Incident Response, Threat Hunting, EDR/XDR and Microsoft Sentinel/Defender.

My long-term goal is to move to Japan by 2028, ideally working for a gaishikei in Tokyo. I’m currently building my network, learning Japanese and trying to get a realistic picture of the market rather than going into this blind.

I’d really like to hear from people who have already made a similar move, or are currently working toward it.

A few things I’m particularly interested in:

• How is the cybersecurity job market in Japan right now, especially at gaishikei companies?
• How important is Japanese language ability in technical SOC/IR/DFIR roles in practice?
• What are realistic salary ranges for experienced positions such as:
  • L2/L3 SOC Analyst
  • Incident Response / DFIR
  • Cyber Threat Hunting
  • Detection Engineering
• For those who moved to Japan from Europe, the US or elsewhere: how difficult was it to get your first cybersecurity position in Japan?
• Did you secure the job before moving to Japan, or did you search after arriving?
• Are there any companies, recruiters or job platforms you would particularly recommend for gaishikei cybersecurity roles?
• What do you wish you had known before starting the process?
• Which challenges are unique to japan, which are the same as in the country you lived before?

Not looking for job offers, mainly hoping to hear real experiences, salary insights and advice from people who have actually gone through the process.

Thanks for any experiences or advice!

Hi everyone, I am a fresh graduate from Computer Science but specialised in Cybersecurity. I would like to ask few questions for the people in the cybersecurity field or related:

**1. How did you know which role suits you?**

I believe when people think about cybersecurity, the first thing that comes into mind is "hacking", but after going through the courses and understanding it, there are really a lot of different roles like (security operation - blue team, pen tester - red team, GRC and more).

I am more keen to Red team side but I know is hard to enter and there aren't as many job opportunities compared to the Blue team. Did you guys try an error or just decided one a stick to it. And for **Blue team** or **Red team**, what kind of skill set, certification, personal projects, or platforms would you recommend that are really useful nowadays

**2. Certificates plays in an important role for hiring but how important is it?**

I believe many corporates does HR filtering where they might want certain certification and things like that, so it will filter if a certain candidates doesn't have that certification.

My question here is for anyone who has experience in hiring candidates for their cybersecurity team or company. Are certification a must in the current times

if yes, what certification would you recommend first to get and so on if there's a limited budget.

If your answer is No, then what kind of projects or platforms course like tryhackme or HTB or more that will stand out among the candidates.

**3. Is networking really important**

I believe networking plays an important role in any job but from an advice given by a senior of mine, networking is very important in Cybersecurity.

Personally I am introvert and i do engage well with people I'm not familiar with, so I am afraid that I can't network well

I have a final interview for an Information Security Analyst role with the CTO and Global Head of Information Security.

How should I prepare for the interview, and what kind of questions should I expect?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

For about the past four months, I've been doing my manager's work while he's been on a 5-month leave. I was handling everything, and at the beginning of this week I spoke with my manager about a promotion and a raise.

He basically brushed it off and said he might be able to try to get approval in November. I got a bit stressed and told him I needed a clear answer soon, because another company had offered me more money and I was considering accepting the offer.

He called me today and said that HR wants to see the offer letter from that company before they approve anything. Do they have the right to ask for that? Should I try to make some kind of fake letter, or is that a very bad idea?

Honestly, I'm already thinking about leaving, because this makes me feel like they can pay me more and give me the title, but they don't want to do it unless they're put under pressure. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

I'm an engineering student focused on offensive security. Looking for people interested in:

• Pentesting / Web Security
• CTFs
• Linux / low-level security
• Malware / detection engineering
• OSINT / DFIR
• Security tooling

The idea isn't just to make a Discord group. I want us to learn together, build real security projects, publish them on GitHub, participate in CTFs and eventually compete as a team.

Beginners/intermediate people are welcome, but consistency matters more than skill level.

If you're genuinely interested, DM me with:
1. What you're learning
2. Your current level
3. What security area interests you
4. One thing you'd like to build

acha to can anyone tell like can a cyst student work as software engineer ya phir can he work as a software engineer? also can anyone tell giki ka cyber ka program kesa h

Hey, I am working as an IT system administrator in Germany since 4 years and I was always interested in cyber security but I didn't know how to find my way in. I feel like my job starts to get boring (I am responsible for our virtual machine environment, SAN and newly Firewall - which is interesting for me.)

So recently I started with Tryhackme and it's a really fun way to learn but I am considering doing the Security+ cert or a Bachelor of Science. What would be the best option in my current situation? I am 23 years old and don't know where to go - I still live with my parents, therefore I could take some risk and I am also really willing to learn.

Or should I do something else? I would be really grateful for your help.