is a career in cyber security right for me

If you have been contemplating a a Career in Cyber Security, or a Change to Cyber Security, you've probably asked yourself at least once, "Is a Career in Cyber Security right for me?". You're not a lone. In fact, I'd wager to say that if someone hasn't asked themselves this question, then they need to investigate why they haven't before anything else.

The problem is that a lot of people of our nature come to this cross roads out of shear curiosity. "I'm good at computers, should I start Cyber Security?". Something must have inspired you in order to bring yourself to that question. Let me try and help you to decide.

Cyber Security is not as easy as the movies or Youtube videos glorify it. You don't simply enter in an IP address and click a few buttons and own a network; that's not how it works at all. A lot of people who jump into cyber security tend to be rather impatient by nature, and want to "download" every bit of knowledge in the blink of an eye. That's also not how this works, let me explain;

More times than not, you'll find yourself getting nothing but false positives during an active Penetration Test Engagement. That wears quickly on someones Patience, I know that first hand. However, one of the most important skills to have is patience. Because a lack of patience will lead to mistakes, and mistakes cost money. So if you have a short temper and no patience, Cyber Security may not be the best career choice, until you develop those skills.

You have to realize a few things about this career.

1. It takes time to become proficient and professional.
2. Again, Patience is key
3. Get used to long hours, and lots of reading and writing (logs, reports, etc)
4. Did I mention patience???

At PentesterUniversity.org we offer affordable courses that allow students to learn at their own pace, what ever that may be. I have found this is key to less stress in students, allowing them to understand, learn and retain the information easier. So no matter if you sign up for our online school, or choose to self learn, make sure you give yourself enough time to fully understand the information presented to you. Don't burn yourself out trying to learn it all at once.

Cyber Security in 2017

         I've been spending a lot of time on sites like www.quora.com answering questions people have about Cyber Security. And I have noticed a few questions seem to keep coming up. So that got me thinking, What's the outlook for Cyber Security Professionals, or aspiring professionals in 2017?

If 2017 is anything like 2016, the future is bright, very bright. In 2016 essentially, everyone and everything got hacked, right? Leaked emails from simple phishing attacks, This site and that site Hacked, this database compromised, that database compromised. User information leaked from here, and there. Old people, young people, military, government, websites, data centers, EVERYTHING WAS COMPROMISED at some point. Kind of crazy, right?

There is a major shortage in skilled Cyber Security / Penetration Tester Professionals. More over, companies, even smaller companies are starting to finally see the light; No matter how big or small they are, they need Network Security, and they need it yesterday.

This works out great for our students in our online school PentesterUniversity.org as they are now in high demand more so than ever before. They know it too! We have seen a massive influx of new enrollments in 2017 so far, and we are very excited to get them going onto one of the Hottest, most Explosive career paths of this decade.

So what does 2017 hold for Cyber Security? Definitely more Job Creation, and Certainly many more major breaches I am sure.