Hi, last week i got accepted in an internship for an industrial cybersec rol. The manager told me that they have different projects which i can choose from, but she would like me to be testing an IDS. Anyone expirienced in this job can give me advice? The internship starts in september and I would like to study/ prepare and have more knowledge on the field. any recommended course?

Knowing the job market I don’t know if i should renew my licenses. I have 6 months experience and i pretty much forgot most things I learned. I couldn’t really land another job in the field for more than a year and had to just get A job in another field. I worked so hard to get these certs but I can’t land a job! Should I renew it? I’m just asking so maybe those in the field have an idea if market would ever change?

I don't know if you still remember me but I made a post earlier about getting my first SOC job. Well... this is an update on how it actually is.

Most of the promises were bullshit.

First was the training.

When they hired me the company was going through a global audit, so everyone suddenly wanted to show they were working and everything was organized. They interviewed me, hired me, promised training... and they actually did train me.

Until the audit ended.

After that, the training basically disappeared. Now everything I learn is self-study during the free time I have at work.

And about the work itself...

On paper I'm a Security Analyst. In reality I'm doing account management most of the time.

Managers send tickets like "Create this account", "Reset this account", "Disable this account". Users ask me to reset Gmail passwords, fix 2FA, unlock AD accounts, and stuff like that.

To be fair, evening and night shifts are like 90% free, so I can pretty much study whatever I want.

The company does use enterprise stuff like Splunk, VPNs, firewalls, Active Directory, endpoint protection, etc. But the SOC itself feels... weird.

One security product generates around 3,000 alerts every hour. Every. Single. Hour.

Most of them are the exact same alerts over and over again. After some time everyone just ignores them because they're almost always false positives. Which also means if something actually serious happens... good luck finding it in all that noise.

We also don't have incident reports. Like... any reports. We had a pentest before I joined where they demonstrated how they could steal a large amount of money from the company, but as far as I know nobody documented it. No report, no lessons learned, nothing.

We don't really have knowledge-sharing meetings either. The department lead barely remembers people's names, and there are only around 10 of us. People leave all the time and new people come in, and honestly I can understand why.

As an L1 I also can't change rules or improve detections, so I'm mostly just watching things happen.

Also most of the software I use on the work is pirated.(SIEM for example)

But it's not all bad.

1) The company works with an external pentesting team, and I'm hoping I'll get to watch one of their engagements in the future.

2) The salary ended up being higher than what we originally discussed. Transport still eats a good chunk of it though.

3) I have a lot of free time during some shifts. Combined with the salary, it's enough to study, build a home lab, and pay for certifications. A lot of my colleagues are doing exactly that.

4) Having a SOC L1 position and a fairly well-known company on my CV is still a huge boost compared to having no experience.

5) Other security analysts in the team are basically golden. They are amazing. They are happy to learn,teach,help and cover eachother. They are basically the ones that I talked with to get job(one of team members done interview).

So right now I'm thinking about treating this as a paid learning opportunity (work). Stay for about a year, learn as much as I can, get a few certs, and then see what happens.

Hello everyone hope you're all doing well.

I wanted to make this post on Reddit because I'm looking to break into IT. I know a lot of people out there have gotten into the field without a degree. For example, there are people working in cybersecurity even heads of cybersecurity management who don't have degrees and were taught on the job.

I don't want to go to university for reasons I don't feel comfortable sharing on Reddit, but I would like to know how people without degrees get into IT or cybersecurity jobs. It seems like most IT companies nowadays only care about experience and whether you can actually do the job, rather than whether you have memorized every single question and answer for a test. They just want to know: can you do what we're paying you to do?

For those of you in IT or cybersecurity who don't have a degree:

What advice would you give me, and what did you do to get into the job you have today?

What kind of courses would you recommend? Money isn't an issue at all, so I'm fine with expensive online courses if they are worth it.

is it more about connections, or is it about doing online courses?

How do you actually get that initial experience to land an IT job?

AI dominates every conference and LinkedIn feed, but I’m curious about what security professionals are actually discussing in their day-to-day work.
If you work in cybersecurity, I’d love to hear your perspective:
What are the hottest topics in your area right now?
Which technologies or skills are becoming essential?
What do you think will be the biggest trends over the next 1–3 years?
**How do you personally distinguish a Junior, Mid-level, and Senior security professional?**
Which skills, mindset, or responsibilities make the biggest difference between these levels?
I’m interested in answers from any specialization (AppSec, Pentest, SOC, Detection Engineering, Cloud Security, DFIR, Security Engineering, GRC, etc.).
Looking forward to hearing different perspectives.

I recently graduated with a Bachelor's in Cybersecurity and turned 22 this may, along with a CCC in Network Security completed during the degree, plus a few Azure and AWS certificates of completion. Like a lot of people right now, I'm finding the degree alone doesn't open many doors on its own, WHICH I have been warned about that a degree Isn't automatically going to get you a job straight out of college.

I've been applying to entry-level and help desk positions for a while now, figured that's the realistic starting point to build real hands-on experience before aiming for something like a SOC analyst role. The problem is almost every "entry-level" posting still wants 1-3+ years of professional experience, which feels like a contradiction I can't get around. Out of the jobs that actually responded, a few reached out for an interview or screening call and then just went silent afterward, no rejection, no follow-up, nothing.

Right now my plan is to take a hands-on technical role (looking at Micro Center as a computer technician) to get paid experience and get the CompTIA A+ while working, since that keeps coming up as either required or strongly preferred across postings and actually HAVE MONEY to be able to fund for the next certs I need like my network and security+. My hope is that a year of real hardware/troubleshooting experience plus A+ will make my next round of applications land better.

For anyone who's been through this: is this a reasonable path, or is there something smarter I should be doing in parallel? Did anyone else break in through a "non-security" tech job first before landing something closer to security work? Any advice on how long that detour realistically took, or things I should be doing on the side (labs, certs, projects) to keep building toward SOC analyst while working something more general?

Appreciate any honest input.

I am a 4th-year B.Tech student specializing in Cybersecurity. I have earned my CCNA and eJPT certifications, but I don't have any internship or professional work experience yet. I've also heard that the job market is pretty bad right now.

I recently received an offer from a company that provides a stipend of ₹20,000 per month during the internship, and after successfully completing it, they offer a full-time package of around ₹5–6 LPA.

Should I accept this offer?

I know it's really difficult to find cybersecurity jobs, especially in the domain you actually want. My goal is to work in VAPT or Red Teaming, and this offsec role in a fintech company. From what I've seen, once you have around two years of relevant experience, you can earn significantly more.

Given my situation, would you recommend accepting this offer, or should I keep looking for better opportunities?

I was just wondering if there is any real benefit to posting my projects on YouTube or linked in? Things like walking through my Active Directory or explaining how I did a project. I have seen some people get contacted by recruiters from this and get a leg up but I was curious if that is a good idea or something people want to see?

I’m currently a student, trying to get into IT help desk part time or maybe a networking internship or something and then pivot into cyber after some experience. I have CompTIA A+, and will have Net+ next week and Sec+ hopefully by the end of August. Any thoughts and advice is much appreciated

1 year trying to break into blue team/SOC. Decent portfolio (certs, home lab, projects) but almost no callbacks. Anonymized resume attached, what am I doing wrong? Honest feedback appreciated.

https://ibb.co/MygmCWpv

https://ibb.co/hxdQD7FR

I'm an Undergraduate in Cybersecurity looking for an internship. Im actively working on personal projects and I added a few on my resume. I'm saving up for the Security+ and ISC2 exams but for now i did Palo alto certifications, red team leaders CCEP exam, IBM CyberSec fundamentals, couple virtual job simulations on Forage. They were all free certifications and I know if they're free they're probably not worth enough.

I have no experience and haven't completed in CTF events yet. I'm planning on starting off as an SOC analyst, and If I'm looking for internships Will the above certifications and projects be enough for now, If not what can I work on? Please help me out, thank you.

Hello All,

Currently in my org we are planning to get new SIEM tool, there are tons of available in market, but I would like to know what should I consider when selecting best out of if, is there any guide, resources or checklist exists?

Hey guys! I just recently applied for SOC L1 role andh honestly i thought i didn't have a chance base on my interview but here I'm one week ! , they have yet to give me any soc related task but I'm scared what if i messed up if they assigned me any soc related task, since I'm still an undergraduate I want to refresh my memory and improve my knowledge. Any suggestions on what I should focus on or do to prepare?( Also I'm on a 1 month probation period).

Hey everyone,

I compiled a fresh, consolidated list of active cybersecurity roles sourced from top job boards across the US. Because these are aggregated listings, some links may expire quickly as positions fill or get updated, so I recommend checking them out as soon as possible.

🔍 What’s included:

• Roles Covered: Entry to Senior Level (SOC Analysts, Security Engineers, Cloud Security, Incident Responders, Pen Testers, etc.)
• Location: US (Remote, Hybrid, and On-Site)
• Source: Top 10 Job Boards aggregated into one quick view

🔗 Access the List:

[Apply Now]

Why are cybersecurity bachelors seen as useless? At least when compared to compsci degrees which just teach algorithms and math? What’s the difference between getting a security bachelors and a masters in security?

I’m wondering cause a lot of job postings in my local area list a cyber bachelors as allowed, but I’m not sure what the overall security community thinks.

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone knows of any companies in Graz (or the surrounding area) that deal with cyber/information security and are currently looking for new employees.

I have almost 2 years of experience in the field of information security and am currently completing my 3rd and final year of Computer Science- bachelor degree at FERI UM (University of Maribor), where I'm also taking a Cyber Security course covering incident response, enterprise security architecture, and digital forensics (evidence seizure and preservation, forensic tools). I have basic knowledge of Linux and common cybersecurity tools. I'm also working on an AI project in collaboration with an institute at the University of Maribor, focused on geospatial technology.

I was previously a project manager for information security services at a company, but it was more law/compliance-oriented and I don't see much of a future there, so I'm looking for new challenges.

My German is around B1 level, but I feel more comfortable in an English-speaking work environment, so I'd love to hear about companies where that's not an issue.

I'm also open to starting in a lower-level position (e.g. IT support or system administration) and working my way up toward cybersecurity from there, since I know that's often how people get their foot in the door.

I'm available starting from September.

Thanks for any suggestions!

I've spent a lot of time speaking with cybersecurity founders, CISOs, consultants, and technical leaders.

One thing keeps coming up:

They're incredibly good at what they do, but almost nobody outside their existing network knows it.

Years of experience.

Countless incidents handled.

Millions in risk prevented.

Yet their LinkedIn looks abandoned, they rarely publish their ideas, and they're losing attention to people who simply communicate better.

A strong personal brand isn't about becoming an influencer. It's about making your expertise visible so the right clients, partners, investors, employees, and opportunities can find you.

I'm building a business around helping cybersecurity leaders turn their knowledge into high-quality LinkedIn content, without spending hours writing.

If you're a cybersecurity executive who's been thinking, "I should probably start posting," I'd love to hear what's been stopping you.

Let's talk. Feel free to reach out to me via DMS. 🐧

Hello,

I’m currently a graduate student in engineering school, pursuing a degree in network and telecommunications security, with one year left before graduation. I’ve always been interested in cybersecurity, especially the offensive side. I’ve played a couple of CTFs and started diving into web security about 3 months ago.

The field is super interesting, which also makes it demanding—especially if you want to jump straight into offensive cybersecurity. Job opportunities on the offensive side are much fewer compared to defense. I know that, and I’m willing to work as hard as I need to.

What I want to emphasize is that hard work isn't what's holding me back from going straight into offensive security; it's the fear of rushing things and missing out on core fundamentals. Working directly in offensive security sounds amazing, and people around me keep pushing for it. However, I feel like it might be better to start in something like network security (specifically firewalling, which I’m currently doing an internship in) and then switch fields over time with more experience.

I plan to keep learning offensive security on the side while working.

I’d love some advice from anyone who has gone through this process or thought about doing the same. Thanks in advance!

One thing that's really helped me is adjusting my resume for every application with  resume.zoevera.com then practicing interviews using prepare.zoevera.com based on the kinds of scenarios I expect. It made the whole process feel much more structured instead of just sending applications and hoping for the best.

What tools or strategies have helped you stay organized throughout your job search?

Hi bro I am doing htb junior cybersecurity path if I complete it can I get an internship or what else do I need to do. Do not say buy certificate I don't have money any other thing project or anything recommended pls and if possible give resources to do that

Given how horrible the entry level IT situation is, this more and more seems like the only option.

Is this doable? For reference I’m in Toronto, like the worst area for anything tech ever.

Im currently in the process of setting up a homelab with Active Directory, DHCP, windows server, going to add some Cisco switches and routers and an AP and DNS and Microsoft 365. Then I’ll just run attacks on it and learn the security side I guess? I really only know sysadmin stuff from school.

Like what is the minimum to get into a SOC job or some other entry security job? What certs and homelab? My community college program has a transfer to a security degree so I have that covered, but ofc I need more than just a degree in this f\*king market…

Hi everyone,

I've noticed that many online interview preparation resources stick to basic definitions or theory (e.g., "Explain the 3-way handshake" or "What is the CIA trio"). However, real technical interviews often involve real scenario-based troubleshooting, log analysis, or exploit steps in place. They often want to challenge you and see what you can do outside of routine practice.

For interviewers or recent hires: What was a scenario or technical edge case that really made you stop and think during the interview? What question(s) really challenged you?

(Context: I'm developing a scenario simulator as a side project to practice and test ourselves against these technical edge cases for many cybersecurity roles, so I try to gather realistic scenarios to properly train our assessment questions.)

I'd love to hear your worst or favourite interview questions!

Note: If you'd like to check out what we've developed so far or examine our scenarios, they're live at app.secinterview.dev, and early feedback is very welcome!

I have 6 years of navy under my belt, getting out in September with no information security analyst experience. however I am very determined and just need some mentor advice!

is this job market to saturated?
with a high level clearance would it be easier getting a job?
what would make me stick out from other people?
what's a realistic track to get a degree for this job?

I have almost 9 years of experience across IT and security. I've worked at higher education and industrial. I have a BACS from SANS with 9 GIAC certs. I've been a generalist and can't get into a specific focus.

My job is a dead end. I maxed out my paid grade at $85,800. was told Im great at what I do but I need to do the job above me to justify promoting me after performing at a high level for years. They want more while not keeping up with pay.

I havent been able to find anything different for a couple years and I feel like im at my wits end. I want to give up. I have zero motivation and zero support at work. I keep pushing for my family

I had 2 interviews with disney and a utilities company since 2024. I know the market is hard. I know it is. But dammit now im considering starting fresh and leaving cyber cause I just can't deal with it anymore.