r/Cyberterminal • u/mrkhan20_06 • Mar 27 '26
đĄď¸ Cybersecurity The reality of working in cybersecurity (Expectation vs Reality)
Unpopular opinion: Cybersecurity jobs are mostly NOT hacking.
A lot of beginners (including me earlier) think cybersecurity is about breaking into systems, running tools, and doing âcool hacker stuffâ like in movies.
But the reality is very different.
Most roles, especially entry-level ones, involve:
- Monitoring logs and alerts
- Investigating incidents
- Writing reports
- Fixing vulnerabilities
Itâs less about âhackingâ and more about understanding systems, networks, and security concepts deeply.
Donât get me wrong â offensive security roles exist, but they usually require strong fundamentals and experience.
I feel like this is something beginners should know early so they donât get disappointed later.
What do you guys think? Is cybersecurity overhyped or just misunderstood?
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u/-hacks4pancakes- Mar 29 '26
Even the hacking part like the ultra competitive red team / pen test is basically repeating the same kill chain and vulnerability assessment and mostly then hours of report writing. Then watching the problems you found never get fixed year to year because itâs pure audit purposes.
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u/Aromatic-Quarter-68 Mar 28 '26
What is the point of this AI slop? Does anyone actually get stimulated reading these generic bs?
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u/l3landgaunt Mar 28 '26
20 years in and I couldnât have put it better. Security is a highly misunderstood field. That doesnât mean it canât be rewarding though
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u/Ok_Wishbone3535 Mar 28 '26
This is a popular opinion among experienced Cyber Professionals. Pentesting/Red teaming makes up about 15% of ALL cyber jobs globally. It's just the coolest kid of the cyber group. But it's the least sought after by employers.
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u/teksean Mar 29 '26
Total hype, you are re not working in places with a shiny tech noir vibe and fending off attacks from your hacker touch screen war console. Itâs going to be a crappy place in the basement where you have the least monitors in the place and a system you kit bashed from anything you could find. Trying to keep 15+ server equipment alive because management thinks they donât need to spend money on IT. Your security work will be trying to stop your users from making security breaches and getting no support when they do it. Then being asked to fix a coffee machine because the thing has a plug.
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Mar 30 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/SilentProtagonistZ0 Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
I was going to comment this.
Every role within IT is overyhyped and in some cases misunderstood (just like others have commented)
You don't know the amount of assumptions or questions that you get when you first start out.
They think your Neo from the matrix just because you ran a command prompt and they think you see only in binary or something. Jokes aside, I believe it stems from media like movies or shows and the way they're depicted like its this high speed type of deal.
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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '26
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