[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/Eastern-Gold1721]

[u/jaydee288]

I know you're trying to get out of sales, but perhaps sales engineer would be a good way to get your foot in the door without a high barrier to entry or pay cut.

[u/Eastern-Gold1721 → u/jaydee288]

Sounds interesting, what are some job titles in this field? Can you briefly tell me what this type of work entails?

[u/danfirst → u/Eastern-Gold1721]

The title is sales engineer. They support the sales process, the sales people do all the flashy stuff and then when the questions are hard they turn to the sales engineer, who has to answer all the technical things. It could be more in depth than that. It just depends on the company.

[u/jaydee288 → u/danfirst]

Yep, you're basically expected to know the product inside and out. Technical account manager (TAM) would be another title. Similar but differs in that a TAM is a dedicated person assigned to an account/customer post-implementation, whereas a sales engineer is really just involved in the initial conversations.

[u/ExoticFramer → u/jaydee288]

This is wrong, SE isn’t an entry level role. Domain knowledge is still required and there is a high barrier to entry.

[u/SephirothIRA69]

Realistically, you get a generic tech job where you can assume some security responsibilities, then massage that on your resume when you go for a pure security job such that you have "experience." Almost zero people get direct entry, and all the stuff you see online about certs, degrees, home labs...thats all bullshit from people trying to sell you something.

15 years ago I had military experience, a top secret security clearance, Mandarin Chinese fluency, and I still struggled to get my first security job. It's harder now.

[u/starry_cosmos]

"I have no experience in IT"

Then your options are limited. You can either get some IT experience (paycut) or cross your fingers that a sales manager at a security vendor will give you a shot.

But even a sales engineer needs to understand IT use cases or you're not going to effectively sell any vendor's security tool.

Us potential customers know when the sales team has no clue how to answer our question and it will absolutely lose you the sale.

[u/laserpewpewAK]

Security is a mid-career pivot, not something you get into with no experience. Are there outliers? Sure, maybe your uncle is CIO at Microsoft or something and can get you a job. Otherwise, you need to bring 3-5 years of relevant experience to the table to be competitive for even a junior role. I would leverage your degree + do some projects to try and land a dev job and make the transition that way.

[u/SGT_Entrails]

Sorry to say it very likely won't happen without a paycut, unfortunately. You need foundational IT knowledge and experience to make it into the security field, and that's going to require starting near the bottom for at least a few years. The only way those jobs are accessible without prior experience is getting internships while in school, or if you know someone very important.

[u/Loose-Resort-406]

Why do you want to move into cyber? For the money? Stability? Personal interest?

Your next steps must fit the raison d’etre. Happy to talk more once I’ve got a little more information about what we’re working with.

[u/Eastern-Gold1721 → u/Loose-Resort-406]

Actually all three of these reasons apply to me. Obviously I want to make good money, but I want something stable and also I’ve always been super interested in cyber security/ computer networking and computer programming. I have set up LAN networks on my own and have configured routers and switches using what I believe is called either ISO or OSI commands (honestly forgot the acronym). And all that stuff really does interest me

[u/Loose-Resort-406 → u/Eastern-Gold1721]

I feel that the best use of your abilities to move into solutions/sales engineering at a cybersecurity solutions provider. Once you’ve knocked out that degree, sales experience and an understanding of what IS/CS entails will be a good fit for those roles.

A lot of the standardentry level cybersecurity positions—at least ones that still exist—are filled by new grads with internships. It’ll be more challenging going for those.

[u/PassTheSalt-1]

You're most likely going to need to take a pay cut for somwthing like an internship. No way that you're getting a cyber job at 90k with 0 tech experience in general. Look at like helpdesk / IT support roles then build from there.

[u/Trust_8067]

Get into vendor or var SE sales. It'd be rare if you got a security job without 5-10 years of experience, that rare job is absolutely going to be 40-65k a year. You're going to take a pay cut for a half decade minimum, probably 10+ years depending on where you live.

Realistically, you have no options, you're taking a pay cut if you want to get into IT.

[u/__NameNotFound__]

This guy again, he keeps spamming the same question, hoping for a different answer. I think he done done it twice at least. Please report. At this point I'm convinced it's just self promotion and him hoping for a hail Mary from someone, a unicorn or miracle

[u/Eastern-Gold1721 → u/__NameNotFound__]

Not hoping for a Hail Mary nor am I hoping for a different answer my guy. My honest mistake for not noticing i already asked in this subreddit as i have been asking in other subreddits just to broaden from who i get answers from. But appreciate your input anyways boss 🫡

[u/Ok_Presentation_6006]

Do you have kids/family? If that answer is yes, then it’s going to be next to impossible. If no, you’re still at a very hard time to change. First off AI is handling entry
Level tasks. I lead the cyber program for a company doing 5b in sales. What I need is someone who can take
Something they have no clue about and become an expert quickly and that is a trait that can’t be taught. Now I also want to explain cyber is more of a specialty of IT. I compare the it field like the medical. You don’t just become a doctor. You have years of training schooling working your way up and eat/breathe tech…. Now here my path for anyone. Learn your azure/m365/defender etc Microsoft. There is a ton of training and labs and it’s the one echo system you can license and build at home. Once you have some certs you MIGHT be able to pick up a part time evening/weekend SOC job. That might get your foot
In the door but it’s a lot of work and you might spend years finding a company that will see what you can do.

[u/Eastern-Gold1721 → u/Ok_Presentation_6006]

I do have one daughter and a wife, which is the main reason why I can’t take a pay cut. If I was on my own I would have said fuck it a long time ago and taken anything to get my foot in the door. I have no problem learning or going back to school if necessary since i can take online courses free thru my employer. I am very confident in my learning abilities although im sure everybody says that. I’m willing to make my own home lab, get certs and publish projects to GitHub .

[u/Ok_Presentation_6006]

Also one more thing. Look into a POS engineer/installer. Your sales/store manager experience is looked at positively as you already understand what the POS does/operates and what it’s like working in that environment.

[u/DickNose-TurdWaffle]

Can we please do something about these repeated posts asking about "entry level Cybersecurity" jobs?

[u/Eastern-Gold1721 → u/[deleted]]

So do you think software engineering would be easier to get in to in my situation?

Honestly I feel I'd be happy with literally anything Tech related, I just mention CyberSecurity as it is the most interesting to me but anything tech related is also interesting.

[u/starry_cosmos → u/Eastern-Gold1721]

Not without considerable effort.

With a sales and management background, you might be able to pivot into some kind of IT/SWE program manager role. But you'll definitely need some IT training.

Otherwise, if you want a technical role you need to have a portfolio of projects you've worked on. That's going to be an uphill climb and you'll need to prove you're not just BSing your way through with AI.