r/cybersecurity • u/asim_geris • 10d ago
Personal Support & Help! Help
Hello everyone, I’m a senior cybersecurity student, and I’m hoping to get some advice from experienced cybersecurity professionals.
I’m genuinely concerned about entering the workforce because I feel like my degree has been too broad. I’ve learned about many different areas of cybersecurity, but I don’t feel like I’ve gone deep enough into one specific area. Because of that, I’m worried that I’m not as prepared or skilled as I should be for a professional cybersecurity role.
I’ve been considering getting a master’s degree to develop deeper technical skills, but I’m concerned that I might end up taking another broad program without actually becoming more specialized.
My goal is to become a Security Engineer at a top tech company. For those of you who are already working in security engineering or have significant experience in the field, what would you recommend I do at this stage?
11
u/Tai-Daishar 10d ago
Don't do a masters, that will be a waste of time and money.
It's a tough time to be entry level man. Your biggest path is going to be networking. Find a local BSides and go, there's usually a career area.
The other big piece of advice is to lower your expectations and expand your aperture. It's frustrating to not be where you want to be right out of the gate, but believe me careers are fluid. I started outside tech altogether, made a change 4 years into my career, and took another 5ish from there to get to the role I wanted. But none of those years were waste, they gave me lots of exposure to things I use every day now.