Webinar Series

The Challenge of That First Job in Cybersecurity - Entry Level Roles and How to Qualify

June 17, 2020
The Challenge of That 

First Job in Cybersecurity: 

Entry-Level Roles and 

How to Qualify

National CyberWatch Center

Prince George’s Community College

Room 129C 

301 Largo Road

Largo, MD 20774

www.nationalcyberwatch.org

June 17, 2020
What’s Changed Over the Years?

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▪ Terminology: IA > Infosec > Cybersecurity

▪ Awareness

▪ Shrinking time between vulnerability discovery and exploitation 

development

▪ Infosec spending
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What’s Stayed the Same Over the Years?

▪ IT technical foundation for technical cybersecurity jobs

▪ Terrible software

▪ 4-year degree requirement

▪ Failure executing fundamentals

▪ Duplication, duplication
How Do We Align Our Education/Training to 

What Employers Want?

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▪ Align tasks to the Occupational Information Network (O*Net) 

functional job roles
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▪ National CyberWatch Center Curriculum Standards Panels:

https://www.nationalcyberwatch.org/csp

How Do We Align Our Education/Training to 

What Employers Want? (con’t)
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▪ Contract training and educational programs

How Do We Align Our Education/Training to 

What Employers Want? (con’t)
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▪ Competitions

▪ Conferences

▪ Work with the technology: How to Build a Home Lab: 

https://www.blackhillsinfosec.com/webcast-how-to-build-a-home-lab 

Quickest Pathways into the Workforce?
Challenges: Entry-Level Work

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▪ Community College brand

▪ Very few clearly delineated cybersecurity entry-level jobs

▪ Difficulty for a student/learner to acquire workplace experience for 

entry-level jobs

▪ Credentials (degrees and certifications) valued over capabilities
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Opportunities: Entry-Level Work

▪ Mapping of Courses to Competency Frameworks:

https://bit.ly/2BZcTXS
Opportunities: Entry-Level Work (con’t)

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▪ Map functional job roles to curriculum:

▪ Computer Network Defense Analyst

▪ Computer Network Defense Infrastructure Support

▪ Cyber Defense Analyst

▪ Cyber Defense Forensics Analyst

▪ Cybersecurity Defense Infrastructure Support/Specialist

▪ Digital Forensics

▪ Intrusion Detection System (IDS) Technician

▪ Network Defense Technician

▪ Vulnerability Assessment Analyst
Opportunities: Entry-Level Work (con’t)

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▪ Skill Up to Scale UpTM
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Contact Information

▪ Casey W. O'Brien

▪ Executive Director & Principal Investigator

▪ National CyberWatch Center

▪ cobrien@nationalcyberwatch.org

Q & A 

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empathy

integrity

diversity

COVER LETTERS

DO customize & convey passion for 

team, company, and mission

DON’T swap company name & send. 

We can tell the difference

PASSING THE EQ BAR

DO emphasize “solve for yes”, collaborative 

approaches

DON’T use “I” exclusively or reinforce black 

hoodie hacker stereotypes

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Objective indicators 

of success or 

aptitude 

for the role

EXPERIENCE > CERTS / DEGREES

DO link to anything that demonstrates 

what you can do and accomplish. Ex: prior 

work experience, Github repositories, 

websites, talks, papers, Bug Bounty

DO In interviews, focus on results and 

impact (not job responsibilities)

DON’T showcase degrees, certs, or 

classes as qualifications for the role. We 

do not require any degrees or certs for 

roles on the Security team @ Cloudflare

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CAPTURE THE FLAG COMPS

DO highlight regional / national 

accolades in respectable competitions

DON’T list participation in comps or 

showcase as “work” experience. This 

connotes shiny object syndrome

Well-rounded 

experiences

Builders

Creative problem 

solvers 

OTHER EXPERIENCES

DO seek out defensive / “blue team” 

experiences. Majority of roles on 

internal security teams are focused on 

responding, advising, and building 

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Q & A 

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How I got into Cybersecurity

With Zero Experience

Jennifer Bate

Associate Consulting 

Engineer – Infosec

CDW

June 17,2020
About Me

• Current Role

• As of March 30, 2020

• Associate Consulting Engineer – Infosec for CDW

• Pentester/Ethical Hacker

• Career Relauncher

• BSEE/USAF Veteran Officer

• Career Break to Raise a Family

• Decided to pivot Into IT 

• A+ to Repair Computers?

• Networking Track at my Local CC (Net+, CCNA)

• Took the Security + class as a “filler”

• Capture The Flag: National CyberLeague, aka NCL

• SANS Womens’ Immersion Scholarship 2019

• GSEC, GCIH, GPEN

This person is falling down

a rabbit hole

Capture the Flag Team

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Cybersecurity Industry • Broad Field • Many Paths Into It • Education/Certification/Experience • www.cyberseek.org • Heat map of the US • Mind Map of jobs in the industry • Podcasts • Getting Into Infosec • An Uncommon Journey

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Education 

Degree or Not to Degree

• BS Electrical Engineering

• Update with IT classes at Local CC

• Basic OS

• Basic Networking

• Basic Security

• Python, Linux

• Masters Degree? 

• Udemy, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning

Certifications

• Comptia Net+, Sec+ 

• Cisco CCNA

• GIAC (GCSEC), GCIH, GPEN

Cybersecurity

Degree

Certs

Passion/ 

Community

Experience

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Passion-Community

Security Club

• Join at your local cc or start one

Local Networking Groups

• ISSA/ISACA/OWASP

• Women In Cybersecurity (WiCys)

• Linkedin

Elevator Pitch

Know What it is That You Want (and don’t!)

Twitter – Learn from some interesting people

Capture the Flags- Good way to practice what you’ve 

learned

Podcasts (CyberWire, Brakeing Down Security, Darknet 

Diaries) 23
Job Search

Job Listings

• Indeed

• Google 

• Make a list of local companies/job boards

Search Term

• Security Analyst, SOC Analyst, Security Engineer

• “Security”

• Names of my Certs

What is “negotiable” to me (and what is not)?

• Can I move

• Am I free to travel and how much?

• Am I willing to work odd hours or weekends

• Would I consider a “job with potential” (sys admin, help desk)

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Job Application Process

• Do not apply unless you have the ‘Holy Grail’

• “Req” aka Requisition Number

• Internal Referral

• Hiring Manager

• Focus on Quality, not Quantity

• Company website Job Req Number Personal 

Contact Internal Referral Hiring Manager

Req 

Number

Internal 

Referral

Hiring 

Manager

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Interviewing

Phone Screen

• Be prepared for technical questions

• Print OSI Model/Port Numbers

• https://danielmiessler.com/study/infosec_interview_questions/

Job Interview

• Study like you are going to take a certification test

• OSINT the Company

• Reverse Engineer the job description 

• Interview wherever you are invited (even a job you don’t want)

My Result - 4 Offers

• WiCys Event - Contact

• Classmate at Community College

• Linkedin Contact

• Personal Friend

Backup Plan: Bug Bounties & a Blog

Req 

Number

Internal 

Referral

Hiring 

Manager

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Fall down seven times,

get up eight.

- Japanese Proverb

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Q & A 

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Thank You for Joining Us!

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Upcoming Webinar: What’s New - Revisions to the NICE Framework

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