A lot of people want to get into cybersecurity but the first question stops them before they even start.
"Where do I even begin?"
I get this question more than any other, so today I'm breaking it down properly, from choosing your path to positioning yourself to get hired.
The first thing you need to understand is that cybersecurity is not one career. It's a collection of careers and they fall into two broad sides.
📍Red Team and Blue Team.
📍The Red Team is the offensive side. These are the people who think like attackers, break into systems legally, find vulnerabilities before the bad guys do, and report what they found so it can be fixed.
📍The Blue Team is the defensive side. These are the people who protect systems, monitor for threats, respond to incidents, and make sure attacks either don't succeed or get contained quickly when they do.
Neither side is better than the other.
They need each other to work. The question is which one fits how your mind works.
📍Red Team Careers
If you enjoy problem solving, thinking creatively, finding what's broken, and understanding how systems can be manipulated, Red Team might be your natural home :
➩ Penetration Tester
➩ Ethical Hacker
➩ Bug Bounty Hunter
➩ Exploit Developer
➩ AppSec Engineer
➩ Malware Analysis and more.
📍Blue Team Careers
If you enjoy building systems, analysing data, monitoring for threats, and protecting what already exists, Blue Team is where you'll thrive.
➩ Security Analyst
➩ Incident Responder
➩ Threat Intelligence Analyst
➩ Digital Forensics Analyst
➩ SOC Analyst (Security Operations Centre)
➩ GRC Analyst (Governance, Risk and Compliance) and more.
📍How to Choose
You don't have to choose forever. Most experienced security professionals have worked on both sides at some point. Start where your curiosity is strongest and let your career evolve from there.
📍How to Get Started and Position Yourself
I recommend you pick a path that works for you, build your foundation first, get certified strategically, build in public, practice consistently and become successful.
Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing and most needed fields in the world right now.
Every company, every startup, every government, and every individual is a potential target. That means every person who chooses this field has a role to play.
You don't need to have everything figured out before you start. You just need to start.
If you found this helpful, share it with someone who needs it.
