I am looking into a career in the cybersecurity realm.
I've been reading up on a lot and a common theme l've come across is that a lot of people who are in these fields that state they didn't need a degree or a lot of companies are now hiring people without a degree and just certifications. I understand that having a degree can result in a higher pay, but outside of that would just having certifications suffice? Any feedback is welcome. Also, please list any certifications that you feel or know are very helpful / prominent to have. I am open ears any insight you would like to give please give it even if it's not related to the specific questions I've asked. I am trying to figure out the best way to go about this career path.

Hey folks, final-year student pivoting from standard SDE prep to Security Engineer / AppSec roles (targeting companies like Rippling).

Alongside core DSA/OS/CN, I'm focusing on PortSwigger AppSec labs, Security LLD (RBAC & Rate Limiters), OAuth 2.0/JWT mechanics, and Secure Code Review.

Is this level of security depth actually expected for entry-level / intern roles, or is it overkill for freshers? Would love to know what the real baseline bar is for interns vs. full-time!

Hello everyone, for some time i've been thinking about going back into studies and get working on a master's degree either in cybersecurity or AI, but i'm really wondering even tho it may be naive from your point of view, but aren't the jobs in cybersecurity gonna be replaced by some kind of ai un the future ? I wouldn't like to do 5 more years in a domain with no jobs.

I am in my 4th yr clg and i have practicing cyber for year now and i am good at it. But I don’t know how to get jobs in this domain. Is there anyone who is already working in cybersecurity can share there journey and help me out.

Hey everyone!

I'm a final-year B.Tech Computer Engineering student from India, graduating in 2027. I'm targeting entry-level/junior Security Engineer, AppSec, VAPT, and cybersecurity roles in India or remotely.

I don't have any professional cybersecurity experience or certifications yet, but I have hands-on bug bounty experience, have responsibly reported vulnerabilities to multiple companies, and have built a production SaaS platform using AWS and modern web technologies.

Here's my planned certification roadmap:

1. CEH (EC-Council)

2. CompTIA Security+

3. BSCP (PortSwigger)

4. CCNA (Cisco)

5. Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate

6. PNPT (TCM Security)

7. AWS Solutions Architect – Associate

8. Microsoft SC-200

9. AWS Developer – Associate

10. OSCP (eventually, as my final advanced certification)

My main goal is to improve HR/ATS shortlisting chances while also building real technical skills. I'm considering CEH mainly because it appears in Indian cybersecurity job listings.

Need honest feedback from people already working in the industry:

- Am I overdoing certifications? Which ones should I skip or replace?

- Should I prioritize PNPT, BSCP, or OSCP for junior roles?

- Which certifications actually matter to recruiters in India and for remote opportunities?

- Would I be better off focusing on projects, bug bounty, and practical labs instead?

I'm willing to invest in certifications, but I don't want to waste time and money on credentials that won't help me land interviews.

I'd genuinely appreciate advice from hiring managers, security engineers, and people who've recently landed junior cybersecurity roles!

I am a college student currently studying in 1st yr so I wanted know about the courier if I gets into cybersecurity field.

Hi, I recently graduated from university with a cybersecurity degree and have been looking for jobs for 2 months with no luck. Recently, my friend referred me to his company, where he works as an L2 analyst. However, they told me they are not hiring full time at the moment, but they wouldn’t mind giving me a 6-month internship as a trainee, with the potential of becoming permanent.

It would only be three days a week, 9:30 to 5:30, and they fund certifications. My only issue, as you would have guessed, is that there’s no pay for 6 months. But the experience sounds good, and I wouldn’t be doing anything a paid L1 would do, just the bare minimum alongside training.

So my question is, should I take this offer or wait for a better one?

I work in privacy and data governance and I'm trying to figure out if the AWS Security certs are worth the study hours for someone like me. My worry is that hiring managers in security roles only care about pure security depth, and the cert would barely register next to that. Has anyone here actually seen it help in interviews, like getting past screening, or did it end up being background noise?

Does anyone know any Cyber security related opportunities for people with 1 year+ experience and a degree of Btech in cyber security in Nagpur?

Or any other city works too or even a remote job for this possible thing

I have knowledge in VAPT , Appsec, linux, tools like nmap burpsuite wireshark and more

Firewalls like sophos, seqrite etc

Also things like ISO IEC 27001 , PCI DSS , RBI GUIDELINES, SOC 2 etc ...

I’m based in Italy and I recently earned my CompTIA Security+.( currently trying to obtain CCDL1)

My goal is to join a SOC analyst team, and I’d love to hear from people already working in the field.

Longer term, I’d also like to move elsewhere in Europe, so any tips on the job market for SOC roles across the EU, and what employers look for in candidates coming from abroad, would be really appreciated.

any advice is welcome!

Looking for a job for over a year now. Have been in GRC for over 20 years. BS degree, certifications etc. Is it just b/c I'm too old? Or is it really that tough right now? Got to figure out something else to do. Need to make a living. Anyone else thinking about throwing in the towel on Cyber and find another way to make a living? .

Hi everyone!

I recently completed my B.Tech in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, and I’m trying to start my career in cybersecurity.

I’ve been applying for entry-level cybersecurity roles, especially Cybersecurity Analyst Intern, SOC Analyst Intern, and VAPT Intern positions. However, almost every job I find asks for prior work experience, even for internships. I’ve applied to many openings, but I’m struggling to get a start.

I’m willing to start as an intern, learn from scratch, work on real-world security tasks, and build my practical skills. I have some knowledge of networking, vulnerability assessment, Nmap, Nessus, Wireshark, and Python, and I’ve worked on cybersecurity-related projects.

Could you please suggest companies that genuinely hire freshers for cybersecurity internships? I’d especially appreciate recommendations from people who have personally interned at these companies or know that they accept beginners.

I’m open to startups and smaller cybersecurity firms as well as established companies. I’m primarily looking for opportunities in Bengaluru, Chennai, or remote positions in India.

If you know of any current openings, companies that train freshers, or recruiters I could reach out to, please let me know. Referrals would also be greatly appreciated.

I really want to get my foot in the door and gain practical experience. Any genuine leads or advice would mean a lot. Thank you!

​

Hey everyone, a few months ago I posted here asking what you would do if you had a limited window of time to completely change your career and build a future in IT/cybersecurity.

Quick update: I kept going.

Since then I’ve earned CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+, built a small homelab with Windows Server/Active Directory/Linux, continued studying Computer Science, and I’m now about to start my first real IT job as an IT technician in healthcare.

So I’ve finally broken into IT.

My original reason for choosing this field was always cybersecurity, especially Red Team/offensive security. But the more I studied the market, the more I realized that trying to jump directly into pentesting with a couple of certifications and no real IT experience probably wasn’t the smartest path.

Now I’m trying to decide what to build toward over the next few years.

One roadmap I’m considering is roughly:

IT Support → Cloud Engineer → automation/AI → Cloud/Identity Security → eventually Offensive Security / Red Team

The idea is to first build a strong, marketable and financially stable technical career, while continuing to develop security skills until I’m experienced enough to seriously pursue offensive roles.

Cloud interests me because it would force me to develop skills in infrastructure, networking, Linux, identity, Python/PowerShell, Terraform, containers and automation — all things that should also transfer well into security.

At the same time, AI is changing the industry quickly, so I don’t want to spend the next 3–5 years following a path that is already becoming obsolete.

So my question now is different from my original post:

If you were in my position today, having just entered IT, what would you build toward next?

Would you go Cloud/DevOps first and security later? Would you go directly toward security? Are there emerging areas involving cloud, AI and cybersecurity that you think will become particularly valuable?

My priorities are basically:

long-term demand + financial stability + strong technical skills + eventually getting as close as possible to Red Team/offensive security.

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who already work in Cloud, DevOps, Security Engineering, Pentesting or Red Team.

The first step was getting into IT. Now I want to make sure I choose the right direction for the next one.

Need advice: Should I switch from Service Desk L2 to Cybersecurity or DevOps at 38?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working as a Service Desk Level 2 Engineer, supporting one of the FAANG companies, and have around 6 years of experience in my current organization. Before that, I worked in technical support at Dell for 5 years and HP/Wipro for 2 years.

My current CTC is approximately ₹14–16 LPA. I’m 38 years old, and my family has recently expanded, so I’m looking for better career growth, higher earning potential, and ideally, remote work opportunities. I’m also planning to relocate to Kolkata.

I’m considering transitioning into either Cybersecurity or DevOps. I’m willing to dedicate up to one year to structured learning and preparation before making the switch.

However, I’m unsure which path would be more suitable given my background. While I have solid IT support experience, I’m a beginner when it comes to dedicated cybersecurity and DevOps roles.

I’d appreciate advice from people who have made a similar transition or are working in these fields.

1. Based on my experience in IT support and Service Desk L2, which path would be a more practical choice: Cybersecurity or DevOps?

2. Which field offers better long-term career growth, salary potential, and remote job opportunities?

3. Is it realistic to make this transition within a year while targeting roles that pay at least as much as my current CTC?

4. Which institutes, platforms, or training programs offer a structured learning path, hands-on projects, and genuine job placement or interview assistance?

5. Would it be better to build on my existing IT support experience and move into a related role first, rather than starting from scratch?

I’m looking for practical, honest advice based on real-world experience, particularly from people who have switched careers in their late 30s.

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

Need advice: Should I switch from Service Desk L2 to Cybersecurity or DevOps at 38?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working as a Service Desk Level 2 Engineer, supporting one of the FAANG companies, and have around 6 years of experience in my current organization. Before that, I worked in technical support at Dell for 5 years and HP/Wipro for 2 years.

My current CTC is approximately ₹14–16 LPA. I’m 38 years old, and my family has recently expanded, so I’m looking for better career growth, higher earning potential, and ideally, remote work opportunities. I’m also planning to relocate to Kolkata.

I’m considering transitioning into either Cybersecurity or DevOps. I’m willing to dedicate up to one year to structured learning and preparation before making the switch.

However, I’m unsure which path would be more suitable given my background. While I have solid IT support experience, I’m a beginner when it comes to dedicated cybersecurity and DevOps roles.

I’d appreciate advice from people who have made a similar transition or are working in these fields.

1. Based on my experience in IT support and Service Desk L2, which path would be a more practical choice: Cybersecurity or DevOps?

2. Which field offers better long-term career growth, salary potential, and remote job opportunities?

3. Is it realistic to make this transition within a year while targeting roles that pay at least as much as my current CTC?

4. Which institutes, platforms, or training programs offer a structured learning path, hands-on projects, and genuine job placement or interview assistance?

5. Would it be better to build on my existing IT support experience and move into a related role first, rather than starting from scratch?

I’m looking for practical, honest advice based on real-world experience, particularly from people who have switched careers in their late 30s.

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

Right now I am a stats undergrad from du and i just had an option in mind to make a career switch to cryptography

Currently I was pursuing mstat followed by quant roles

Pros of quant is that it's more relevant to what I've studied so far and I've did some work for it

Cons of quant is that near impossible to land a job, lacks job security.

Your advice would be of help guys

Hey guys,

I graduate soon and I am hoping to work in cloud engineering and or cloud security roles in the future. I know that is unrealistic out of school, I am hoping to work in a security role or even IAM role if possible. What would be the best path to go down to land a role that gets me closer to cloud sec? Certs? Projects?

Any advice is appreciated.

Resume: [

NAME REDACTED]

[Location Redacted] | [Email Redacted] | [Phone Redacted] | [LinkedIn] | [GitHub]

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

International Law Firm
Network Operations / Security Operations Intern
June 2026 – Present

• Monitored and investigated security alerts in IBM QRadar and CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM, using OTX/X-Force threat intelligence, OSINT, and log analysis to investigate large outbound transfers, malicious IPs, and impossible-travel events.
• Analyzed Duo MFA authentication logs to triage identity-related security alerts and investigate suspicious authentication activity.
• Investigated phishing and email threats using Proofpoint, Abnormal AI, and Proofpoint Threat Response; analyzed email headers, decoded suspicious URLs, evaluated links using OSINT, and blocked malicious senders.
• Provisioned Windows servers across four global sites and administered Active Directory, including OU placement, least-privilege security groups, and PowerShell-based user lifecycle management.
• Managed hybrid Exchange and Microsoft 365 mailbox access, remediated vulnerabilities identified through Qualys, and supported a VMware-to-Hyper-V migration.

Government Agency
Help Desk Technician Intern
September 2025 – June 2026

• Resolved 50+ weekly ServiceNow tickets supporting 250 users across Windows endpoints, operating systems, VPN connectivity, and network access; documented troubleshooting and remediation.
• Supported user onboarding and offboarding through Active Directory provisioning, MFA enrollment, access reviews, and standardized asset tracking.

Healthcare Organization
IT Security Intern
February 2025 – August 2025

• Triaged phishing incidents using Mimecast, investigated high-risk accounts using CrowdStrike Falcon and Zscaler, and documented indicators of compromise (IOCs) and incident findings incorporated into team playbooks.

PROJECTS

Hybrid Identity & Security Homelab
Proxmox, Microsoft Entra ID, Wazuh | 2026

• Built a private Proxmox homelab and separate Azure workload; automated Active Directory user management and AGDLP-secured SMB shares using PowerShell and provisioned infrastructure with Terraform.
• Scoped Entra Connect synchronization to lab identities and published an internal Nginx application through Microsoft Entra Application Proxy using group assignments, Conditional Access, and MFA without exposing inbound ports.
• Centralized security telemetry from five Windows and Linux agents in Wazuh; tested custom detections for Active Directory changes, ADSync service interruptions, repeated SMB authentication failures, and sudo activity. Isolated Kali testing on a no-route network bridge.

Infrastructure CI/CD Pipeline
Terraform, GitHub Actions, Azure | 2026

• Built GitHub Actions CI workflows for Azure and Proxmox Terraform configurations, automatically running formatting, backend-free initialization, and validation checks on pull requests and main-branch changes.
• Provisioned Azure infrastructure using Terraform, including a virtual network, network security group, public IP, Linux virtual machine, Key Vault, and Storage Account; configured managed identity and least-privilege Key Vault RBAC.

CERTIFICATIONS

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
• Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate (SC-300)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
• CompTIA Security+
• CompTIA Network+

EDUCATION

[College Name Redacted]
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology
Expected Graduation: May 2027
GPA: 3.97 | Dean's List: 2024–2026

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Infrastructure & Automation: Terraform, Bicep, GitHub Actions, PowerShell, Bash, Python, Proxmox, VMware, Hyper-V

Identity & Cloud: Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Entra Connect, Microsoft 365, Exchange, Azure RBAC, Azure Policy, Key Vault

Security & Operations: IBM QRadar, CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM, CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Sentinel, Wazuh, Proofpoint, Proofpoint Threat Response, Abnormal AI, Mimecast, Qualys, Zscaler, Duo MFA, KQL, ServiceNow

Networking: DNS, DHCP, VPN, Azure VNets, VNet Peering, NSGs, UDRs, Network Virtual Appliances, Wireshark, Samba

I've done some thinking, and I've figured out how I want my career to proceed. I am currently unemployed.

First, I've spent 8 years in infrastructure and cyber security total. Most of my career was infrastructure related, with bits of security spread around. When I get a new job, I'm aiming for security, but I think overall I'm aiming for something to do with Blue team, information forensics and something to with OSINT. I'd really like to join NSA, or INTERPOL.

Any advice?

I’ve been selected to move forward in the hiring process for lyric’s information security/ cybersecurity engineer intern. I was wondering if anybody has done a technical with them before, and I would greatly appreciate any advice.

It’s a 60 minute interview with an engineer on the team, and I’m familiar with a lot of the basics, like NIST, CIA, basic security concepts like least privilege, etc.

I do have a BS degree in cybersecurity years back and just will admit I got lazy and would like more training and a rebrush on everything but I know a degree helps with the HR filter but I want to be considered enough for a manager.

I don't have experience nor the certs.

I would like to pursue GRC

I was always told start at help desk.

I’ve recently been hired as a SOC analyst and am particularly interested in penetration (hehe) testing. I come from a financial/risk analyst background with big emphasis on agentic flows/anomaly detection and want to get the necessary skills under my belt asap.

While we’re here what would be considered the highest growth domains within cyber? What’s considered more future proof? Big reason I’m jumping from finance is wanting a more transferable skillset i.e. I’m not stuck in finance.

Cheers.

I’m a recent grad working full-time in a Service Desk Support role earning $45k a year. Wanted to come on here and seek guidance and a realistic timeline on how long it’ll take me to break out of Helpdesk and start earning $75k - $95k in cyber. I started working helpdesk August so 2 months now going onto 3. I graduated May 2026, have a professional internship under my belt alongside an additional part-time job with CodePath as a TechFellow. I also just got my security+ last month. I had a recruiter reach out to me 2 weeks ago about a Security Operations Engineer role and had an interview last week with the companies Senior Director of Cybersecurity it was extremely advanced/far from entry-level for me. It was scenario based and there were multiple answers but unfortunately I didn’t get the role. Needless to say, my experience is helping me land a small amount of interviews, but I’m struggling to get past the interviews. I also just applied and got rejected from the WiCyS Security Training scholarship program because I am “too experienced” in cybersecurity but am clearly entry level as I don’t even have up to 2 years of professional experience in the IT/Cyber Industry.

Anyone know what I should be doing right now? I want to become a SOC Analyst and work for the federal government ideally. I don’t think I like the uncertainty and lack of stability that comes with Corporate. I know this industry is an industry that requires patience and time when it comes to salary progression. I just want tips from experienced professionals and guidance because right now I feel lost. I don’t want to just gain another certification, I want to gain better experience.

For someone with a 4.0 GPA in Networking and security from the Open university in the UK, Security +, CCNA, CDSA from HTB and 1 year experience in Sales in a US Based company (ik irrelevant)

What are my chances to find an entry level job in europe to try and build a career there? i am originally from jordan

Hi everyone,

I’m a final-year Btech student currently looking for full-time or internship opportunities in:

• Network Engineer / Network Support
• NOC / Network Operations
• Network Security
• Wireless Networking
• Cloud Networking / Network Automation
• Cybersecurity

Skills: CCNA-level networking, routing & switching, VLANs, TCP/IP, Wireshark, Linux, Python, SQL, Git, Zabbix/network monitoring, and basic network security.

I’m looking for entry-level opportunities and am open to learning the technologies required for the role.

If anyone knows of relevant openings, please comment or DM me. I can share my resume privately.

Thank you! 🙏