Career Paths

markvb

Very curious as to the paths some of you have taken to get to where you are today or the paths your on to reach your goal. I know I want to be in infosec and doing something along the lines of management but currently I'm in a sales position with little IT experience. I'm only getting older and feel like I have been stagnant for too long, curious to know if anyone had transitioned from a role unrelated to IT and how they did it. Also I just think it would be nice to see the paths others took and maybe some advice on what to avoid.

Pmorgan2

The most common transitions I have heard of are:

1. Get an internship during college
2. Join the Army and request 17C or 25B as your occupation
   
3. Do IT things around your office until you become the IT guy then pivot to a real IT position elsewhere
4. Self study & certify that knowledge then apply for entry level security analysis or help desk positions

A common thread to these is jumping around to different positions, companies, and even cities every 2 years for awhile.

I did option 2.  This entailed jumping around to different cities and countries on a regular basis.

Infosec_Sam

Allow me to offer a transition path #5: take online/night classes at a local community college and earn an associate's degree in IT. 

My dad actually did this in his early 50s, after a 20-year teaching career. He was able to earn credit from his old bachelor's degree, so he just needed to take some IT classes to earn the AS degree in system administration. Right now, he's interning at a place that has a crazy high rate of hiring its interns to permanent positions. From start to finish, it was 3-4 semesters of part-time evening/online classes.

While this is 100% anecdotal, I think it's not entirely impossible to replicate. You might be taking a hit in pay for the first few years of IT employment, but jumping around every 2 years will rocket your salary back to a reasonable level, provided you work your butt off and prove your worth.