Looking for additional courses, preparing for Jr. Cybersecurity analyst

n3m02323

Hi folks, I'm 36 years old and am fascinated by the world of cybersecurity. It has been the first field, that has truly inspired me to stay dedicated with school. I am currently 2.5 months into the Coursera IBM Certification for Jr CS analyst course series. However, I have heard that my age is a handicap for me, and the course content of Coursera is not the strongest. I have seen SANS's course's, and was hoping that someone could provide some input for other online courses I might look into. Hoping that with enough training, and dedication I can overcome my handicap and break into the industry. Any other guidance would be greatly appreciated. 
Please and Thank you!

SteveLavoie

First we would need more detail about you, if we want to help you.   Are you currently in IT, if you are .. what are your current exp? If you are from another domain, what is it ? Do you any formal education ? If you dont have any other IT experience, I would be very surprised that you can get some work with only a Coursera certification. 

Age is not really a problem, it can even be an advantage if you can capitalize on your previous experience. Usually I am prefering older worker, they are more stable and generally would not let you down because a new WoW game is released. 

UnixGuy

Your age is fine, not a handicap at all, the lack of experience might be the biggest thing that you'll need to overcome. As @SteveLavoie said if you tell us more about your experience we'll be able to help more.

What roles do you have in mind? "Security analyst" can mean a lot of things, so the more specific the better. Security+ is usually recommended as it give you a broad knowledge of what security really is, but it's not a must. If you know what roles you're targetting you can skip it and do other certs like SANS (or eLearnsecurity which is a lot cheaper than SANS). Cloud certs are not a bad idea either

CaseyWalker

Age is not really a problem, it can even be an advantage if you can capitalize on your previous experience.

nighas

i def agree with you casey, just like unixguy said knowing the role you are pursuing is crucial since infosec industry is tremendous. it can help break down which domain your gonna end up utilizing your learned skills.