Career path frustration

leek

Hello,

I have been trying to break into the infosec field for some time now and do not seem to even be able to get to the interview stage. Many agencies appear very interested to push forward my resume to employers however I never hear anything back and I am beginning to become frustrated. The feedback I normally get is the lack of experience however I cannot get a role to increase my experience.

I have the following certifications :CCNA, Cisco certified information security specialist (first stage in CCSP), comptia Security +, Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist.

My background is:
Network Performance Analyst 5 years - Basically this is SLA management for a global MPLS extranet.
Mainframe Security analyst 1 year
IT support 3 years

I have held off any further studies on to the CCSP as I do not touch any hardware.

I have been thinking perhaps I should try the ITIL route as my current role is service management based and perhaps this may aid me to making the transition.

I would like to move into some part of network security, perhaps IDS, firewall or penetration testing.

Can anyone offer any advice ? without using any of the knowledge I have gained through certification I am afraid it will be put to waste

Sorry if this seems a mess, it is late here I stressing about this and cannot sleep.

Lee

dynamik

What sort of responsibilities do you have as a network performance analyst?

JDMurray

I was pretty much in the same boat. I am a software engineer who has worked on many software projects that involved different aspects of Information Security, but I had never actually worked as an InfoSec professional within the InfoSec department of an organization. I made the move to an InfoSec career by getting a Masters degree in IT with an InfoSec concentration. It took me nearly three years to finish the degree and another five months to actually get hired as an InfoSec professional. I am now working towards getting the IT certifications commonly associated with InfoSec professionals--some of which will take me years to qualify for.

My strategy for finding a career in InfoSec is a rather long path. However, it what I wanted to do, and I felt the long journey was necessary to gain both knowledge and credibility. You may not want to go the formal education route, but you can still stay current on the lasted InfoSec topics, study for security-related certs, make contacts online and at meetings where InfoSec professionals gather, and keep yourself alert for opportunities.

Finally, I can't emphasize enough what a large role luck often plays in finding the right job or the start of a new career. Knowing the right person in the right place, or being in the right place at the right time, has been of great benefit to me several times. Luck will present an opportunity and it will be up to you to recognize it and take it. Nothing happens by accident.

leek

Thanks JD, I guess I'll just keep plugging away, learn more and hope something comes up.

leek

Responsiblities are checking services meet contractual SLA's (ie, RTD, Packet loss, Convergence, Time to Repair and Availability) for a global Extranet. Data is gathered from polling over a management VPN and checked against KPIs.

mengo17

I am following the education path too and hopefully will get into InfoSec after I finish my MS in InfoSec...

Slowhand

JDMurray wrote:

Finally, I can't emphasize enough what a large role luck often plays in finding the right job or the start of a new career. Knowing the right person in the right place, or being in the right place at the right time, has been of great benefit to me several times. Luck will present an opportunity and it will be up to you to recognize it and take it.

Very true. I've gotten almost every job I've had in IT by some modicum of luck. The first one, very little, the second, a LOT, and the last one, bit of good luck and a bit of bad luck. Really drives home the idea that education, certs, and experience give you the potential to go far, but you still need a little bit of luck and the ability to talk and schmooze with people to take advantage of that potential.

JDMurray wrote:

Nothing happens by accident.

Au contraire, I became an IT geek very much by accident. I got roped into building my own PC by Technomancer, needed money so I started working on other peoples computers, then got bored with school and started messing around with networking and HTML classes. No plan, no set goal, it just sort of. . . happened. I'd have been perfectly content to be a gamer and float around college with only a faint idea of wanting to do performing arts and getting my GE glasses done, but no-o-o-o-o. I had to get into computers and develop gray hair in my mid-twenties.

dynamik

Slowhand wrote:

JDMurray wrote:

Nothing happens by accident.

Au contraire, I became an IT geek very much by accident. I got roped into building my own PC by Technomancer, needed money so I started working on other peoples computers, then got bored with school and started messing around with networking and HTML classes. No plan, no set goal, it just sort of. . . happened. I'd have been perfectly content to be a gamer and float around college with only a faint idea of wanting to do performing arts and getting my GE glasses done, but no-o-o-o-o. I had to get into computers and develop gray hair in my mid-twenties.

No, you're wrong. You may not have been consciously aware of the steps you were taking, but it was no accident. Those were meticulously crafted events that were put in place to lead you down that path. Sorry to break it to you, but you're basically just a marionette in this elaborate plot.

Slowhand

dynamik wrote:

No, you're wrong. You may not have been consciously aware of the steps you were taking, but it was no accident. Those were meticulously crafted events that were put in place to lead you down that path. Sorry to break it to you, but you're basically just a marionette in this elaborate plot.

Heh, the only time I've been strung along like a puppet was by my exes. Of course, most of them were neither fateful OR faithful. Still, I'm not one to put much stock in fate and predestination. Had I made other choices along the way, picked one path over another, or simply had other circumstances unfolded, I'd be in a very different place today. It's funny how little snowflakes turn into avalanches if you don't keep an eye on them.

Either way, I suppose that's how our interests and our passions grow. You find something you like, you decide at some point that you want to put some effort into it, and you're left with pure potential. After that, it's a little bit of luck and a lot of trying to get to where you want to be.

astorrs

Slowhand

astorrs wrote:

Now you just need the female emoticon sitting above him, with one hand holding the strings and the other cooking his pet rabbit in a pot.

shednik

astorrs wrote:

That thing is hilarious!!

Lizano

leek wrote:

I have held off any further studies on to the CCSP as I do not touch any hardware.

I would advise you against that, just my opinion, but I'd rather continue studying hard, and settle with simulators in the mean time, even if you reach the CCSP with out any experience, just be honest during your interviews, let your potential bosses know that you've put a good effort in to the studying and have done what is in your hands to get prepared to be a CCSP.