Job Hopping VS Directly Relevant Experience?

I wrote out a nice long post with examples from my life, what my future goals are, and a bunch of other nonsense, but I decided I'm just going to keep it short and sweet

. What do you think an employer values more when hiring for an IT security position?:

Someone with relevant education, certs, and experience but a slight history of job hopping.

OR

Someone who has relevant education, certs, and no history of job hopping, but their IT experience is in a field not directly related to security.

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Comments

Tom Servo

From what I've seen, direct experience in security trumps stable job history, but not by much. I could be considered a job hopper:
48 Months - System Admin
23 Months - Info Protection Analyst
11 Months - Security Consultant
10 Months - IT Security Auditor
Been at current job (and plan to stay a while) for 6 months. Info Security Analyst (Data Loss / Web Threat Analyst).

Finding security people seems to be challenging, at least in the Chicago area, so places seem more willing to consider someone that has job hopped. That said, I think there has never been a better time to get into security. Having experience in another IT area, and a genuine interest in Security does seem to be enough to get you in at some places. In fact, it is what got me my first job in security. Really depends on the organization, but some places do seem more hesitant to hire a someone new to security than a job hopper.

kohr-ah

The job hopping thing never seems to be an issue unless you are doing it way way to much. I don't mean like every 2 years but if you show a history of the past 5 years you jump every year the first thought in my mind is are you going to jump after a year with me.

d4nz1g

Hopped from Intern (2011 - no certs) all the way through Consultant/Senior Analyst (2014-few certs).

All my movements were vertical, so I don't see it as a bad thing.

ccnpninja

I make no prejudice until I interview him. Education and certs are put at stake during the interview.

networker050184

Someone with relevant experience is always going to have the upper hand in my opinion.

N2IT

I really like someone who stays are a position for 5+ years at least once in their career. With that said, if they take short efforts I don't have a problem. Personally I've taken a 3 month effort and it didn't seem to hurt me. Note I list short termed contract next to the job title so the interviewer knows.