A Day in the Life: Careers in Cybersecurity

You’re smart, ambitious, and up for a challenge, and there are exciting roles in cybersecurity just waiting for you to claim. It’s a big field that needs women with diverse skills and backgrounds. Ambitious women just like you. So what are you waiting for? 

The media makes cybersecurity sounds thrilling and there’s rockstar money to be made (two of our favorite things, by the way) but you want details. 

We bet you’ve figured out how to tell if a career change makes sense for you right now. You’ve looked at the numbers, and you know there’s a shortage of over 2.7 million cybersecurity professionals globally. You’d have to be crazy not to consider it. 

But what would you actually do in a cybersecurity job? Boom. We thought you’d never ask. 

There’s no such thing as a typical day for anyone working in the cybersecurity field, but that’s a big plus! It means there are many different types of jobs suited to all kinds of backgrounds, experience, and interests. This also tells you there’s a lot of room to move around and up, so you’ll never get bored. Solid win in our books. 

In this blog post on cybersecurity, we’ll walk through:

• Getting started in a cybersecurity career

• Typical areas of responsibility for cybersecurity analysts

• A day in the life of a cybersecurity analyst

• What your future could look like if you dive in

Where to Begin: Getting Started in Cybersecurity

We’re going to let you in on a little secret. The people who are leading in cybersecurity today didn’t have degrees in cybersecurity. There are people with art, music, and fashion degrees finding success in this field. You can too.

No matter what you went to school for, or what your job is currently, it’s not too late to get started in cybersecurity.

There are different entry points into the field depending on whether you’ve already worked in the IT industry or other disciplines. While it’s true that a base of IT knowledge will be helpful, you may be surprised to learn just how many roles value different strengths besides computer skills. (To cut to the chase—no, you don’t need to know how to code to get started. Promise.)

Pro tip: Recruitment is a common challenge, and 91% of organizations are willing to pay for training and certification of the employees they hire.

If you’re just getting started in a career in cybersecurity you may find it easiest to target roles such as a project or program manager, risk manager, technical writer, or cybersecurity analyst, where a mix of technical and non-technical skills can be a powerful combo.

A Day in the Life as a Cybersecurity Analyst

Now let’s get to the good stuff. With any significant career move, one of the biggest hurdles is picturing yourself in a new field. So you need intel on what to expect in a job in cybersecurity before you take the  leap.

So let’s say you dive in and give it a go. What would a typical day look like if you took a job as a cybersecurity analyst? Of course, we’re talking after the alarm, coffee or shake, and a Peloton session. (And with your new cybersecurity salary, you can actually afford a Peloton..) 

High-level responsibilities

Here are some of the responsibilities you’d likely be on the hook for as a cybersecurity analyst:

• Watching your company’s networks and computers for any signs of hackers or risky behaviors

• Working with your team to decide what to protect and defend (because it’s impossible to cover everything!)

• Presenting anything that comes up to peers and management

• Educating your peers, managers, and people outside of your team that have nothing to do with cybersecurity on the importance of cybersecurity

You’re protecting valuable data and preventing harmful attacks, which are vital to an organization’s well-being. This stuff is important. 

But what does Tuesday at 11 a.m. look like? If you can’t picture what to expect in cybersecurity on an average workday, it’s easy to get stuck. Let’s dig in a bit further.

Common daily tasks

A typical day might be spent using special tools to look through all the things that have happened on a computer network to try and spot signs of a security breach.

You’ll keep everyone’s devices tightly protected and ensure cybersecurity policies are followed as closely as possible. This may mean running training programs, making sure systems and software is updated to defend against malware, and investigating suspicious activity on computers and networks.

You’ll probably install and test cybersecurity tools like encryption and firewalls. And you’ll also be part of regular reporting cycles to keep everyone in the loop. 

Critical incidents

These are exciting, but hopefully rare. That’s your job, after all, and you’re killer at it. But attacks do happen, and you’ll have more than a few experiences that pump the adrenaline. 

Should the company be the target of an actual cybersecurity attack, you’ll be in high gear responding to the incident. Expect to be part of briefings with peers and senior cybersecurity officials on your team, assisting with the necessary critical incident response, and regularly updating stakeholders as required.

A Future Without Limits: Careers in Cybersecurity

Learning what to expect in cybersecurity is a big part of the decision to dive in. Those early days will be critical to launching your career: targeting accessible roles, leaning into your talents, and swinging for every opportunity that comes your way.

But there’s also room to get excited about how your career could develop and take off. You want to be interested and inspired, but you also want a kickass role in 5 to 10 years. That’s absolutely possible. With additional training (plus a lot of the skills you’ll pick up along the way), you could blow right past any glass ceiling (we love the sound of that breaking glass!) 

Why think small? Roles at the top for careers in cybersecurity include chief information security officers (CISO), head of information security, or a variety of senior leadership positions in cybersecurity domains such as engineering, risk management, security operations, and more. 

Ready to connect with inspiring mentors in cybersecurity and craft a path toward your new career? Become an Insider and get the support you need today.