Feeling Overwhelmed in Cybersecurity? Here’s How to Deal
Cybersecurity is a huge, complex industry with a ton of opportunities for ambitious women like you. The scale of it is probably what caught your interest in the first place–well, that and the potential six-figure salary you’re determined to earn. With a global shortage of over 2.5 million cybersecurity professionals, there’s high demand.
It sounded like the perfect fit, and it still is–you think. But you’ve been working in the industry for a bit, and while you know you have skills, it’s been hard to figure out where to direct your focus. Cloud security? Digital forensics? Security operations? You probably thought that as you worked in cybersecurity, things would become more clear. Yet looking at the job requirements for where you think you might want to go next only makes you feel like you’re already behind.
You’re not behind. But you may be distracted by how much you don’t know yet (which you realize even more NOW than when you were standing on the outside) and trying to picture yourself in any number of roles 10 years from now is daunting.
The trick is to accept you’ll never be able to master everything. In fact, you may find more success in your cybersecurity career if you stick to one thing.
In this blog post, we’ll dig into:
Why you might be feeling overwhelmed in cybersecurity
Focusing on your strengths to get clear on your path
5 ways a more targeted approach can pay off in your career in cybersecurity
Reframing complexity as an opportunity
Why You Might Feel Overwhelmed in Cybersecurity
You’re exactly the kind of woman who can create a successful career in cybersecurity, but your version of a day in the life of a cybersecurity professional is full of cursing and cold coffee. You want to gain traction, but there are so many directions you could go, and elements of the patriarchy standing in your way. Bad managers, changing priorities, and penny-pinching can all create barriers. Your company doesn’t seem interested in ponying up support for training, and it’s not in your budget these days, either.
This is where you start to stall out. Maybe you’re typically confident, but lately, your days have had more frustrations than wins. Is it possible you’re setting standards for yourself that don’t quite align with what is humanly possible in such an expansive field? (We’re guessing this isn’t the first time your ambition has run away from you).
If you’re feeling overwhelmed in cybersecurity, you may be experiencing some of the following at work:
Feeling like you have to be good at everything
Worrying others seem more qualified
Feeling scattered instead of accomplished
Unsure which new skills you need most
You might be working hard, but feeling a bit stuck trying to figure out where to put your energy when building your resume and mapping out your career. Let’s fix that, together.
Focus on Your Strengths
The first step to ditching the feeling of being overwhelmed in cybersecurity is to take a solid account of what you are already contributing. Remember you bring a valuable set of skills to your role, and beyond practical industry skills, as a woman, you have unique and necessary insights and experiences.
Maybe you’re working too hard to be seen as knowledgeable about everything. It’s not always the best strategy. Instead, can you accept there are some things you don’t know and may never master?
It’s okay if the idea makes you cringe at first. Stay with us. Instead of trying to learn everything, we suggest a different approach: figure out what you’re best at and work to become excellent in one or two areas where you already have solid footing.
Want to know a secret? CISOs aren’t experts in everything either.
To begin, narrow your focus. What drew you to cybersecurity? Was there a particular focus area or role that was attractive to you? You can always adjust or shift focus down the road, but it’s better to have a starting point to help you target the future you’re trying to build. Action drives clarity. Making a decision will change your energy and help you move forward.
9 Ways a Targeted Approach Can Pay Off in Your Career in Cybersecurity
What happens when you focus on where you can excel and stop worrying about learning everything there is to know industry-wide? Now we’re getting to the good stuff.
Following a career pathway will help you map out steps to move forward and simplify your decisions. And with a more specific target, every ounce of effort you pour in should return bigger rewards faster.
Here are 5 areas where you’ll likely see tangible results once you focus your efforts.
Building confidence
Operating in your strengths is just the foundation of feeling more confident at work. You’re no longer worried about how you’re not measuring up in ways you may not ever be meant to. Instead, you’re making big strides with what you do best.
Effective networking
Building a meaningful community gets easier when you’re clear on your goals and can communicate them to others. Once you’ve mapped your path, you can seek out like-minded women tackling similar challenges or find mentors who have kicked down the doors you’ve been knocking on.
Intentional skill building
If you don’t have a target, you may waste time considering every learning option at every crossroads in your career. This can lead to ‘analysis paralysis’ and the inability to commit to any development, or not knowing enough about any one thing to qualify for a specific job role, which ultimately limits your opportunities.
Standing out at work
When you let go of trying to master everything, you can deliver better results in the areas where you already have solid skills to build on. This means more wins, more moments to shine, and more recognition for your talents and expertise.
Stronger negotiations
Feeling uncertain at work can make conversations with management difficult. The more directly you can communicate your goals to higher-ups and showcase your capability and wins, the easier it is to stick-handle discussions around money and promotions.
When you get clear on your goals, it becomes easier to take intentional, critical steps to building your resume and capabilities–making you easier to hire, promote, and champion.
Reframe the Scale of the Industry as Opportunity
With clear goals and confidence in the steps ahead, you can reframe how you view the industry. Instead of a huge industry with more knowledge than you can gain in one lifetime, you’ll see a broad and exciting landscape full of opportunities that will inspire you.
It may feel counterintuitive, but when you stop trying to learn every domain and earn every certification, you give yourself a chance to shine where you’re most talented. Think of cybersecurity as a team sport. You can’t play every position, but you can show up and excel at what you do best.
Ready to ditch the feeling of being overwhelmed by cybersecurity? Don’t wait to get the clarity you need to make better decisions. Become an Insider today.
