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Millennials Not Pursuing Cybersecurity Careers
Threaded  |  Newest First  |  Oldest First
Joe Stanganelli
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/26/2015 | 11:13:51 PM
yup
Not that surprising, really.  Security has always been far less of a draw than other cyber roles -- and it's why good security is often lacking in many tools and environments.  Programmers usually want to work with features -- not security.
RyanSepe
RyanSepe,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/27/2015 | 8:49:31 AM
Re: yup
Can't really blame programmers for being programmed that way. All kidding aside, the features are the core concept of technology its when we fail to ingrain security with them in the SDLC that we run into issues. But make no mistake, without the features there wouldn't be any security to apply.
Joe Stanganelli
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/29/2015 | 11:16:06 PM
Re: yup
@Ryan: Certainly, this is why we are now at the point where security must be a consideration right from the beginning -- especially as new technology offers new vulnerabilities.
Kelly Jackson Higgins
Kelly Jackson Higgins,
 User Rank: Strategist
10/27/2015 | 9:39:28 AM
Re: yup
I speak to as many college students as I can about the opportunities in cybersecurity. But they all seem to be focused on coding, coding, coding, and few have any knowledge or insight into the security piece of that puzzle, nor the security industry itself. 
JimmyW414
JimmyW414,
 User Rank: Apprentice
10/27/2015 | 2:53:15 PM
Re: yup
A big part of work for women is looking for a date. The IT field has the stereotype of being full of male geeks.
Marilyn Cohodas
Marilyn Cohodas,
 User Rank: Strategist
10/27/2015 | 3:12:24 PM
Re: yup
I'm not a millennial but I certainly  speak for the vast majority of my female peers whose reason for working in IT has nothing to do with dating!  Think challenging work, good pay, opportunity in a growing field. Ladies, speak up!
Marilyn Cohodas
Marilyn Cohodas,
 User Rank: Strategist
10/27/2015 | 3:12:35 PM
Re: yup
I'm not a millennial but I certainly  speak for the vast majority of my female peers whose reason for working in IT has nothing to do with dating!  Think challenging work, good pay, opportunity in a growing field. Ladies, speak up!
windycitycassie
windycitycassie,
 User Rank: Apprentice
10/28/2015 | 6:20:05 AM
Re: yup
I think that prior post and people like it may be one reason some women don't want to go into the field. I know I've dealt with enough of it in the years I've been in InfoSec.

As for why more millenials (and women?) aren't going into the field... I do think a lot of it has to do with not understanding the various roles available.  There is a place for coding, but also other aspects such as network security, solution design, etc.  It doesn't hurt at all to know about coding, but it's by no means mandatory.
Dr.T
Dr.T,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/28/2015 | 9:08:15 AM
Re: yup
Kids seem very excited in coding, especially gaming and mobile development.
Joe Stanganelli
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/29/2015 | 11:19:34 PM
Re: yup
Coding may not be mandatory, but I think we are already arriving at an economy where coding is a huge plus in many fields -- thanks in large part to the proliferation of data science.
techmichelle
techmichelle,
 User Rank: Apprentice
10/28/2015 | 10:23:51 AM
Re: yup
Alright :-) This article is pointing out the statistics. It opens the question of why?

Sure its easy to off load the answer as a Dating.  Many girls even with opportunity, support, and being around people in the field do NOT choose to tackle Engineering, Computers, you name it, for a degrees when coming out of high school.  Lots of reason, part of it is social media. 

At one time when the state upped the smoking age and taxes, they used part of the tax money as grants for anti-smoking campaigns. One of the most successful was done by a middle school media club.  The whole school was involved. Posters, articles to TV spots.

Social Media can be turned around, figuring the best way to spend the money? One idea is to offer contests and grants to social media clubs at colleges.

Whistleblower, hacking, court you name it. These issues are harder to tackle yet very important.

How to dress for success, this is such an oh my josh area, this is how I would describe it.

As a child your parents teach you to watch out for cars, then you find out that pedestrians have the right of way, then you realize you might have the right of way but a car is going to kill you.

Free online coding groups have expanded the opportunities. The next step for them is to incorporate certificates and degree programs that lead into paid interships and entry level jobs.  

*** Another issue is lack of opportunities for women already in the workforce.  As groups continue to expand opportunities I hope this part of the issue gets more focus.

 

Dr.T
Dr.T,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/28/2015 | 9:15:59 AM
Re: yup
I doubt that it is about dating. We have not being doing a good job when it comes eduction our kids in a balanced way, we do not give enough attention to our female kids and get their attention to IT world.
fl0w3r
fl0w3r,
 User Rank: Apprentice
10/27/2015 | 5:18:35 PM
Re: yup
I didn't know much about security while I was in my university. Most courses weren't focused on it. It wasn't until I saw people using a web debugging proxy to steal digital goods that I was interested. I wasn't about to make a game and have all my work for nothing if people could just not pay for it. So I learned what people do to attack programs. Show them the significance of buffer overflow vulnerabilites, format string vulnerabilities, sql injection, etc, by showing how easy it is to do, and they might listen. I suggest picoctf dot com 2013:Toaster Wars and picoctf dot com 2014. It's a high school ctf, but it teaches what attackers do.
Dr.T
Dr.T,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/28/2015 | 9:09:52 AM
Re: yup
I see. Security was not that visible and impactful let's say 10 years ago. Recent years all these security bridges created awareness.
Joe Stanganelli
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/30/2015 | 11:28:20 AM
Re: yup
I think we are probably at the point where coding needs to be a part of regular high-school (and/or middle-school) curricula -- allowing for greater specialization at the college level.
David Mudkips
David Mudkips,
 User Rank: Apprentice
10/27/2015 | 3:23:34 PM
Re: yup
Not surprising with the heavy handed way young hackers are treated these days, putting them in prison or giving them a criminal record isn't going to encourage a new generation. You don't get any good at cybersecurity without breaking a few laws first.
fl0w3r
fl0w3r,
 User Rank: Apprentice
10/27/2015 | 5:09:41 PM
Re: yup
You can learn hacking/pen testing without breaking the laws. That is what Google and capture the flags are made for. Also, set up VM's and have one as the victim and the other as an attacker. Then get books about hacking and practice the techniques with your VM's.
jw13d
jw13d,
 User Rank: Apprentice
10/29/2015 | 3:08:52 PM
Re: yup
You are quite mistaken. Good security skills require a foundation in system and network administration. If you aren't good at building systems and networks, you won't be good at protecting them (security). The hactivists that are getting the heavy handed treatment that you speak of don't generally have those fundamentals and are just breaking things. It is fundamentally easier to break things than to create them, but that doesn't give you the skills to be a good cybersecurity person.

Personally, I view the cybersecurity team as the masters program with system and network administration/engineering being the associates/bachelor level programs. I don't encourage anyone to jump straight to security but to enter administration and engineering with security in mind and cross over to security once you have the fundamentals down.
geriatric
geriatric,
 User Rank: Moderator
10/27/2015 | 10:09:43 AM
Focus on the Solution
Invariably in these discussions, the gender gap is seen as some sort of problem that needs fixed. But why must we refuse the response of many women who say "I'm just not interested" without the reply being "But we have to find some way to MAKE you interested!". There's nothing inherently deficient about preferring one choice over another. Instead, focus on the characteristics that make for an effective cybersecurity professional, and target those individuals, regardless of irrelevant categories like race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or political party.
Dr.T
Dr.T,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/28/2015 | 9:30:30 AM
Re: Focus on the Solution
As long as we can educate our female students and attract their attention to IT, they will find their way up. It starts form bottom.
Joe Stanganelli
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/29/2015 | 11:18:02 PM
Re: Focus on the Solution
Unfortunately, many parents are still hardcore reinforcing strict gender roles with the way children are raised that the issues go deeper than simple education.
Dr.T
Dr.T,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/28/2015 | 9:06:03 AM
Not exciting maybe?
Although hacking is attractive Security is not exciting in general, that ,as be the reason for it.


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