Do I Need To Be Technical To Land a Cybersecurity Role?

Many people have avoided a career in cybersecurity because of the fear of programming or coding. Some doubt the feasibility of crossing from a different field because they feel like their background does not match cybersecurity in any way.

Well, the good news is that you do not need to be so techy or geeky to start, or land a role in cybersecurity. There are different areas of cybersecurity and being too techy or geeky might actually be a disadvantage to ‘some’ cybersecurity roles. This is because many technical people struggle to communicate in non-technical terms to stakeholders, decision makers or any group of people that need the information in simple English. Sometimes, technical people also lack certain required skills such as leadership, project management, or even teamwork.

Being hands-on is good because it demonstrates you know your stuff but being able to communicate things to people outside your area of expertise on what you have done is also crucial. This is very common in areas of cybersecurity like penetration testing which involves trying to hack or break into a client’s system legally, to test the strength of the client’s security and to see where they might be vulnerable to hacking or other forms of cyber-attack. The penetration tester might do a really good job at finding the loopholes (vulnerabilities) through which attacks can come in. They might have written some sophisticated custom scripts, combined lots of cool techniques, and spent a hell lot of time to achieve their goals but these would all be a waste if not properly communicated in the report in a language the client understands. It might all look/sound like gibberish, a waste of time, and a waste of money as they cannot really see the value of the test done by the penetration tester.

However, on the other hand, a penetration tester might have done half of the work but has communicated the work done so clearly in the pen-test report that the client thinks they have not paid the penetration tester enough for all the job done. They are able to clearly see where they are vulnerable, where to patch, what to remove, what to add, and/or where to add. In cybersecurity, an idea or basic understanding of programming is sufficient to start and land a good role but a lack of programming knowledge should not discourage you from cybersecurity. Sometimes, the non-technical roles even pay more than the technical/hands-on roles. However, as we have told some amazing individuals who reached out to us, coding or programming knowledge is always a plus in any field. Moreover, depends on the area of cybersecurity you wish to major, you might need to write simple scripts to automate some tasks on occasion, but not full-blown programming.

In summary, it is possible to land a role in cybersecurity without being technical or having a technical background but as earlier mentioned, this depends on the area of cybersecurity you are interested in. Do you just like the idea of cybersecurity or there is a particular area of cybersecurity you would love to work? In addition, regardless of the role, a foundational understanding of cybersecurity (at least the basic principles and concepts) would be highly beneficial during your interview and while discharging your duties after being hired. Security is meant to support and enable business, not impede it. This is useful to know because you cannot just keep working only with the business goal in mind but also with security in mind and vice versa. Business tasks, and projects need to be carried out with security principles in mind and effected from start to finish.

Here are some examples of non-technical professions that actually support, and are needed in cybersecurity as well. Some also have transferrable skills should you cross into cybersecurity: Project management, Business management, Data science, Law, Policing and a few others. Cybersecurity is one of the professions where majority of the workers report outstanding level of satisfaction and fulfilment. In other words, many cybersecurity professionals do not loathe their job or career path. For the few who might loathe their job, you might also want to check if it is the job you loathe, or your boss, or you are just in a toxic environment.

Feel free to reach out to us via our social platforms if you need mentorship or want to ask questions about careers in tech or if you wish to assess your suitability to cross into Cyber. You will also find useful content on our platforms so do well to follow, and like so you can keep seeing more of our content.