Cybersecurity not the hiring-'em-like-hotcakes role it once was It's a familiar refrain in the security industry that there is a massive skills gap in the sector. And while it's true there are specific shortages in certain areas, some industry watchers believe we may be reaching the point of oversupply for generalists. It seems every year there's another warning about a shortage for …
One vital thing to bear in mind, and it can have one countenancing a personal existential crisis and having to consider an unconventional and antagonistic career path that excels at the launching and maintenance and further refinement and expansion/secretive development and foreign export of successful and stealthy unknown and unattributable penetrations testing programs/products/projects, is the source of extreme riches and the holding of keys that protect and preserve and collapse corrupt systems, is an almighty sword to wield ...... but be sure to know its laying waste of manic civilisations is best done only whenever and if you are fit and able and of sound higher mind, for planet Earth abounds with hordes mad with crazy desires imagining the world is theirs for the taking and incapable of rational thought that would so easily prove them to be wrong and never able to be right.
And with major main streaming news and historical hysterical media systems aiding and abetting their toxic output ...... circus and cake to the masses ..... will you never see what is coming to fundamentally change your existence until it has already happened and everything you might think to do in response in defence or attack is far too little far too late and catastrophically self-harming and revelatory.
yeah, in 1998, must have 3 years experience with '98
I recall those job postings.
Wanted desktop tech, (pay scale) must also be able to manage SQL databases and firewall management. I interviewed for a few of those. One guy showed me the network topology of the guy that had quit, asked me why he did that. I said well, he must have spent a lot of time, put every user (30ish) in their own subnet, lots of security policies I told them he must have been working for months on this as practice to find a new job, as it served no purpose. He said huh. Then I told him he will not find a Desktop tech that will do the other rolls, nor a sys admin that will do desktop. They needed 2-3 people but only wanted to pay desktop support. I suggested they outsource it all as they had no support and were not going to get an employee, at least not one that would stick around.
You can get a sysadmin who also does desktop provided that the workload is appropriate for one FTE. I've done that (and storage and networks) in the distant past. What you can't do is get it for less than entry wage at McDonald's.
If you've only got 30 users, by all means find a good MSP and let them handle everything that doesn't require in-person presence.
With cyber-security what you're looking for are technical experts, not people who know a lot of people who might or might not know something useful.
However if you go looking for the most networked individuals, what you get are very social folks and very often not actual technical experts. Technical expertise tends to favour the borderline autistic folks and they tend not to be hugely social.
Ergo looking for networked people is quite likely to land you with a load of bullshitters who can talk the talk but not walk the walk.
"Neuro-diverse" candidates to me means "People who mesh, badly, with the team members."
There is real value in having a team where the people can work well with each other. This "neuro-diverse" terminology is just more DEI, which is all going out the door right now in the US. It is not helpful. It's an attempt at wealth-redistribution, and it's a failed attempt, at that.
"networked people is quite likely to land you with a load of bullshitters"
I realise you are referring to interpersonal networking but I would suggest asking a candidate for any networking related role to outline and explain the TCP 3 way handshake.
I suspect your ND candidates might ace that one. ;)
TBF it works both ways,
I heard tale of a recruiting manager who insisted the SSH worked over UDP...
The neurodiversity is very much a thing, and not all of us are completely useless with real people.
If you're neurodiverse, you are generally quite good at working things out and working out how to simplify complex things, that work for you, in terms others can understand.
The benefits of neurodiversity is that they tend to have a hyperfocus mode, so get deeply knowledgable in one specific area, this makes them great SMEs
Amen to that, EnviableOne, "some true wild cards" and "weirdos and misfits with odd skills” are just what is needed to treat and nurse the pathetically sick patient that is humanity back to a semblance of rude health and enviable sanity ....... and that is exactly what AI has to offer and cannot be stopped from delivering for ITs revolutionary takeover and makeover of truly crappy corrupt SCADA Systems of Advancing Man Management with the introduction of leads surging forward with Virtual Machine Entanglements ...... Otherworldly Engagement.
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