Cybersecurity is an industry that is growing by leaps and bounds. Many companies find that they can utilize these professionals to help them stay safe and preserve a lot of the information they hold for their customers, which is helping to make this a very lucrative type of career for many people to pursue.
As someone who is looking into going to college for cybersecurity, you may wonder what types of jobs are available for you once you get this degree. The good news is that there are many different types of jobs available based on your skills and what interests you the most. Some of the different types of jobs that you can get with a cyber security degree include:
Information Assurance Engineer
One of the choices that you can make when you get your cybersecurity degree is to become an information assurance engineer. This is a higher paying job that is meant to help you handle some security breaches and a variety of attacks that could happen on the system. You will focus on the infrastructure of the company and can work with encryption and firewalls.
To work in this career, you must have a degree first, at least a bachelor’s. Something like computer science is the best option. Work experience can be a good bonus as well. During your studies, make sure that you have experience handling sensitive data, security systems, security protocols, network security, and data breaches.
Information Security Analyst
These professionals get to work behind the scenes to help protect computer systems and various networks. They are going to watch for a security breach and then will investigate when one does happen. They can also look for the latest trends in IT to help prepare for a cyberattack to keep the company safe.
A bachelor’s degree in computer science, math, or engineering can be good for this kind of job. You need to have security infrastructure training to work as this professional as well. You can also consider whether an advanced degree will help you gain employment.
This field averages $102,600 a year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States. It is also seeing a huge amount of job growth over the next ten years, so you will run into no problems getting the career that you need.
Information Security Manager
With the right certifications, training, and technical skills, it is possible for you to work as an IS manager. In this kind of job, you are going to see a team of IT and cybersecurity professionals do their job. You will have time to plan programs that protect security systems against cyber threats. You can also put the right security measures in place for a company.
There are many industries who will look for these professionals. You could work in risk management, information, finance and insurance, and computer systems design to name a few. Many companies are expanding and find the need for these professionals, opening up more opportunities in the future.
Most companies are willing to hire these professionals if they have a bachelor’s degree. You can also choose to get the degree in a variety of fields based on your personal interests and skills. For example, some programs that are popular for this kind of career include information technology, engineering, and computer science.
This is a career that is able to make a good deal of money as well. According to PayScale.com, you will be able to earn close to $113,000 a year on average.
Information Security Specialist
When you get this job, you will be able to investigate and defend against a variety of different computer security risks. You will assist a team or a manager in finding these security issues and can also spend time troubleshooting problems, checking on firewall logs, and seeing that the servers are doing well as well.
It is possible that your role will change the more you gain experience in this role. You could start to make suggestions to the team or your supervisor and can find new ways to improve the current system. It is a great place to start as a beginner out of college because you can grow and learn along the way.
A bachelor’s degree in IT or cybersecurity is a good start to land this position. You will also need to consider getting a certification and some professionals go on to get a master’s degree in cybersecurity to help them be prepared. A global information assurance certification will help you stand out from the crowd with this job too.
IT Security Consultant
This can also go by the name of a cybersecurity consultant. This job pays well and has a huge amount of job growth along the way. If you want to get into cybersecurity and you are not certain where to get started, then working as an IT security consultant can help.
When you start in this role, you will provide advice on security to different companies, helping them make improvements to the weaknesses in their security. You can work with the security administrator to find vulnerabilities in the computers and fix some of the problems as well.
You will need a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity to work this kind of job, but having 3 to 5 years of work experience can help as well. It is preferable if you are able to get a master’s degree as well before starting.
Choosing the Right Cyber Security Degree
When it comes to the field of cyber security, you will find there are a lot of great opportunities available. No matter the type of work you would like to do or the industry that you pursue, you will be able to find some interesting work that will set you apart from others in the IT field. Take a look at some of the jobs above to see what you can do with a cyber security degree.