Looking into cybersecurity as a fallback career

I don't know jack soykaf about coding or where to start, don't even know what kind of college degree I should be getting if I'm going to get into this field. All I know is that the job outlook is high and that I'm interested.

You can literally start right now by making basic Java or Python programs. A lot of people learn coding in either school, which is good since you don't drop out when you literally learn the basics in university. So you might consider trying out basic tutorials. Each programming language has their own main purpose, but i would tell you to start by trying out Python, Processing/p5.js , Javascript or similar languages, because they are very beginner friendly. Weekend project: make a program that draws you sine-waves. (Contains draw functions, basic math, understanding of coordinates)

i have a few advice: 1: stay away from being obsessed with buzzwords. try to understand how things work, especially basic things you use, like your everyday software(including os) and protocols and their implementations. if you start from famous security buzzwords you'll be nothing more than a smartass normal person. 2: always study and work parallel. i mean, read a book, then try to make some working code out of what you learnt recently. just studying or just coding doesn't work, do both and do them parallel. 3: "do your homework". you have to be good at programming to understand cybersecurity, and you have to be good at math to understand programming. never be ashamed if you have to go back a few years in your studies and repeat something. always build a house from the foundations. (you can always have some fun in addition and learn more interesting higher level things but never neglect the foundations) 4: you really need to understand how low level soykaf work in the memory. you need to program in C. probably ASM too, but C definitely. 5: get some good books. don't recline only on soykaf like online guides, wikipedia, etc. other people will give some advice on what to read probably, use libgen and get those books, print them or read them on an ebook or whatever. 6: probably the most important: be sure that you enjoy it, and if you start to don't like it, quit as soon as possible and find new carreer. there's always something you don't hate, just have to search throughly

>knows nothing >"fallback career" >interested only in money lel don't even bother mate

>>10049 nah, let him do it, he'll be another warm body in one of those "pentesting" teams, that run metasploit and charge $xxx so that the client can slap "yes, we have firewall" into contracts

>>10048 OP this is probably the best programming/studying advice i've seen articulated. If you are serious about learning to program you have to follow it, or at least most of it. Especially the last one.

>>10049 Everybody can contribute in society and economy, it is a collaborative effort. You will never know, but being mean will benefit nobody.

It's very difficult to get into the infosec space, thinking it is a easy fall back career is very misguided. >but there is high demand and high salaries Yeah, but because the skills required to get into the field, and experience you already need are difficult to come by. Entry level infosec is entry level to a advanced field.

>>10066 society used to develop through mild forms of abuse, teacher slapping you on the back of your head going "don't do that stupid". now it can be, and has been, taken to an extreme, but coming from a culture where imperative based education has been practiced up until recently, i will argue that one of the reasons america is like kicking dead whales down the beach now, is because of the kind of argument you are presenting. you wouldn't go to a doctor who only got half of his degree and never graduated. in some contexts, like on a desert island, such "doctor" might be useful, but his success rate will be much lower than that of a trained professional. you go to him because it's your only option. but for some reason in technology it's totally acceptable for an opportunist with 6 months of vocational coursework to be considered a full member of the profession. such people are celebrated even. well, it's nonsense. you need a decade or more of applied, directed effort (i.e. not just siting in the office, writing the same kind of code over and over again) to become actually good at it. information security is a specialization within computer science, meaning that you need to know even more stuff, than a pure computer scientist. these are also the kind of people who get paid $$$. the "mean" commenter is both in his full right to call out an opportunist, but also is doing him a favor by pointing out that his plan for easy money is not going to work the way he expects. at best, with such little exposure, he'll be an entry level slave, who's equivalent to senior specialists in name only. on the other hand your permissive, "it's all cool" attitude will not help anyone, and in fact will send a person down a path that they have neither time nor discipline to complete to satisfaction.

>>10125 Sec is probably the industry where degrees are faster outdated than printed due to how quick things change. What you really need is someone who can keep up with the rat race and stay on top of all new developments which isn't something any test can cover. The only benefit i can see in old people is you can look at their track record and filter people by amount of fuarrrkups during their career which should be at least somewhat correlated to the mentioned criteria.

>>10125 > in technology it's totally acceptable for an opportunist with 6 months of vocational coursework to be considered a full member of the profession. What profession? There are very few degree programs in "Technology". CS degrees are designed to produce programers. Computer Scientists learn how to program as a side effect. Most jobs in "Technology" are a vocation.

>>10066 If he is doubting from the very beginning it's likely he won't get anywhere. Now, if asides from doubting his only motivation is money then it's a fact he won't get anywhere. >Everybody can contribute in society and economy LMAO. Who cares about 'society' or the beast so called 'economy'. The one who gets the big piece of cake is some bankers, not to be specific. >But being mean will never benefit nobody Who's being mean? The Anon just spoke truthfully. If you're doubting the path you're about to take then you are surely doomed to fail unless you, somehow, managed to pull out a miracle. People who make it far in most fields have an 'autistic like focus' on the topics they get into. If before diving in your main motives are money you are surely going to either fail, or with some luck become a mediocre person. Maybe a decent one if you are hardworking. And either of these not without hating it every second. If anything you're the one who should do everyone a favor a stop spewing false hopes. Let us save some time for people.

>>10044 that's like saying heart surgery is a good fallback career if your car sales career doesn't work out

>>11997 this post best post