Career Switch: Cloud Developer to Cybersecurity

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” —George Eliot

Cybersecurity is one of the biggest job generators in this decade. With the rising incidents of online threats, security breaches, and cyber attacks, everyone is a potential target. Companies and individuals are actively looking for professionals who can protect them from these impending attacks. Organisations need professionals to manage and maintain the security processes and technologies for safeguarding their data. A cybersecurity professional is responsible for developing, configuring, and troubleshooting incoming issues related to firewall/IPS, network analytics, advanced malware protection, and so on for securing confidential and sensitive information. In this scenario, a career in cyber security could bring massive opportunities for professionals trying to make a switch into a promising career domain.

Interestingly, the demand for cybersecurity professionals, especially in the cloud domain, has skyrocketed in the past few years. And transition from cloud to cybersecurity could be highly rewarding for the professional.

Why Cybersecurity As A Career?

According to experts, the demand for cyber security professionals ceases to slow down. Currently, the global requirement for cyber security professionals lies at around 3.5 million (source: cybersecurityventures.com) amidst the rampant layoffs in the tech domain. Not surprisingly, the largest set of opportunities in the cybersecurity domain comes from the Asia Pacific region, primarily India, Singapore, and Australia.

In India, there is a 30% demand-supply gap for cybersecurity jobs (source: economictimes.indiatimes.com). There are close to 25,000 unfilled positions in cyber security roles, and this number is expected to rise tremendously as companies adapt to cloud environments.

Cybersecurity is a growing and on-demand industry

• The Cybersecurity Job Sector is predicted to have around 3.5 million openings by 2025 (https://www.forbes.com/),
• The cybersecurity world offers a long list of job roles and opportunities, such as Cybersecurity Engineer, Penetration,
• Testing Security Engineer, Security Architect, Cybersecurity Analyst, Network Security Manager, and more,
• The cybersecurity salary could reach up to 24 LPA INR,
• Cybersecurity professionals have openings in a wide range of industries; added to tech, you will also find job openings in healthcare, military, automobile, logistics, finance, and so on.

In light of the increasing demand for cybersecurity professionals and the multitude of opportunities it presents, it is worth comparing cloud developers to cybersecurity to understand the unique aspects of each field.

Why Cloud Developers Should Switch To Cybersecurity Career?

With companies moving their entire operations to the cloud, the need for skilled cybersecurity professionals is exponentially high. Organisations need skilled cyber security leaders who can drill security awareness into the employees. Additionally, they must stay on top of removing user credentials in cases when the employee leaves the organisation or granting access based on the job requirement. Only when employees understand what can be shared and what not, can companies successfully shield themselves against hackers.

For a company slowly moving on to cloud infrastructure, ensuring strong cyber security policies is crucial. Cloud developers need to understand the sets of procedures necessary to prevent external and internal threats that might otherwise impact business operations on the cloud. Cloud security certifications and workshops are helping these professionals eliminate existing security loopholes as a part of the software development life cycle.

How Long Does It Take for Cybersecurity Career Switch?

Someone starting with cyber security should go for entry-level courses first, gradually switching to more advanced cloud security certifications or advanced pen-testing certs. Since cybersecurity is an ever-evolving domain, professionals need to constantly re-evaluate, re-learn, and re-engage themselves to keep up with the latest developments and threats.

Along with dedicated classroom education, a learner needs practical hands-on experience to get a complete hang of cybersecurity. Here is a detailed roadmap for cyber security enthusiasts:

• • Back to Basics
    Anyone starting with cyber security requires fundamental knowledge of networking and internet technology. There are several resources available both online and offline on the topic for reference.

  • Get Certified
    Most organisations look for candidates with industry-relevant certifications. These certs validate a candidate’s skills and prove that they are eligible to work with the required tools. Some popular certifications such as Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH v12), Certification In Ethical Hacking, Cyber Security Essential Program, or CompTIA Security+ are widely accepted across the industry.

  • Advanced Specialisation
    Cybersecurity is a  complex and diverse field with multiple specialities. A learner’s journey is never complete until they get into a specialisation that sharpens their skills further. Some of the popular specialisations in the cyber security domain include Incident Response and Forensic Analysis, Penetration Testing, and Architecture and Policy.

  • Hands-on Experience

    Along with cyber security certifications, a learner needs real-world practical experience to make their footing in the corporate world. For a hands-on experience, learners either work on security-related projects or participate in bug bounty programs and hackathons. Also, contributing to open-source security tools could also help showcase their skills to organisations. Once armed with the right certifications and experience, a cloud developer can finally move to job-hunting.

For freshers, well, internships and entry-level roles are a good place to start for experience and continuous learning. Professionals switching to cybersecurity need to network within communities and participate in meetups to build connections. These pointers can help  within the field and stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends.

Wrapping Up

While cybersecurity focuses on securing system networks, applications, and data against threats and unauthorised access, cloud development focuses on designing and analysing cloud systems for seamless operations. Yet, both domains share a few interlinked skills. With organisations slowly moving on to cloud environments for data storage, they will need a special set of talents who can protect them from hackers and other threats. Thus, a cybersecurity career switch could be beneficial for your career.