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The Cybersecurity Industry Is Hiring, But Young People Aren't Interested

Posted by samzenpus on from the no-thank-you dept.

Daniel_Stuckey writes "Cybersecurity, as an industry, is booming. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs as network systems and information security professionals are expected to grow by 53 percent through 2018. Yet, young people today aren't interested in getting jobs in cybersecurity. By all accounts it's a growing and potentially secure, lucrative job. But according to a new survey by the defense tech company Raytheon, only 24 percent of millennials have any interest in cybersecurity as a career."

8 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. hire me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not a millennial, but I am familiar with computer system security, and while I don't have a security clearance, I do have a clean record which makes it possible to get one. Perhaps raytheon et al are simply expecting too much for too little pay. They're not going to find BS degree'd, clean cut 20 somethings with no criminal record if they insist on offering $12/hr wages. That mythical 22 year old working 22 hours a day for 22k a year doesn't exist.

    The employees are out there but they cannot work for chinese slave labor wages, nor do they want that lifestyle.

    1. Re:hire me by gl4ss · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't know who the fuck made the conclusions but 24% is a friggin big portion.

      that's like bigger than firemen, airline pilots or what have you. it's such a big pile of people that there's no frigging way for them all to have jobs in "cybersecurity".

      would be rather pointless too if more than a quarter of a generation was needed for it. that would be quite telling of the fact that they wouldn't be actually doing any cybersecurity work but working as STASI.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:hire me by NJRoadfan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If the job required any sort of federal security clearance, chances are they were looking for someone who already had one. They don't want to spend the time and money on getting clearances.

    3. Re:hire me by CRC'99 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The employees are out there but they cannot work for chinese slave labor wages, nor do they want that lifestyle.

      11 months ago I finished my Commercial Pilots License - I haven't been able to find any work at all since completing it. That was the last time I touched a plane.

      The same problem exists. People are expected to splash $100k AUD on their license, then work for ~$25k a year. Not to mention get themselves to jobs on their own dime etc... I hear the same lines "There is a massive pilots shortage!!" - which is absolute bullshit. We just have to take other jobs to pay off the loans etc we took for our training.

      It just about gutted my career - but this is the world we live in. Now I'm only casually employed - and making about the same amount as I would as a pilot - while working only a handful of hours.

      --
      Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
  2. I'm not surprised. by Xenkar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I certainly wouldn't take a job that would force me to flee to another country for asylum if my conscience makes me become a whistle blower.

    1. Re:I'm not surprised. by cardpuncher · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Cybersecurity doesn't necessarily mean surveillance. There's a more attractive side, too - you could spend your entire life running change control on a library of hundred-page procedure documents and reviewing firewall logs. Now, what kid could turn down *that* opportunity?

    2. Re: I'm not surprised. by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This. What the article doesn't explain is what cyber security usually entails at a defense contractor. I did that kind of work for about a year, and wanted to pull me own fingers off.

      It was where they took bright engineers, gave them tedious and excruciatingly boring tasks, burned them out, and replaced them. You'd think cyber security would be somewhat cool, but in reality, it was taking several multi-thousand line spreadsheet checklists, run some scripts, and manually put passes or fails for the things the scripts didn't cover. Do that all day every day for every type of server and every project, repeatedly, till all or almost all checks were passed. And then, do documentation.

      I would say that where I worked, the youngest crowd were the only suckers willing to take that work. Everyone else knew better.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
  3. Does everyone have to work in cybersecurity?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would've thought 24% of young people being interested is pretty good. Especially for a niche job like this.