Blazing your own trail

Building and working through labs for hands-on cyber skills is great, but there are more generalized ways of getting experience and socializing yourself within the cybersecurity community. This section highlights alternative opportunities from the traditional 9-5 entry-level position that allow you to apply cyber skills in controlled settings and develop practical cybersecurity experience through methods including internships, conference events, non-profit support, and looking within your own organization.

Conferences – more than just talks

Cybersecurity conferences offer an amazing amount of opportunities for you to gain experience, network with people who can get you experience, and to get exposure to many topics in cybersecurity that you may not naturally encounter on your own. There are many cybersecurity conferences to choose from and taking advantage of them should be accessible.

Some of the larger ones that you may have heard of include...