Uncle Sam Wants Your Security Skills, but Can't Get 'Em
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Security is the most resilient technology area in terms of jobs, certifications and demand. This resiliency is posing a problem for the U.S. government, which is competing for talent from the technology industry. The answer? For starters, throw a ton of money at it.
If you are in need of a job or looking to switch out of a dead end in
technology, it may be time to buy an American flag lapel pin and get training,
certification and real-world experience in Internet, networking and computer
security. The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and a host of other
government agencies are publicly asking for the best and brightest security
professionals.
The problem is that Uncle Sam is competing with the private sector, and the
apparent skill shortages are not being easily replaced, pointed out The San
Francisco Chronicle in the article "Demand Keeps Growing for
Cyber-security Workers." Despite a large unemployed technology base of workers looking
for new jobs, the government and career experts say persuading top security
talent in the industry to shift to taking a government gig is painful.
"We're all fighting for the same resources. We don't have thousands of
unemployed security professionals," said Patricia Titus, chief information
security officer for information technology firm Unisys, in the same Chroniclearticle. "Good IT professionals are still employed, and
trying to entice them from private sector into the government is going to be
difficult."
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano did not shy away
from asking security professionals to join the cause at the RSA conference
in San Francisco at the beginning of last
month. With a projected budget of $55 billion to be spent over the next five
years by the feds on security, working for the government may become a larger
reality for many technology professionals.
"We track the value of skills and premium pay for skills, and the only
segment of IT that has actually gained value, since the recession started in
2007, is security, and it has been progressive. We haven't seen a downturn in
its value in one quarter. ... Since 2007, when this recession started, overall
the market value of security certs is up 3 percent. But if you look at all 200
certified skills that we track in this survey that we do of 406 skills, overall
skills have dropped about 6.5 percent in value, but security certifications are
up 2.9."
The range of security skills in demand, as Foote pointed out, is far reaching.
If it's a big company or, in this case, the government, they generally are not
going to outsource these functions because that increases risks, so know that
you are getting into an area of technology with a bit more job stability than
other areas.
Over the next three years, the DHS is slated to hire 1,000 cyber-security
professionals and has extended offers to roughly 200 individuals so far. But
beyond pure recruiting, the DHS and the National Security Agency are setting
their sights on younger technology workers. Some are being enticed by a new
competition called the United States Cyber Challenge,
which began last May.
In terms of gaining security skills whether to be used for the purposes of the federal
government or not, you may need some guidance on security certifications. So
what certifications should you consider? Foote Partners puts out a hot
certifications list every quarter, and half of the list is filled by security
certs. Here is his description in the same podcast transcript from Foote:
"Twelve of 24 on this list of hot certifications are security. In order,
the GIAC Certified Incident Handler is at the No. 3 position. The ISC-squared
Systems Security Certified Practitioner is at No. 4. Check Point Certified
Security Administrator is at No. 8. The CISA, the gold standard auditing
certification from ISACA, is No. 11. And then at positions 14, 15 and 16 [are]
Check Point Security Expert, the Forensics Analyst and Intrusion Analyst from
SANS Institute."
