Page 32 - Cybersecurity Career Guide, 4th Edition

colleges and universities
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Apprenticeships:
Mentorship Plus a Paycheck
With elements of blue-collar and white-collar work, cybersecurity profession- als are often classified as “new collar.” Many jobs in the industry call for skills learned outside a degree program. Advancement, however, generally de- mands education, too. That’s where cybersecurity apprenticeships come in. Struc- tured to take you from raw talent to becoming a skilled and educated professional, these programs are designed to be paired with coursework in both two-year and four-year degree programs. Even better: You may well end up with your employer
paying for your higher education.
While internships can be valuable, they are part-time or short-term and offer low or no pay. Ap- prenticeships are full-time jobs in which you are paid
a salary as you gain skills. Unlike intern- ships, apprentice- ships are not left to employers to design. Rather, they are reg- ulated by the De- partment of Labor
and must include mentorship by a professional at the journeyman level, on-the-job training at no less than 60 percent of the standard wage for the job, and related tech instruction (though you may be responsible for tuition for such instruction).
Another advantage to apprenticeships is the opportunity to test your skills. Observes Craig Koroscil, senior executive at Circadence, “It’s okay to fail now — once you start work, it may not be.”
Just as with cyber camps or other programs, make sure the apprenticeship states the learning objectives in specific terms and outlines the measures of performance, together with any certifications earned. Start by searching online for apprentice- ships registered with Department of Labor. You can also check the NICE Cybersecu- rity Apprenticeship Program website (https://www.nist.gov/nice/apprentice- ship-finder) to search in your location and to align the opportunity with the credentials you want for your future. Some community colleges and universities have partnerships with reputable employers, so check in your region for those, too.
evidence for prosecuting cybercrime. And the increasingly thorny public policy questions of who should have access to information and how we can protect individual privacy won’t be settled with coding. There are business management courses for the tools to manage teams, projects, and your own cybersecurity company.
Most cyber programs accommodate coursework outside of tech. New York Institute of Technology’s B.S. in Informa- tion Technology, for instance, allows students to customize the program with several electives. Sarah Basset Lee, di- rector of the School of Computing Sci- ences and Computer Engineering at the University of Southern Mississippi, also recommends jumping at any opportunity to foster communication skills. “Even if you’re going down a technical path, you’re going to have do some writing. I’d suggest that students celebrate any op-
University of Maryland,
Coastline College,
Baltimore County
in Fountain Valley, CA