Page 28 - Cybersecurity Career Guide for North Dakota

education: Community Colleges
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Two-
Year
Plan
Community colleges offer hands-on experience prized by employers.
Whether you’re fresh out of high school or looking to pick up some new skills to boost your career, community colleges are
an excellent resource for budding cyber- security professionals. A cybersecurity program at a community college can be a stepping stone to a bachelor’s degree, an entrée into the work world, or both. Campus-based or online, these courses are low-cost and offer the sort of hands- on training that employers love.
An associate of applied science de- gree, or AAS, offers a variety of concen- trations, all of which equip students with practical skills needed to get hired in en- try-level roles. Areas include threat anal- ysis, monitoring a network for indicators of compromise or penetration, and digi- tal forensics analysis to determine who hacked a system and how to prevent future compromise. To a lesser extent, students also study the engineering of computer hardware and software.
Be on the lookout for companies pro- viding scholarships and resources for students—particularly students from low-income families. Microsoft, for ex- ample, just announced a major initiative to help students interested in cybersecu- rity careers with an array of financial and
educational benefits, including assis- tance up to $500 as well as networking and technical learning opportunities.
Most community college graduates continue their education at some point, because bachelor’s degrees are impor- tant for long-term career development.
Forsyth Tech, in Winston-Salem, NC