Industry Overview » CAREER OUTLOOK
s Now in Full Swing
assailants, in real time or proactively striking threats untouchable for political reasons. Or as NSA director Admiral Michael S. Rogers puts it, “CyberCom operates in the space between economic sanctions, espionage, and kinetic military strikes, giving us unique options to take the fight to the enemy outside the normal channels.” Dominating this nether region
of shadow warfare, where U.S. adversaries can and have inflicted significant damage to our interests with little fear of direct military or diplomatic retaliation, is a top priority for the DoD. To field enough top-notch “cyber warriors,” the military has created quite a few direct hire, or “lateral entry,” options to identify, recruit, and develop talent as fast as possible.
NOW HIRING: ENTRY-LEVEL CYBER WARRIORS WITH APTITUDE AND ZEAL
Among all the STEM career
paths available in the Department of Defense, intelligence community, and Department of Homeland
Security, the cybersecurity field has the most flexible recruitment options. Most interesting for potential
cyber warriors, the government is not so focused on finding the “perfect” candidate. There are just far more specialty security positions available inside the defense sector than there are well-qualified candidates in the labor market to fill them—not to mention the difficulty of competing with the private sector on salaries. Instead, the U.S. actively seeks out entry- level personnel with an aptitude and zeal for cybersecurity, even if they lack the normal education and work experience. In fact, 80% of new hires for the
NSA and military Cyber Command are classified as entry-level employees, who then receive intense training on Uncle Sam’s dime. This is due, in large part, to the DoD’s non- traditional hiring practices, such as scholarship-for-service partnerships with many universities, sponsoring youth hackathons to spot talent
outside of the college-educated workforce, and offering direct officer commissions to relatively low-level cyber security professionals with some managerial experience. The other drive for grooming
skilled technical labor in house is simple finances. Despite moving most civilian cybersecurity positions to Title 10 hiring authority in 2016, which allows federal agencies to offer special salary bonuses, federal budgets just don’t have the deep pockets of Silicon Valley or Wall Street firms. The average starting salary for a “top tier” cybersecurity professional working in the private sector is $300,000—50% more than the top of the DoD’s civilian pay scale. Maj. Gen. Lori Reynolds, commander of the Marine Forces Cyberspace Command, mentioned recently, “We need to start thinking outside of the box on these recruiting efforts because, monetarily, it’s a losing game trying to keep up with industry offers.” S
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WINTER 2017 I USBE&IT 89
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