Job Horizon » CAREER OUTLOOK
>>> making
cybersecurity professionals
aptitude are two of the most important credentials to landing a cyber security position with the U.S. government— often more so than even degrees or X years of experience. And uniform service is not always required. Even in CyberCom, civilians are quite welcome, with a force mix of roughly 80% military and 20% civilians.
THE TYPICAL CYBERWARRIOR While there are plenty of
exceptions, the typical “cyber warrior” is usually recruited from one of three backgrounds: 1) Talented youths lacking education: Either enrolling in a scholarship-for-service commissioning program or enlisting and entering a fast-track technical training course, these candidates make up the bulk of the uniformed service’s cyber ranks. Beginning in early 2018, all branches of service, even the Marine Corps, will off er direct enlistment options as non-commissioned offi cers (sergeants), which also skip boot camp, to entice more recruits with proven cybersecurity skills.
2) Entrepreneurs and hackers, often without formal training and experience: These candidates tend to be identifi ed through sponsored hackathons or when
they try to sell the DoD a unique product or service. Most of these candidates are actively recruited by headhunters for the NSA and DHS, although they’re eligible to apply directly with the military or any other federal agency. 3) General tech or engineering
professionals looking to switch to a cybersecurity specialty: These are the most sought-after candidates since they tend to bring with them managerial and teamwork skills and just require specialized security training.
APPLYING FOR CYBERSECURITY JOBS
As with all federal jobs, the one-
stop-shop to fi nd civilian cybersecurity jobs and apply is
usajobs.gov. Contrary to most DoD/DHS jobs, cyber warrior positions are much less competitive for three main reasons: 1) Most intelligence analysts,
network engineers, and data scientists are eligible for rapid hire under the special “Schedule A or B Excepted Service Hiring Authority.” This program allows federal agencies to skip the normal competitive hiring process and directly hire experienced civilians meeting the job’s minimum conditions. 2) Contractors are used far less
often in cybersecurity, in large part due
to legal issues surrounding the military chain of command, which severely restricts a contracting fi rm’s authority to act with or against foreign agents. 3) All positions require Top Secret
or higher security clearances, which narrows the potential labor pool to U.S. nationals with squeaky clean backgrounds and provides a natural bias toward military veterans. And all of these bonuses are likely
to expand over the next few years, especially as the government ramps up recruiting eff orts to keep abreast of the hourly barrage of cyber assaults aimed at the U.S. and our allies. As Admiral Rogers testifi ed to Congress earlier in the year: “We need a broad range of skills, and many of the best candidates won’t necessarily have advanced educations or years of work history but do have proven experience and talent in the fi eld. We can’t keep relying on fi ve- to ten-year development cycles in terms of manpower. We have to think outside the box because our enemies sure are.” S
www.blackengineer.com
WINTER 2017 I USBE&IT 91
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