Our previous blog post dealt with the high demand that exists for information technology security specialists in an atmosphere of constant and escalating security threats. Close on the heels of that post, Forbes published an article explaining another reason why jobs at the head of IT security are in such high demand. Apparently, very few people actually want those jobs.
It seems odd that a job category with particularly noteworthy employer interest should actually have relatively few people seeking relevant information technology job placements in the USA and especially in IT hotspots like CA and the Bay Area. But if Forbes is to be believed, the fact is that the stress and unique demands of information technology security jobs makes them daunting prospects for people who simply want to be a part of the more general growth industry that is IT.
Forbes’ job descriptions for Chief Security Officer and Chief Information Security Officer state that such positions are “in the eye of the hurricane” and “buffeted by the high winds of security regulations.” But the article seems unaware of the fact that these two statements are actually contradictory. In fact, the notion of being in the eye of the hurricane is actually a perfectly appealing information technology job description – just as long as you’re the sort of person who knows how to navigate a hurricane.
The eye of the storm is the calm center around which all of the danger is constantly swirling. One misstep can put you in the path of something deadly, but if you have the skill and the know-how to move along with the changing weather, you can do very well there. And since the head of security is evidently an information technology job placement that not many people will be competing for, you can do very, very well there indeed. The combination of high demand and low popularity promises to give you virtually free reign in negotiating salary and benefits in such a position, especially if you’ve consistently demonstrated unique value to your firm.
Naturally, the trade-off for that is that in order to do well in such an information technology job placement, you have a tremendous skillset within an overall industry that does have extremely high levels of competition and an extremely diverse range of educational pathways and online information technology training.
As the Forbes article suggests, your success in the IT security field requires not only that you keep up with a variety of relevant online software training courses and training in things like data analysis and PMP, but also that you prove yourself to be adept at following procedures and regulations, as by completing certified scrum master training, general Agile training, and similar IT training courses.