What Skills Do CyberSecurity Professionals Need?

Cybersecurity professionals need specific skills as demonstrated in Tuesday's post on MOOCs and Thursday's on cybersecurity degree programs. Often IT people think that technical skills are the most important part of getting hired and, even more, moving up the professional ladder. Wrong! In recent years employers have become increasingly focused on the 'soft skills' that permit IT professionals to work effectively in teams.

Do a quick search if you don't believe me; you'll find that most of the top results deal with the importance of soft skills. The post from which I took this list is especially good because it tells exactly how students can develop and demonstrate the most important soft skills. Those are:

1. COMMUNICATION
2. Planning and organization
3. Drive, motivation and enthusiasm
4. Problem solving
5. Teamwork

Life in the 21st Century Workforce   http://bit.ly/2CdAked

This data from the US Chamber of Commerce gives a broader look and emphasizes the importance of soft skills. It also adds another important warning. Skills will have to be upgraded throughout the worker's lifetime. That's especially true of workers in IT in general and cybersecurity in particular where change is the norm.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102889097273633586605/collection/MZ8TKB

We thought about the importance of developing and presenting skills of all kinds when writing the Social Media Marketing textbook. The result was an emphasis on personal branding with a call-out in almost every chapter to show how that particular social medium could be used in personal brand development. Offline activities such as participation in activities and public speaking are also important. I've continued to collect worthwhile references on personal branding on a dedicated G+ page. Check it out before it goes away! I hope it will come back in some form, but I can't yet say what.

Today's message for cybersecurity professionals and students alike is--develop the skills you need, both hard and soft, and learn to present them in a way that supports your goals.

Stay Safe!

Related Updates
LinkedIn--biggest skills gap not coding