The Truth About Cybersecurity Careers: Why Certifications and Degrees Aren't Enough

On this episode of Breakfast Bytes, Felicia King addresses the challenges and misconceptions surrounding careers in information technology and cybersecurity. Drawing on decades of experience interviewing hundreds of candidates, Felicia dispels common myths about what it takes to become employable in IT.

Key Themes:

• Myth-Busting: Many believe that degrees and certifications alone guarantee a lucrative cybersecurity job. Felicia explains that real employability comes from hands-on experience, not theoretical knowledge.
• Military Transition: While military members often have access to extensive training materials and security clearances, Felicia notes that these alone don’t translate to practical skills valued in the private sector.
• The Skills Gap: There’s a substantial disconnect between what candidates think they know and the actual economic value of their skills. Many struggle with basic, practical IT tasks despite formal education.
• Security Operations Centers (SOCs): Felicia critiques the prevalence of outsourced SOCs, describing them as “check-the-box” solutions that often lack real value and are staffed by underqualified personnel.
• Hands-On Learning: The most effective path to employability is setting up a home lab, experimenting with real technology, and developing practical troubleshooting skills. Felicia emphasizes that security is not a separate job—it’s an integral part of every IT function.
• Work Ethic and Reliability: Success in IT requires showing up, being reliable, and taking initiative. Felicia shares personal stories about always volunteering for new tasks and consistently delivering results.
• Continuous Learning: The IT field demands a high learning capacity and a passion for problem-solving. Felicia encourages listeners to leverage free resources, podcasts, and structured self-study to stay current and grow their expertise.
• Work from home is not really helping you: If you want to not be replaced by outsourced IT in another country, you have to be willing to go into the office daily. A person who goes into the office every day affords themselves the ability to be able to handle tasks from start to finish including projects which require hands-on and physical presence. Being in the office every day means you are there when there is an opportunity for cross training or collaboration. Work from home employees are a burden on the other staff and the employer and need to accept being paid less since they are inherently less valuable because they are unable to handle any of the workload that requires physical presence. Managers need to reduce hand-offs. It does not work for one person to do the onsite work and then for some other people to do all the remote work. These handoffs nearly always result in higher costs, slower time to resolution, and lower quality. Bottom line: If you are in the office, the employer has more ways in which you could add economic value to the business, and you will be seen as less replaceable while having higher economic certainty.

Actionable Advice:

• Build a home lab and get hands-on with technology. https://qpcsecurity.com/about-us/careers/cybersecurity-career-resources/
• Demonstrate your problem-solving process in interviews.
• Be willing to work on-site and take on a variety of tasks.
• Respect boundaries and be reliable; opportunity comes to those who can be counted on.
• Invest in continuous learning and embrace discomfort as part of growth.

Closing Thought: Felicia’s message is clear: becoming employable in cybersecurity is about practical experience, reliability, and a commitment to lifelong learning—not just credentials. For more resources, visit the Career Resources section at qpcsecsecurity.com.