𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹. Every week I see people with “Senior Cybersecurity Analyst”, “SOC3”, “Lead Security Engineer” in their headline... ...but when you talk to them for 10 minutes, you realize they’ve never: 📌 touched a domain controller 📌 analyzed a real log file 📌 looked at a scheduled task 📌 opened Sysinternals 📌 read a packet capture 📌 hardened anything - never We are creating paper seniors. People who know the terminology… but not the technology. This isn’t gatekeeping. This is the uncomfortable truth nobody wants to talk about: 💥 3 months of theory ≠ senior 💥 memorizing buzzwords ≠ experience 💥 certificates ≠ hands-on skill 💥 a dashboard ≠ visibility 💥 governance ≠ cybersecurity (and before you jump me again - governance is a part of cybersec but not cybersec itself) And the worst part? Many companies don’t even notice the difference anymore. They see “Senior” on the CV and assume the candidate can handle: 💣 an incident 💣 a misconfiguration 💣 a privilege escalation 💣 a rogue packet 💣 or an actual live breach But title inflation doesn’t protect your network. Attackers don’t care about your job title. They care about whether you can detect them. And here’s the real problem: 👉 If you skip the fundamentals, you skip the entire part that actually makes you useful in a crisis. Cybersecurity isn’t PowerPoints. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆. Breaking things. Fixing things. Understanding how systems actually work. You can’t “Senior” your way around reality. If you want the title earn the fundamentals. #cybersecurity #titles #realtalk
This is why I feel that the best cybersecurity pros are those who come from a deep IT background. Not only do I see this across multiple companies, but IT experience has helped me tremendously to succeed in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is, fundamentally a field rooted in hands-on experience. You can't learn about what you are protecting from a book. Sure, you can learn what things are called, but you won't understand how they work.
"Never touched a Domain Controller" 😂 Like a virgin … touched for the very first time Damn Cyber-Virgins!
In some cases titles can be a gateway for breaches.
Spot on. It’s really hard to find battle-tested security professionals who have actually gotten their hands dirty in the field.
This is exactly why companies are using our cyber range for qualifications. The amount of paper tigers out there is unreal!!!
In corporate America, we called these folks, "Paper Tigers". I've met a few over all my years - in both software development and security. That's why I like asking a few questions during an interview that would be an edge case. Something that isn't an obvious answer that would make folks think. I like seeing how they work out a problem. It gives you a lot of insight. You can't know everything, but how you approach it means more to me than having the answer.
Spot on. Titles don’t stop breaches, fundamentals do. I’ve seen too many “paper seniors” struggle when faced with a real incident because they never built the muscle memory of working with logs, packets, or system hardening. Cybersecurity is a craft, not just a credential. The best professionals I’ve worked with weren’t defined by their headline, but by their ability to roll up their sleeves and solve problems under pressure.
Looky Alexandre BLANC Cyber Security Jessica Boyer Joseph Jaubert Javariya Aamir James Bore James Lane William Rybczynski Quinnlan Varcoe Michael Žiger wrote this post what is really needed! I am going to repost his post to the group! Michael Žiger I agree with you as I am in the learning phase in cyber. My background is in IT hardware and old software person which touches the surface. Thank you for your post!
Too true. And hell, we cant even get commitment on the CISO being qualified on the technical side of things. The CISO! The one who is supposed to be the ultimate authority on all matters security!
Exactly, titles don’t stop breaches. Fundamentals and real hands-on skill do. Michael Žiger