From Director of Marketing to Cloud Security Engineer: How Alex Transitioned into a Cybersecurity Career
Meet Alex Cohen! For nearly a decade, he worked as a marketing and sales professional. When the pandemic started, his marketing job dissipated, and he needed to find a new career. Cybersecurity had always interested Alex. However, Alex was apprehensive about making that transition. At the same time, his wife also decided to change her career path, pursuing web development. His wife's transition into a new career gave Alex the confidence to research cybersecurity bootcamps, leading him to Evolve Academy. At first, he did not know whether to focus on the blue team (defensive) or the red team (offensive) in his studies. Although Alex found red team interesting, most of the jobs he found landed on the blue team side of things. Therefore, he decided to start on the blue team and go from there.
Today, Alex is a web cloud security engineer for an MSSP (Managed Security Service Provider). His day-to-day tasks change based on the critical, most urgent thing on any given day. Since they service around 400 security clients, Alex might upgrade the infrastructure one day and create cloud services or alert dashboards the next. After three or four years in cybersecurity, Alex says that the people remain his favorite part of the industry. Alex also shares his most significant challenge in the industry: a prevailing perspective of security as a cost instead of an investment, impacting how security teams receive support and money to deliver the security each organization needs.
From networking methods to coping with imposter syndrome (feeling unqualified to work in the industry), Alex offers advice to anyone interested in cybersecurity.
If you're ready to start a career in cybersecurity, schedule a 10-minute chat with our admissions advisor. Our #1 ranked training will provide you with the expertise, experience, and job preparation you need to succeed. Learn more about Evolve Security Academy's Cybersecurity Bootcamp at www.academy.evolvesecurity.com.
