Specialise to survive?

[robert.portvliet at gmail.com (Robert Portvliet)]

Thanks Mick, I've spent over 7 years working in a niche market
(OpenView CM engineering & administration), I sort of fell into it &
although it has always paid the bills I'm more than ready for a new
challenge & really fascinated by all things infosec.

The reason I posed this question is that I've head the sentiment
espoused in this article a few times before & frankly there are so
many different areas of infosec that I'm interested in that I hate to
have to pigeon-hole myself to one particular thing in order to be
successful.

It has been my experience though (in general IT), that 'jack of all
trades' seems to work better in getting you hired by small to medium
size businesses while the large corps want someone who has spent half
their natural life doing just that one particular thing they are
looking to hire for, have you observed this on the security end of
things as well?


On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 4:55 PM, Michael Douglas<mick at pauldotcom.com> wrote:
> It all depends on what sort of a career you want to have. ?If you want
> to find a job pretty easily and have a great variety in what your
> day-to-day gig looks like, I think being a generalist is a valid
> option. ?However, if you have the inclination and want to focus on
> just one aspect of InfoSec you can do that too. ?Be sure to checkout
> what your local market will pay for each. ?Sometimes specializing can
> be very lucrative, unless perhaps you're focusing on something too
> niche (forensic analysis of devorak keyboards for AS/400 systems
> emulating Apple IIc systems).
>
> Also remember, it's only money... you should view your time as far
> more important. ?If you don't believe in your job and really enjoy or
> find what you're doing interesting, you do need to start looking
> elsewhere. ?Do NOT become a cow-orker. We (geeks) make very poor
> sheeple.
>
> <rant>
> If you really want to get me frothy in the mouth start saying stuff
> like ?"jack of all trades, master of none". ?Why? It's a LIE.
> Assuming no cognitive impermanent or organic brain damage, one can
> become really good at any number of computer based skills. ?I honestly
> believe the idea that someone HAS to focus on just one thing is a
> misguided "truth" perpetuated by those who are lacking skills
> themselves. ?(also bear in mind two things -- first I'm not professing
> to be a general know-it-all for computer stuff. ?Second, I've had too
> much caffeine. Again. ?So this answer should be read as 30% less
> ranty)
> </rant>
>
> Maybe we should have an InfoSec career round-table on the show
> sometime soon. ?Any votes on this? ?If you like the idea, please send
> some questions our way!
>
> - Mick
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 10:52 AM, Robert
> Portvliet<robert.portvliet at gmail.com> wrote:
> > What do you guys think of this article?
> >
> > http://darkreading.com/blog/archives/2009/08/specialization.html
> >
> > Do you feel it's better to study different areas of infosec (incident
> > handling AND penetration testing, for instance) or do you think it's
> > best to pick one area & focus all your efforts on learning everything
> > you can about it?
> > _______________________________________________
> > Pauldotcom mailing list
> > Pauldotcom at mail.pauldotcom.com
> > http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom
> > Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com
> _______________________________________________
> Pauldotcom mailing list
> Pauldotcom at mail.pauldotcom.com
> http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom
> Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com