@Canadian Cybersecurity Network - Apologies for the delayed reply. My opinion and thoughts below are solely my own. They do not reflect any past, present or future employers.
Interesting that you framed it around innovation, as my initial thought before reading the article was that the gap in positions has nothing to do with innovation, however, after reading it, I would tend to agree that innovation should be one aspect used to help close said gap.
I think there are a number of challenges (and I'm being very specific and deliberate in choosing that word) that need to be addressed. As mentioned in the article, there's not going to be one solution to solve them all, because as the threat landscape continues to shift, the needs, demands and skillsets required to address those threats will shift accordingly.
To get more workers into the labour force requires a true understanding of the many different roles that need to be filled. From there, I believe it's about "working backwards", meaning taking the end goal of having those positions filled and understanding both the soft and hard skills required to be successful and the ramp up time to develop those skills. Once those are clearly defined, develop talent pipelines, starting in high school/secondary school as one starting point.
Another entry point to consider is those that are looking to make a career shift from another profession into cybersecurity. Whether you start in school or you want to switch careers, what's important here is to "do the work" and understand the domains of cybersecurity so that one can understand what really excites them.
From a candidate's perspective, my belief is that they should be open and flexible to learning to technologies, skills and domains, which includes ones that they may have overlooked in the past. This is a must to be successful within the profession. It's continual learning and development, and no matter where a candidate comes from, it's important to start with the basics of how computers and networks operate and learn how to troubleshoot, and problem solve. I'll focus on that last part again; problem solve. My belief is that if you Venn Diagram cybersecurity, project management, and consulting, the intersection of all three is problem solving. This is a core skill set you must develop as you build your career.
I think the train-to-hire programs are a fantastic way to solve the challenge and start closing the gap, because a candidate will be trained in a range of topics to fill a role, however what's important here is what is highlighted in the article; there's a need to have greater diversity of thought, and more and different types of skill sets and backgrounds coming to solve.
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Dylan D'Silva
Security Researcher
Tripwire
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-01-2022 07:12
From: Francois Guay
Subject: 700K cyber jobs left unfilled in US...same phenomena in Canada -What to do?
Good article, innovation is still lacking. How would you tackle this problem. @Evgeniy Kharam, @Kathy Isaac, @Dylan D'Silva, @Gabrielle Botbol?
Tell us how you would get more workers into the labour force and get employers to lower their requirements and train people up.
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Francois Guay
Founder, Canadian Cybersecurity Network
Founder, CanadianCybersecurityJobs.com
Founder, Francois Guay & Associates
francois@francoismguay.com
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