Commentary
One of the biggest challenges that millions of young college graduates face today is that once they graduate, they’re finding that their degrees in esoteric subjects don’t translate into well-paying jobs. Being a college-educated burger flipper or other low-skill, low-wage worker is now a reality for too many of our young people. As a result, we’re now seeing a generation of angst-ridden young adults without great prospects in the job market. It’s a significant and growing problem.The Miseducation of Millennials and Gen Zers
Much of the fault can be linked to our colleges and universities creating new areas of study that have little to no real-world application or value. The various theoretical intersectional disciplines in the humanities are a prime example of that. Outside of academia, there’s very little, if any, tangible value in those areas of study (I seriously doubt their value within academia), with the negative value of leaving graduates saddled with crushing student loan debt.This isn’t just a Gen Z problem. A generation of unemployed or underemployed people has a far-reaching effect on society. Lost tax revenue, lower consumption, more renters and fewer property owners, and a greater strain on social support systems are just a few long-term effects.
But what are the options for them?
Learning a Trade Is Better Than Living With Parents
One of the most popular alternative career choices for Gen Zers is to avoid getting an overpriced college degree altogether and learn a trade instead. Learning plumbing, welding, electrical work, and other trades isn’t glamorous, but then, neither is living at your parents’ house in your late 20s or even in your 30s.But that’s what’s happening. About 16 percent of millennials live with their parents or family members because they can’t afford housing. Nearly one-third of Gen Zers still live at home. In fact, the number of multigenerational households in the United States has increased by more than 1 million over the past decade.
The Cybersecurity Gap Means Big Career Opportunities
The good news is that in one particular industry, there are 500,000 well-paying jobs that need to be filled yesterday that can change the fortunes of the underemployed and miseducated Gen Z in a relatively short period. That industry is cybersecurity. According to recent estimates, 500,000 unfilled jobs are the low end of the need for cybersecurity professionals.If the cybersecurity industry sounds like a complex and sophisticated field, it is. In a nutshell, cybersecurity involves protecting organizations’ networks, devices, programs, and data from cyberattacks in the form of data theft or ransom, unauthorized access, modification, and other damage or manipulation. Essentially, cybersecurity protects digital assets ranging from financial and medical industries to high-tech, military, and all other types of industries or organizations.
Analyst Demand Is Skyrocketing
What’s more, the demand for analysts is so high and growing that the cybersecurity gap (which is widening every year) has made cybersecurity a very sure and lucrative industry, with the possibility of industry layoffs virtually nonexistent, both in the United States and in the rest of the world. Today, the global shortage of cybersecurity analysts is estimated to be about 4 million and is expanding rapidly.With the widespread and continuous digitalization of nearly every aspect of life, there is no shortage of opportunities. In fact, the number and cost of data breaches and losses suffered by cyberattack victim organizations and individuals are rising steeply every year, driving the demand for IT security analysts up as well.
Not a Genius? Not a Problem
But you don’t need to be a science or math genius to get into it. In fact, in many cases, you don’t even need a college degree. You can get an associate in cybersecurity, which sets you up for entry-level cybersecurity jobs such as security auditor, systems administrator, and cybersecurity analyst. Many programs typically only require a high school diploma or GED certificate to qualify. There are also cybersecurity boot camps that are a whole lot more reasonable than college—and much quicker—that will help you get your foot in the door of a secure and reasonably high-paying full-time job in cybersecurity.
The need is so great that some IT security firms or in-house divisions have even been known to take on motivated interns that they can train to work with their specific systems and then subsequently hire them as full-time employees.
A Wide Variety of Well-Paid Cybersecurity Roles
As you would expect, cybersecurity makes up several roles or subfields. Most begin as a tier 1 analyst in a security operations center, monitoring and investigating suspicious activity. Other, more sophisticated roles include network security, cloud security, application security, and security architecture. In short, there are plenty of roles to choose from once you get started, with plenty of opportunities for advancement. An added perk is that many, if not most, of these roles can be performed on a remote-work basis.Last but not least is the pay scale in the cybersecurity industry. For example, the average entry-level analyst salary in North Carolina, certainly not the most expensive state to live in, is about $115,500, with salaries ranging from about $100,000 to $130,000. Salaries will vary by location and company, of course, but it shows that getting into a high-paying career in cybersecurity without having to spend that much or more on a college education is quite obtainable.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
