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Writing for the magazine University Business, Betty Vandenbosch, the Chancellor of Purdue University Global, cited an alarming statistic: Only 35 percent of Americans hold a bachelor’s degree, but more and more jobs require that designation.

The chancellor also reported that, despite educators’ consensus that they were doing a good job in preparing their students for the workforce, the majority (about 90 percent) of employers disagreed. 

One job requiring a college degree is cybersecurity specialist. It has its own stunning shortage statistic: The prediction is that there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs globally through 2021. That’s up from one million in 2014. 

Educators can meet those problems through critical self-examination and an honest presentation of the opportunities and challenges they will face as cybersecurity specialists. What follows here scratches the surface of what cybersecurity instructors should know and present upfront at the intersection of teaching and the real world of cybersecurity. 

Cybersecurity job growth hasn’t kept pace

This Cybercrime Magazine piece highlights those shortages and gaps in the cybersecurity field. The author observed,  “nowhere is the workforce-skills gap more pronounced than in cybersecurity.” In fact, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania saw the 350 percent growth in open cybersecurity positions as a double challenge.

Then there’s this gloomy observation from Robert Herjavec, CEO of the cybersecurity consultant Herjavec Group: “Unfortunately the pipeline of security talent isn’t where it needs to be to help curb the cybercrime epidemic. Until we can rectify the quality of education and training that our new cyber experts receive, we will continue to be outpaced by the Black Hats.”

Albert Einstein once said that “in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.” All those vacancies and the employment opportunities have brought a host of problems. Highlighted in the eSecurity Planet online article, those problems include:

• With virtually every IT job requiring some level of security knowledge, the severe shortage of cybersecurity pros can’t keep up with the emerging risks.
• As reported by nearly three-quarters of the companies in one survey, the skills gap is impacting their ability to secure sensitive information.
• The shortage has led to data breaches and issues with government regulatory compliance.
  
  

It boils down to that for cybersecurity-qualified people, there is and will continue to be a zero unemployment rate. The cost of cybercrime will reach a staggering $6 trillion in 2021, and anyone with experience or education in cybersecurity will have no problem finding a well-paying job anywhere in the country.

The shortage spills over to job stress

Those facts of cybersecurity life have led to what one Security Intelligence article calls “epidemic levels of cybersecurity stress.” The article points to the following on-the-job stressors that are at the root of the problem:

• Resource shortages — budgets, technological capability, commitment by company directors
• Pressure and cultural battles between cyber pros and users who are indifferent towards cybersecurity
• Burnout due to an overwhelming workload
• Being on call 24/7/365
• Work hours that typically exceed 40 per week
• Coping with new IT transformation initiatives that spread from the cloud and the organization’s internet of things
• Mental health problems caused by stress
• Race and gender challenges for women and minorities breaking into the traditional male, mostly white IT culture

Some cool, fun jobs in cybersecurity

The better news is that information security job hunters can pretty much write their own tickets. There are less stressful jobs out there. For example, cybersecurity specialists can find jobs as penetration testers, cybersecurity threat hunters, incident responders, and malware analysts.  

Wanted: More Information Security Analysts

Stress and problems notwithstanding, modern businesses base the majority of their decisions on data. What information security analysts do best is follow that paradigm and employ their own data platforms and analytics tools to find the most serious threats and target their resources accordingly.

Fun Facts

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has these quick facts on the job outlook for Information Security Analysts:

• Median pay: ~$100,000/year
• Entry-Level Education Required: Bachelor’s degree.
• Work Experience in related occupation: Less than 5 years
• Job Outlook for 2019-2029: 31% (Much faster than average)
• Employment Change 2019-2029: 40,900 job vacancies