I have been in retail and customer service since I am 19 and I'm 39 now so that makes 20 years of serving the public in a variety of roles. Currently, I am at a big box retail store and it has been almost nothing but stressful, unfulfilling, frustrating, and unrewarding. There doesn't seem to be any future and no one seems to care if I fail, succeed, or just leave. In my experience retail has been a place where the mediocre thrive and the competent suffer. So, I went looking to see what careers are not like this.

I started by looking at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook website. This is a great resource for looking at current trends and information on most of the US's economic industries and it offers outlook predictions for how many new jobs there will be and how fast the industry is growing. When I looked into what industries are not declining, as retail is, I found that two fields are poised to grow more than most in the next ten years. Those industries are in the medical and technology fields with cyber security, specifically, being a field with a ton of demand and growth.

So, why not join the medical community and change to that career?

The medical industry is growing and there is a lot of money to be made there but I have no experience with medicine and the barrier to entry is extensive. The years of schooling and a potentially bankrupting amount of debt that I would have to endure are just not worth it at this time in my life. Also, the industry is fraught with red tape, political entanglements, corruption, and morally complex issues.

On the other hand, I have some basic computer skills and have worked to troubleshoot and service computers for customers at my current and previous jobs. I am somewhat familiar with computer hardware, software, and networking concepts. Also, the education needed to get into cyber security is not specific to a particular course or college degree. It is much more variable and experience-based. There are hundreds of avenues and certifications that one can take to learn the skills to become a cybersecurity professional. This seems to indicate that getting into the field requires less initial monetary investment and that a lot can be learned on the job as well.

Another reason I think cybersecurity might be a good fit is that I have a value system that puts justice as a high priority. I do not like it when people are abused or taken advantage of or when people with power use that power to take from others. I believe strongly in the concept of informed consent and free association as well as personal sovereignty and rights to ownership of property. I do not like fraud or theft or violence or threats of violence. I think that these things should be stopped as much as they can be. The idea of helping people fight against online threats, especially innocent people is a worthwhile and moral endeavor.

In my role as a tech, I have had many older customers who have been victim to or almost victim to scammers. Some of them have lost thousands of dollars and they end up feeling very embarrassed and afraid. A lot of the time they don’t know who to trust and don’t have people they can contact for help. This has always troubled me and I have helped many for as cheaply as possible in order to educate them and clean up or reset their computers.

Another aspect of cyber security and evolving technology that interests me is AI. I was not worried about AI until this year when I started to see AI that is very difficult or impossible to distinguish from real people. Photos, video, audio, and written works are all becoming more difficult to differentiate between human-generated or artificially generated, and the potential threat this will lead to is concerning. Fraud and identity theft as well as programs that can work around authentication controls are just a few things I think of where AI will be a huge problem. The frontier of humanity may be reliant on understanding and combatting AI and the people who use it for destructive purposes.

I quit my 45-50 hour a week job in retail and I am embarking on a journey to learn more about cyber security. It has piqued my interest so far and even if it doesn’t lead me to a permanent or long-lasting career it is a great way to spend my time as I invest in learning something that will continue to become more important in the future. I reserve the right to pivot to something else if needed but for now, I am on a new path.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/information-security-analysts.htm