Accelerate your InfoSec Career - Opinion
I get hit up quite a bit on how to maneuver the infosec landscape, learn more, and accelerate (move up the ladder). I can unequivocally tell you I have no market corner on the knowledge of how to do all these things but I have found the following seemed to have worked for me so far and might help others. The following are things ANYONE can do with no cost (other than personal time and effort).
1. READ READ READ - Not only understanding the basic infosec concepts but also knowing and being aware of the latest infosec challenges, ideas, and efforts going on is seminal in accelerating your career. Find and get a great list of blogs, tech news sites, scholarly articles, and the like to visit on a DAILY basis. LinkedIn is a goldmine of great information if you take the time to develop and follow sound contacts in your area of interest and profession.
2. Join some "infosec" centric clubs, associations, organizations - Centralized social hubs like Meetup.com are a great place to find local meeting groups in your area of like-minded professionals wanting to learn and share information. These are great opportunities to not only learn but to network. Make yourself a personal business card (even if you don't have a business) pick a few out and go meet and greet. You will be amazed how one chance conversation or side meeting could develop into much more. Formal organizations like InfraGard, ISSA, and the like are also very beneficial not only to yourself but to the community as a whole. Additionally formal certification body organizations (such as ISC2, ISACA, etc.) also offer a lot of networking and knowledge sharing opportunities.
3. Set both tactical and strategic goals - As the old saying goes "How do you eat an Elephant? One piece at a time." Many jump into infosec eager to embrace and try to devour EVERYTHING. This is a great attitude and the "hunger" is definitely something that you must have if you are going to not only survive but stay viable in this career field. With that being said you can't learn it all at once. This field, unlike many others, has such a broad spectrum of both generalized and specialized knowledge you will do yourself well to realize you can not learn it all, at least not all at once. Take the time to focus on what interests you most, what are you prone to read more about or find more interesting? Is it pen-testing, forensics, secure configurations, auditing, compliance, etc, etc.? Start off with those things that you lean towards and eventually try to incorporate a broader understanding and knowledge of the entire spectrum.
4. To certify or not to certify? - I am NOT going to go into this. At times this topic of discussion seems to garner more input from the professional community, both PRO and AGAINST, than actual real world INFOSEC problems, and that to me says quite a bit. I say go with your gut instinct, do some research YOURSELF online and within your focus of interest, and if you do get opinions get them from a WIDE ARRAY of folks and not those with singular tunnel vision.
5. Post on Social networks - Start a blog, join LinkedIn or similar sites, and start conversing about topics that interest you. Find those that have similar interests and start engaging them. Post and discuss news events, articles, and the like. Start your own blog and put up information that not only do you find useful but stuff you think that may help others as well. The more you give the more you get is a great idea to live by, especially in this community.
6. Think about getting a mentor - This is not for everyone but for those that are more open to putting their ego aside and learning from others. I personally have found this to be as important, if not more important than any other tip here. A good mentor is not a teacher but a guide. One that will not tell you what to do but what they have done and what has worked for them. They will show you paths but still let you chose. The will give selflessly without expectation of return. If you find one that does these things they can be the greatest asset you will ever have.
7. Lastly be humble and realize that you don't know it all - No matter how quick you learn, how well you do, or how much you are lauded remember there is always someone out there that knows more about something than you. It is a fact of life and one that should be embraced rather than disregarded. This is one profession where we are only as smart as our collective knowledge and only as effective as our collective cooperation, never forget that.