In a stable economic climate where the world is not circling
into the toilet bowl, it is easier to justify attendance at events
and participation in groups as part of networking and career
furtherance. However, in the current conditions, employers are,
rightly, pretty focused on performance and efficiency savings, and
so it is important to be able to be strategic about balancing
corporate needs with personal and future career aspirations,writes Andrea Simmons, consultant forum manager at
theBCS
Security Forum.
As a starter for ten in improving your career prospects, ensure
that the following URL is saved as a favourite link:
http://www.infosecurityadvsier.com/career_path
as this leads you to courses, qualifications, associations, etc
that are all valuable.
Personally, I have found both the
ISSA and the
Isaca Journals hugely interesting over the years and well worth
receiving. SC Magazine
is equally useful - particularly for its product reviews. RSS feeds
of relevant blogs are another natural way forward. There is no
shortage of available sources of information to keep you up to date
with all of the challenges facing us in the industry.
Identity management technologies continue to have an impact -
although the cynic in me insists on reminding people that these are
ultimately "access control" technologies by another more fancy
sounding name. Anything with the "identity" brand on it seems to
engender an emotive and subjective response from people!
There is a deeper point here for another discussion - as a
security professional, be mindful of the combination of snake oil
and smoke and mirrors. The industry has a huge (and relatively
unnecessary) capacity to rename things just for the sake of it
(something that should not be allowed to continue in these
economically straightened times) - to try and make them sound new
or sexy or far more interesting than they really are. Be prepared
to see through the mist!
Equally, wireless technologies will be interesting to watch
alongside the Digital Britain broadband intentions, as we will see
more and more metropolitan/city-based
wireless local area networks across local council boundaries
and these will have an impact on local businesses and the like.
And finally, the information sharing agenda won't go away and
will get more and more involved and confusing - particularly
depending upon the political landscape changes we may see over the
next 12 months. Another area to watch out for in terms of
legislative pressure on the one hand (to share more) versus
individuals' pressure to maintain privacy and security of data. The
BCS Personal
Data Guardianship Code was designed to help with guidance in
this area.
"Job security" is an oxymoron these days, it seems - so lower
your expectations. Seek to do your best and deliver change and good
performance and ensure that you are providing sound advice and
guidance to management and users alike.
Furthering your career is a combination of internal and external
perception. Peer recognition is important but in our industry your
peers are usually outside of your own organisation and therefore
you cannot receive that recognition without networking with your
peers beyond your day job - be that through membership of the
plethora of available bodies, writing articles, speaking at events
or whatever it might be.
Read more expert advice from the Computer Weekly Security Think
Tank >>