I wonder if I am a typical security analyst?
But what is typical? Hard to tell what an average is since for every person near the core of the bell curve, there are quite a few outliers keeping things both challenged and balanced. If asked to describe the typical security analyst, I would throw out a few generalizations based on what I’ve encountered in my experiences.
A profile performed by DataUsa.io has put together a slick Profile of the Average Security Analyst. The typical analyst experiences a solid salary, strong job growth, highly educated peers, demanding technical skill requirements, and a roughly 75% white 75% male field.
Sounds awesome. And intimidating.
Everyone has their own reasons for moving to a Security Analyst role. I fit some of the general averages noted above, but not all. Certainly diversity of people bring diversity of thought. If one of the main tenants of a secure enterprise is “Defense in Depth“, then certainly you should invest energy into building defense by diversity. Perhaps it is wise for both your layers of security and your team resources be deep, diverse, adept, and agile.
I don’t always love difficult people, but I do love challenging work.
I don’t see myself as a typical analyst because I bring differences in thought and approach. I ask questions. I draw connections. I talk to people in the business. I look for ways to align things. I act with a goal in mind. I draw it out or write it down and hone it till it works or throw it out and take another path toward the goal. I aim to evolve and improve. When I want to learn about someone I ask them out for a coffee walk or a breakfast. I sometimes make songs out of the ideas I’m working through or take a doodling break to try to think into a breakthrough.
I do see myself as a typical analyst because I like to make order out of chaos. I want to understand what happened and enact protections. I often feel exhausted after a day with a lot of people interactions. I easily memorize IP addresses and hostnames while I research events but I don’t always remember the names of my people I just met. I believe that Ex Machina and Black Mirror are equally awesome and terrifying because they’re tangibly realistic.
In this industry, the pace is fiery fast and the challenges are densely packed. The targets move and I’m sure the typical averages will also.
