Example career path: Security srchitect

- [Narrator] There are many paths someone could take to become a security architect. Let's take a look at one example career path to security architect for a man I'll call Bob. Bob always had a strong interest in computers and security and knew from a young age that he wanted to work in the IT security field. In high school, he excelled in math and computer classes. After high school, Bob went to a local technical college and got a degree in information systems security. He specially enjoyed learning about how to securely design computer networks.

With his degree, Bob got hired as an IT security analyst for a telecommunications company. His job was to run vulnerability scans on the corporate network, analyze the results, and work with IT technicians to remediate the most critical vulnerabilities. One of the things he liked most about his job was learning about the company's network infrastructure. He decided to get the GIAC security essentials or GSEC certification, and his boss agreed to pay for the training and exam costs.

After studying for many months, he passed the exam on his first try. Bob enjoyed his job but after several years of running vulnerability scans, he was getting bored. Since he liked network security, he decided he'd like to be a security architect. He knew he'd need many years of experience working on network security before he got hired as a security architect, and was willing to put in the time. Before long, a junior security engineer position opened at his company, which Bob applied for and was accepted. This was a very hands-on role assisting senior engineers as they deployed and configured firewalls and other network equipment throughout the corporate network.

He loved this job because it fit in with his skill set and gave him the experience he needed to reach his career goal. After several years, Bob got a promotion to security engineer, and was no longer considered a junior engineer. Now Bob had enough experience to qualify for the CISSP certification. Like before, his boss agreed to pay for the training and exam. Bob studied for months, took the exam, and passed. Finally, there was an opening for a junior security architect at his company.

Bob had all the qualifications, including a college degree in an IT field, at least five years of hands-on experience, and the CISSP certification. It helped that he was an internal candidate and many people on the hiring team already knew him as a qualified and dedicated security professional. Bob got the junior security architect job and worked with senior architects to design security solutions for the corporate network. From here, he can decide if he wants to stay an architect for the rest of his career, or work toward other senior IT security roles such as manager or director.