We’ve been hearing for years and I’ve said it, too.“There will always be a need for SOC analysts because there’s somethings that machines cannot do.” This is Am I going to be automated out of a SOC analyst job?
But that’s not the hard truth. The hard truth is there’s a dashboard that lists in dollars the amount of how much SOAR tools have saved in labor hours. Some of them even count it in headcount. So this whole debauchery about you shouldn’t be worried about your job is straight garbage. The truth is if you’re just now starting, automation has already automated analysts work just like yours.
Instead of leaving the more complex work that machines cannot do to human analysts, they’re accepting the risk and just moving on.
Automation has gotten better over the years and what used to take a team of seasoned developers to code now can be configured with just pointing and clicking and dragging and dropping. There used to be a knowledge gap between the developers and the SOC skills they were automating so progress wasn’t quick. The best solution they came up with was to put Senior SOC Analysts in the same room as the coders who are automating. And it worked OK, except that Senior SOC Analyst was in a predicament. They were helping automate their own job.
Years ago the car factories went through a similar process where the assembly lines were robotized. They had this figured out. They hired outside consultants to come in and build the automation to avoid the issues of workers having to automate their own jobs.
And they successfully automated assembly lines.
Did it displace workers? You bet it did. 1.7 million jobs in manufacturing have been lost since just year 2000. It is expected in just the next six years 14% of all jobs in the US will be impacted by AI and Automation.
It’s automation as a SOC Analyst that you need to be concerned about. Most of our tasks are repeatable and I hate to say this, but they are brainless to do once you learn how. You can teach a robot to do most of the work and never have to think of it again. The SOC is going to be drastically displaced by machines and it’s already began.
Is cybersecurity the right career for someone just starting out and looking for a growing in-demand field? Probably not. That ship has sailed. We’re shrinking now.
Does this mean you shouldn’t follow you’re dreams? NOT AT ALL. I’ve said this time and time again since the golden age of cybersecurity when there wasn’t an unemployed soul on earth and it hasn’t changed today. DO NOT PURSUE this career if you don’t like it. It’s an extraordinary commitment that you can only do if you have an interest.
This isn’t like taking a job at say a paper mill where it’s just a paycheck. You have to like it so much you are proactive in learning or you’ll be out of a job anyway.
So where does this leave you if you like cybersecurity and it’s shrinking?
Stick to the cloud.
The clouds are the most in-demand area in cybersecurity and in IT in general and it’s less impacted by automation because its so new. Cloud engineering is extremely complex and it’s going to take some time to automate those workflow and you’ll have enough time to work your way out of the SOC.
Start now. Start with the cloud NOW! But only if you like it.
Tyler Wall is the founder of Cyber NOW Education. He holds bills for a Master of Science from Purdue University and CISSP, CCSK, CFSR, CEH, Sec+, Net+, and A+ certifications. He mastered the SOC after having held every position from analyst to architect and is the author of three books, 100+ professional articles, and ten online courses specifically for SOC analysts.
You can connect with him on LinkedIn.
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