(Image by PeskyMonkey, via Adobe Stock)
Job titles in cybersecurity are absolutely critical. Unless they're meaningless. Or maybe both. That's the message that comes from professionals involved in hiring (and recruiting) people into cybersecurity roles. And it's a message that can be absolutely maddening for those trying to land their next cybersecurity job.
"Titles matter for every human I know," says Deidre Diamond, founder and CEO of CyberSN. She continues, "And in cybersecurity, it matters to a greater capacity because a security engineer could be seven different types of security engineer and analysts can be six types of analyst."
The problem is, Diamond says, that the same title can have different meanings in different organizations.
As a result, "Not only does the title matter, but the job description matters," Diamond explains. And that description may ultimately be the deciding factor in matching positions with candidates.
"I work from functions much more than titles," says Mimi Gross, principle consultant with HYER Technical Solutions. She specializes in helping startup or early-history organizations fill positions. She says that these young companies tend to be far more flexible than more established companies in the job titles they offer because they don't have the established hierarchy organizations tend to develop over time.
For companies that want or need a framework into which job titles can be placed, though, one exists and Diamond says that it can provide guidance.
