Transitioning from a decade-long career in journalism to the forefront of cyberdefense with Splunk's SURGe team, Audra Streetman’s story not only highlights the challenges faced by aspiring entrants into the security field but also underscores the critical need for diversity and inclusion, especially as we celebrate International Women's Day and the Women's History Month.

As the former assignment editor/digital producer of KCNC | CBS Denver, Streetman spent about a decade in local TV news before taking the leap into cybersecurity just two years ago. “For me, I really never considered cybersecurity until I met my friend and my mentor who really kind of guided me through this process,” she told SDxCentral.

“So I always say mentorship is huge for people who are in the industry to reach out to others. If you know someone who's looking to change careers let them know that cybersecurity is an option because a lot of people might find the technical aspect too intimidating,” she added.

Streetman emphasized the importance of having a roadmap. She started by listening to podcasts and reading and covering security news. It took her about two years of learning on her own to reach the point where to pursued a cybersecurity certification and began applying for jobs.

But it was not an easy journey and she got a lot of rejections right off the bat. “When I started applying for jobs, I didn't really know many people in the industry, I kept getting rejections because I was just cold applying for jobs,” Streetman recalls. “It can be very easy to be turned away from a job, if you don't know anyone that works there or if you haven't reached out to a hiring manager.”

The lack of true entry-level jobs One of the major challenges for Streetman and other cybersecurity job seekers face is the lack of “true” entry-level jobs.

The cybersecurity industry is currently grappling with a paradoxical scenario: a record-high talent shortage against the arduous journey job seekers endure to enter the field. This discrepancy is largely due to the unrealistic expectations set for entry-level positions, which often demand extensive experience and knowledge.

“There are all these candidates who want to break into the industry, but they don't have the opportunities because there aren't very many jobs that are truly entry level. A lot of them come with these requirements that can actually turn a lot of candidates away,” Streetman said.

“I got really lucky because Splunk was hiring for a job that was truly entry level,” she said. “And it also said it was looking for someone with a background and communications. And so I thought, Oh, this is perfect.”

The job had more than 400 applicants within a week and it went viral on social media because someone posted and said, “Hey, look, here's a company that's hiring for an actual entry-level job,” according to Streetman.

“Everyone was applying because there's so many people who are looking to break in, they just don't have the opportunities to do it. And I think that was a really good example with Splunk hiring for those types of roles, to see that there is a demand for it,” she said.

In September 2021, Streetman got the job and became an entry-level security strategist at Splunk SURGe, which is a well-known security research team.

She noted the job was a true entry-level as the hiring manager included a work responsibility in the job posting that “20% of your day to day will just be studying and learning and devoted to pursuing certifications,”

“Self development and career development were baked into my daily responsibilities,” she said. “That's really helpful with learning faster and being on a faster pace towards certifications.”

Bring your own superpower to cybersecurity As a member of Splunk's SURGe team, Streetman is able to leverage her journalistic skills to enhance her role as a security strategist.

“I think there are a lot of parallels between journalism and different areas of cybersecurity, like cyber threat intelligence, where you're researching, you have to be aware of bias, and you're putting together reports, there's critical thinking, you're also trying to convey very technical topics to maybe a less technical audience, which is something that you do in journalism as well,” she said.

“There's a lot of value in career changers who bring their own I guess superpowers, so to speak,” she added. “I think soft skills are going to be so important in the future because of that, where I hope hiring managers can see the benefit of bringing someone on who has that background who just needs to get up to speed with technical concepts.”

In addition, she highlighted the importance of inclusion and diversity. “ I think there are so many ways that women can really contribute to cybersecurity,” Streetman said. “The more you have a diversity of thought in the people you have developing tools and capabilities, the more the better those tools are going to be, because if you have a team that's that's very similar across the board creating a product, they might not think of different scenarios or implementations.”