Most people trying to break into cybersecurity spend too much time debating which certification to get next and not enough time building the hands-on skills that hiring managers are actually filtering on. Certifications matter — they validate knowledge, signal commitment, and open doors with recruiters who use them as keyword filters. But a candidate with a modest cert stack and a strong lab portfolio consistently outperforms a candidate with an impressive cert stack and no practical experience. The sequence matters, the context matters, and the hands-on work is not optional. This post is the follow-up to Breaking Into Information Security: The Complete Guide for Beginners . That guide covered the foundational path. This one goes deeper: which certifications actually align with which career tracks, what your home lab needs to contain, what skills hiring managers are genuinely filtering on, and how to build a portfolio when you have no job history to point to. The Certification Lan...
Information security is one of the most in-demand career fields in the world right now, and there is no gatekeeping requirement that says you need a computer science degree or twenty years of IT experience to get in. What the field actually needs — and what it is actively hiring for — is smart, motivated people who are willing to put in the work to build a real foundation. The path is not easy, but it is accessible, and the demand for qualified professionals is not slowing down. I have been in this field for over two decades. I came up through the technical ranks, spent years building and running security programs, and I now serve as a CISO at a publicly traded manufacturing company. Along the way I have hired entry-level analysts, mentored career changers, and reviewed hundreds of resumes from people trying to break in. This guide is the honest, direct version of what I would tell someone today if they sat across from me and asked: “How do I get into InfoSec?” The Honest Truth About B...