-3

I love cybersecurity. Linux is amazing, programming is enthralling, and I have not found much else in my life I enjoy, as well as, (well I suppose used to) believe I could make a career out of. While researching the best programming languages for cybsersecurity I came across some advice on Quora that said cybsecurity professionals should know basically every language.

Even more than that though. Evidently I was a bit indignant but it makes sense. To really be a competent cybsersecurity professional you have to know assembly, TCP/IP, a lot of other programming languages, the ins and outs of kali, and more. This simply seems unattainable. How could anyone understand this much about computers? Even the BA IT with a cybersecurity option at my college does not cover this much.

So, my question is a cybersecurity career rational for me? I'm still (a sophomore) studying basic/intermediate C++ with a absolute dearth of knowledge in Linux. I'm like a peon compared to other programmers on Github/StackExchange. I know everyone says go in the direction of your dreams but what if my dream is just not attainable? What if I just realized my passion too late? I've set myself up (with anthro, phil, and english) for a Policy/English/Business degree. Would I better off just going in that direction? I apologize if this question is too specific to me, if that's the case please just downvote and move on. I'm already down, I don't need anyone being superior or patronizing. No not thank you.

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    I know abusing the community is more cathartic, but the reason your question should be closed is that we simply can't tell you if a career is "right" or "rational" for you—that's a decision you have to make on your own. If you want to pursue it, then don't let some talking heads on an online forum stop you.
    – aeismail
    Mar 20, 2018 at 18:18

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
-2

Let's start by quoting

"Nobody said that it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it." -Harvey MacKay

You mentioned earlier you have to know everything and I don't think there is any human being who knows everything or every programming language according to your context. Learning is a slow and painful process but the fruit is so sweet you're going to forget the pain.

The thing is, nowadays the computing world is so vast that even in a specific area there are many places or position.

Go to the Offensive Security site https://www.offensive-security.com/about-us/ there you'll see that everybody in the team has a different role to play. Everyone with a unique skill set that's what a makes a team that's what makes a human being social, collaborative, working together to make the world a better place.

You don't need to know everything, I don't know where you're getting those ideas from but trust me all you need to know is you must be very good at what you know and can do. What you can do with what you know must be something that nobody can do except you. Tools are not what makes us capable of doing something great its if you know how to use the tools to its breaking point.

That was the intro lets get to the point:

Go to this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_programming_languages you will see a list of "Comparison of Programming Language" from there you will also learn every programming language has many similarities so if you know one very well, learning another will take only a little amount of time. Don't worry too much cause you will learn in the process.

Improve this answer
0
1

Stop comparing yourself to others and just do the work.

If you want to do cybersecurity, study it. All those programmers on Github and SE didn't bash script their way out of the womb, they got there by hard work. They likely have at least a bachelor's degree, and quite possibly higher degrees, not to mention many years of experience in multiple languages.

I'm not a computer scientist, so take this advice with a pinch of salt, but I think it's much more important to be able to write good code than it is to know as many programming languages as possible. Writing good code is hard; learning the syntax of a new language is easy (that's what Google and Stack Exchange are for).

So, if you enjoy programming that much, devote more time to it. Study code written by others and understand why it's so good. Write your own code and work hard to optimise it. Talk to your personal tutor/ academic advisor and see whether you can switch to the computer science course or take more programming modules. Think seriously about a Master's or PhD, or at least getting some research experience with someone working in cybersecurity. If it's what you want to do, get out there and make it happen.

Improve this answer
0

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .