According to the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICCS), The NICE Workforce Framework is a nationally focused resource to help employers develop their cybersecurity workforce. It breaks the cybersecurity workforce into seven categories: Analyze, Collect and Operate, Investigate, Operate and Maintain, Oversee and Govern, Protect and Defend, and Securely Provision. As my experience progresses in the field of cybersecurity, my focus will probably change as well, but the ones that I have an interest in right now if I had to choose would be Operate and Maintain and Protect and Defend.
I chose Operate and Maintain because, according to NICCS, they provide the support, administration, and maintenance necessary to ensure effective and efficient information technology (IT) system performance and security. I feel this is the best way for a new cybersecurity specialist to hit the ground running and gain hands-on experience. Operate and Maintain seems to encompass all areas of cybersecurity to be effective and a great way to utilize the knowledge fresh out of college. Protect and Defend is another I would be interested in for similar reasons as Operate and Maintain. Protect and Defend, according to NICCS, identifies, analyzes, and mitigates threats to internal information technology (IT) systems and/or networks. This gives another hands-on opportunity to use the information obtained from school and what you learn on the job to gain experience in the field.
The areas that interest me the least would be Analyze and Collect and Operate. Even though both of my other choices require analysis and collection of information needed for cybersecurity protection, I do not believe doing that for the majority of the job, would be very appealing to me. Being on the outside looking in at the moment, my perception of those areas may not be accurate, but the initial description does not draw my interest at this time.
Source:
Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity (NICE Framework). (n.d.). National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://niccs.cisa.gov/workforce-development/nice-framework#:%7E:text=The%20Workforce%20Framework%20for%20Cybersecurity,whom%20the%20work%20is%20performed.