Q: Review the NICE Workforce Framework.  Are there certain areas that you would want to focus your career on?  Explain which areas would appeal the most to you and which would appeal the least.

A: According to the NICE Workforce Framework, there are seven main categories that is included in the cybersecurity workforce: Analyze, Collect and Operate, Investigate, Operate and Maintain, Oversee and Govern, Protect and Defend, and Securely Provision. From the following areas, “Oversee and Govern” and “Protect and Defend” are the two big areas that I would like to specifically focus on when pursuing future cybersecurity positions. I particularly like the idea of Oversee and Govern for their ability to facilitate and manage both an organization and the technology-based system of cybersecurity, providing guidance and direction for specific actions, problem-solving, policy making, etc. As for Protect and Defend, I like this option a lot too as it will allow me to be more hands on with interacting and protecting a system, either through the creation of newer security methods or the implementation of strong methods that will protect people and organizations. Personally from the two options, I find the Oversee and Govern area to be more appealing, specifically for the positions of either “Cybersecurity Management” or “Program/Project Management and Acquisition”. Out of the prior areas, the only area I wouldn’t be too keen on pursuing is “Collect and Operate”, which specifically focuses on the collection of evidence from with cyber criminals or cyber crime to be used by cybersecurity specialists for research purposes and policy/security development. This area of cybersecurity is my least favorite because I would rather have more of a direct, hands-on approach to tackling cyber attacks and cyber defense than a more analytical, research-based position collecting evidence for other people to use.