How secure is your job?

Just a short post today to ponder a big question: How is your job security?

I stumbled across a favorite Dilbert cartoon from a few years back.  In it, he says to the garbage man, “My new assignment is troll in charge of legacy systems. I guess I shouldn’t complain. I’m lucky to have a job in this economy.” Check it out here.

No one wants to be that person who lets their skills slide and is eventually seen as being outdated with regard to relevant knowledge and technology. I’ve known that person many times over the years. When I worked in television, I saw older reporters slide through the cracks as new digital editing and news-gathering equipment became a prerequisite to doing the job. I witnessed a similar phenomenon in print journalism as we were increasingly required to understand web publishing and, then a few years later, as we were asked to work with social media and figure out its role in communications and outreach for our industry.

In the security industry, the issues, the concerns, the priorities, the technologies and the tools change yearly. As my colleague, Bill Brenner, just noted in his Salted Hash blog today, we can expect to hear a lot about big data in 2013. Last week, I wrote that BYOD and social networking would be top CSO priorities in 2013, according to research from IDC.

How do you keep yourself professionally limber as a security leader? What skills have you found yourself honing in recent years that you never expected you would need when you first entered the profession? Just how secure is your job in security?

What advice would you give someone just beginning a career in security now?

If you’re seeking guidance and advice yourself, CSO’s bi-monthly career newsletter can provide insight and information.