How Practical Cyber Security Training Gives Students a High Chance of Employment

As a result of the increasing demand for cyber security professionals, the training market is experiencing a relative boom. Employers are consistently showcasing the advantage of candidates having a cyber security training background - directly in cyber security roles and in relevant fields such as IT and data handling. With an estimated industry worth of $156.6 billion (£114.4 billion) in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate of 4.4%, cyber security training is indispensable for students and budding professionals alike.

There will be millions of unfilled cyber security jobs by 2022, so the need to teach and learn cyber security is higher than ever. Comparing our data to the industry at hand, TryHackMe experienced a 50% increase in October sign-ups compared with the previous year, and saw a 133% increase in user activity over this period. We offer remote training partnerships to businesses to elevate students’ potential.

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Practical and realistic training

When looking for training bodies, prospective students are met with a wealth of options that range from physical universities, open universities, colleges, and online training courses. The tools and resources dispensable across these options vary, yet there is a clear pattern in success levels strengthening with hands-on learning. It is paramount to offer this hands-on, participative learning, yet is something often lacking from cyber security training.

There’s no shortage of studies proving that hands-on, real-world experience elevates every student. Education World stated that interactive learning is six times more effective than traditional, to the book learning. Whilst all students learn differently, putting knowledge into practice helps retain information by impacting both physiological and psychological areas of the brain. When engaging both sides of the brain together, memory, understanding, and competence all see a benefit. In addition to this, employers are progressively looking for candidates with experience that goes beyond the classroom. People who can battle real-world problems and understand how cyber attacks and scams work in practice.

Adding value to students

It’s not feasible for every educational body to have the resources and software to develop their own hands-on training, yet the need is proven with success and employment rates. TryHackMe offers partnership packages to enable accessible, realistic experience through adaptable learning pathways.

TryHackMe's cyber security training consists of over 400 labs catering to all experience levels - teaching skills that can be applied in the industry through learning via our AttackBox. (A web-based machine allowing students to learn and hack entirely through the browser). Our Attackbox is a virtual machine students can use to hack vulnerable devices, accessing all security tools. We have both offensive and defensive modules that relate to copious jobs, real jobs that are hiring now with an ever-growing demand. Our career paths are entirely adaptable, so businesses can change terminology and alter lessons to fit their modules and teaching styles.

We also thoroughly believe learning needs to be fun to keep students engaged. The plethora of lucrative job opportunities is appealing to students, but to help maintain engagement and entertainment along the learning process, we incorporate learning streaks, badges and certifications with gamification. Our competitive hacking game - King of the Hill - fosters collaboration and competition needed in real-world environments. Players aim to compromise a machine and then patch vulnerabilities to stop other players from gaining access, with points, flags, leaderboards, and up to ten players in a game.

Careers for Cyber Security students

A question we often see is, what careers are available to me with cyber security training? While the job field is regularly evolving due to the increase in frequency and complexity of cyber attacks, students can explore various avenues depending on the niche they are most interested in. We recently wrote an article about the cyber security salaries students can expect from the industry to delve deeper into the question. Entry-level positions often start with salaries of £30,000, which can exceed £100,000 with experience. This equates to approximately $41,000 - $136,000 USD.

With this in mind, the benefit of cyber security training for future careers is not capped to cyber security roles alone. Candidates entering technology, marketing, and any job role involving IT and data handling often experience an advantageous edge with this training. Companies continuously understand the importance of training for the entirety of their workforce - to avoid breaches and vulnerabilities. A survey from Egress explored the rising investment in company-wide training by interviewing employees of a range of companies. Results showed that 65% of employees had no cyber security training, and only 37% of employees believed all staff had a responsibility to keep company data safe. Compared with the surge in cyber attacks and phishing scams, it’s no surprise that businesses are upping investment and appreciating the importance of the field. Current students are on the right side of this boom!

Partner with TryHackMe

Cyber security training needs to be accessible, engaging, and understandable to optimise students’ learning potential. TryHackMe can be the bridge between learning cyber security by the book and learning in a real-world environment, gaining transferrable skills to benefit future careers. We offer actionable learning that helps students fully understand concepts and showcase fundamental skills to achieve lucrative, sought-after jobs. We help training providers add this value and elevate learning potential.

Enquire with TryHackMe today to see how we can help your students succeed.