How rewarding is Cyber Security?

Cyber Security is an excellent path to take but it does not come without challenges. Are you looking to join the Officer Corps, cross train within the Army, or sperate/retire and go into the private sector? This matters as it will influence what you will need to do.

If you plan to stay in the Army without moving into the Officer Corps and they approve your change, you will like enter into a cyber training pipeline (I'm not completely familiar with the Army's) and from there I recommend getting as much training related and/or allowing you to earn the appropriate certifications. Entry level for cyber security would be Security + (assuming you've learned all the networking aspects such as what is offered in A +/ Network +. As an Army cyber operator, you'll likely see several specialty opportunities in host and network analytics. As a SNCO, this could prove to be difficult though since I don't think the Army is looking to start so late in your career (assuming you're coming into this completely new).

As an officer, I would recommend you have a technical degree for foundational education, and from there they would enter you into the officer pipeline. Problem here is, don't expect to be a hands on cyber operator for much of your officer career. By the time you would make Captain, the expectation is to move you into leadership positions and you'll find yourself doing less on keyboard. However, that does not stop you from pushing for more training and certifications.

The benefit of staying military is that you get the training for free. If you choose to leave the service, you are going to have to invest time and money into getting the right certifications to get you started. I recommend also having a technical degree too (Comp Sci, Elec Eng, Cyber, etc...). Certifications alone can get you considerable opportunities, but the degree can help you earn even more in those opportunities.

Bottom line is, what is your situation and how are you planning to pursue a cyber security career path? Yes, you can make a great living doing it and the market is excellent for it now. Businesses and even government orgs simply cannot fill all their positions right now.

For background, I am a former Air Force Cyber Security Warfare Officer (retired), then became a Cyber Defense Manager in the Civil Service under the Air Force's National Cyber Protection Teams, and then became a government contractor working on cyber defense capabilities for the DoD. I've been doing this for over 25 years and I can speak more directly to how to do it in the Air Force.

MSG (Join to see) I'd Call it an Excellent Choice. I Come from the COMSEC Community, Predecessor to the Cyber Security Community. Providing Secure Means of Communications to the Spooks is Rather Fulfilling I Thought. I Will Offer a Word of Caution though. There's a Bit of Age Prejudice. Once You are over Your "Pick Before Date" You're Probably going to Have Issues but I'll be the Last to Tell You NO!

Remember, go see your local Cyber Protection Team (CPT) or ARCYBER or US Cyber...they have a lot of CIV Service...and it is a good change from active duty... BUT, you better be studying. I worked on a computer in 1983, bought my own in 1986, and have written my own code, before you could get programs to do some of it. I still have a lot to learn.