The parts of this industry nobody tells you.
Long-form opinion pieces on certifications, roles, pathways and domains. Each one takes a side, names a tradeoff, and tells you when to walk away. Dated and updated when reality changes.
- Roles 9 min
Why most people fail trying to leave helpdesk
It's almost never a skills problem. It's a positioning problem, a portfolio problem, and a willingness-to-be-uncomfortable problem, in that order.
Read the full essay - Certifications 8 min
Is CISSP actually worth it in 2026?
Yes, but only for a specific person at a specific moment. For everyone else it's 12–18 months optimising for the wrong thing.
Read the full essay - Certifications 9 min
Why Security+ is simultaneously overrated and useful
It will not get you a security job. It will get you past an HR filter. Those are different problems.
Read the full essay - Roles 10 min
The realistic SOC analyst path
Most guides describe the job a SOC analyst wishes they had. Here's the one they actually do.
Read the full essay - Domains 9 min
AI is not about to delete IT, but it is about to delete one specific role
The 'AI replaces all of IT' narrative is wrong. The narrower version is mostly right, and worth planning around.
Read the full essay
The next essays planned for this series. We'd rather publish ten excellent pieces than one hundred filler ones, so these arrive as they're written, not on a content-calendar schedule.
- RolesDraftingCloud engineering isn't entry-level anymoreThe market that hired junior cloud engineers in 2019 doesn't exist. What replaced it, and the realistic path in.
- DomainsDraftingThe hidden downside of a GRC careerGRC is one of the calmest, best-paid entries into security. It also quietly closes doors you may not realise you wanted open.
- RolesDraftingDevOps vs platform engineering. What actually changedIt isn't a rename. The hiring bar, day-to-day, and career ceiling are all different. Most candidates pick the wrong one.
- PathwaysDraftingBootcamp vs self-taught. The question is wrongNeither route is the actual differentiator. What matters is the thing both routes leave out.
- PathwaysDraftingHow people actually get their first job in cyberNot via the cert stack the influencers sell. Five real patterns, ranked by how often they work.