Latest / The Comeback Career Podcast with Fexingo: Returning After a Gap, Stay-at-Home Re-Entry / How One Parent Returned as a Cybersecurity Analyst After Five Years
Transcript
- Lucas: So it's mid-July 2026. There are roughly 700,000 open cybersecurity jobs in the United States right now. That's according to CyberSeek. And most of those roles don't actually require a four-year computer science degree. They want demonstrated skills, often a certification or two, and the ability to think like an attacker. Luna: And yet a lot of parents I talk to assume they're locked out of that field entirely. They think they missed the window, or that a five-year gap is just too much to explain. Lucas: Exactly. So today's episode is about Sarah Chen. She is a mother of two in Columbus, Ohio. Before kids, she worked as an IT project manager at a mid-sized insurance firm. Nothing super technical day-to-day — she was coordinating software rollouts, managing vendor timelines, doing a lot of status reporting. Then she stepped away for five years. Luna: Five years with no corporate job. That's exactly the kind of gap that scares people. How did she re-enter as a cybersecurity analyst? Lucas: She did it methodically, and I think the playbook is really instructive. First, she didn't try to go back to project management. She looked at the labor market and saw cybersecurity as a growth field with a clear on-ramp. Second, she picked one certification — the CompTIA Security+, which is widely recognized and doesn't require a degree. She studied during nap times and after the kids went to bed. It took her about four months. Luna: Four months of nap-time studying. That's realistic, not some heroic overnight transformation. And the exam costs around three hundred seventy dollars, I think? Lucas: About that, yeah. She told us she spent three hundred seventy-nine for the exam voucher and another fifty on a used study guide. So under five hundred dollars total. That's the barrier to entry. Once she had the Security+, she started applying. But she also did something smarter: she took a part-time contract role at a regional bank. It was basically a help desk adjacent position — resetting passwords, triaging phishing reports, that kind of work. It paid thirty dollars an hour, and it was only twenty hours a week. Luna: So she rebuilt her resume while still having time for school pickup. And that contract role gave her a foot in the door with a specific employer. Lucas: Right. After about eight months in that contract, the bank posted a full-time junior cybersecurity analyst position. She applied internally. She knew the systems, she knew the team, she had a recent certification. She got the job at sixty-two thousand a year. That's not a massive tech salary, but it's a solid re-entry number for Columbus, Ohio, and it puts her on the ladder. Luna: And the gap itself — how did she talk about it in interviews? I think that's what a lot of our listeners really struggle with. Lucas: She framed it as a period where she developed skills that are directly relevant to cybersecurity. She talked about managing household risk — things like securing home networks, monitoring for phishing scams, teaching her kids about online safety. She also pointed out that being a parent requires constant vigilance, prioritization, and the ability to respond calmly to unexpected crises. That's essentially incident response. Luna: That's a really smart reframe. Instead of apologizing for the gap, she made it an asset. And it's honest — parents do develop those skills. Lucas: Exactly. She also leaned into the fact that cybersecurity is a field that values diverse backgrounds. She joined a local chapter of Women in Cybersecurity, or WiCyS, and that's actually how she heard about the part-time contract opening. Networking doesn't have to mean cocktail parties — it can be a monthly Zoom meetup with other women in the field. Luna: So what's the biggest takeaway for someone listening who's been out of the workforce for a few years and is thinking about cybersecurity? What should they do first? Lucas: First, don't try to learn everything. Pick one entry-level certification — Security+ is the most common, but there's also the Certified Ethical Hacker or even Google's cybersecurity certificate. Second, look for part-time or contract roles, even if they feel like a step backward. That contract role is a bridge. Third, reframe your gap. You were not 'just a parent' — you were a project manager, a risk assessor, a crisis responder. Own that. Luna: And Sarah's story shows it can happen in under a year. She went from studying during nap time to a full-time analyst role in about twelve months. Lucas: Yeah, and that timeline is really important. Twelve months is not forever. And she didn't have a computer science background. She had an IT project management background, which is adjacent but not the same. So if you're coming from a completely different field — teaching, retail, administration — the path might take a little longer, but the same principles apply. Luna: One thing I want to circle back to — she mentioned that the part-time contract role was at a regional bank. Banks and credit unions are actually a great entry point for cybersecurity returners because they have compliance requirements that force them to hire more security staff. They also tend to be more willing to train. Lucas: That's a great point. Financial services, healthcare, and government are the three biggest employers of cybersecurity talent, and they all have compliance drivers — regulations like SOX, HIPAA, or state data privacy laws. So if you're targeting those industries, your odds are better because they have to fill those seats. Luna: And the job growth projections are staggering. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says cybersecurity analyst roles will grow thirty-two percent through 2032. That's much faster than average. Lucas: Right. So demand is not the problem. The bottleneck is getting that first credential and that first recent reference. Sarah's strategy of taking a part-time contract role solved both. The certification gave her the credential; the contract gave her a recent reference and internal mobility. Luna: It's a blueprint. And it's one that doesn't require quitting your current situation or taking on massive debt. Lucas: Exactly. And look, this is exactly the kind of episode that we do because we believe in providing actionable, practical advice without any noise. We deliberately don't run ads on these shows. If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to keep this resource free for everyone who needs it. Appreciate anyone who chips in. Lucas: So back to Sarah. One more thing she did that I think is worth highlighting: she built a small home lab. She bought a used Raspberry Pi for thirty-five dollars and set up a basic security monitoring environment using open-source tools like Snort and Wireshark. She could talk about that in interviews. It showed initiative and hands-on ability. Luna: A Raspberry Pi lab for under fifty bucks — that's something anyone can do. And it gives you concrete examples for behavioral interview questions. Like, 'Tell me about a time you identified a security threat.' Well, here's a story about a scan you detected on your home lab. Lucas: Exactly. And that kind of project also helps you figure out if you actually enjoy the work. Cybersecurity isn't for everyone. It involves a lot of log analysis, a lot of documentation, and a fair amount of monotony between incidents. A home lab lets you test the waters before you commit to a full career change. Luna: So the practical steps: pick a certification, find a part-time or contract role, reframe your gap, join a network like WiCyS, and build a small home lab. That's a concrete plan. Lucas: That's the plan. And it worked for Sarah Chen. She's now six months into her full-time analyst role, and she says the best part is that she feels like she's growing every day. The field changes so fast that everyone is always learning, so she never feels behind. Luna: That's a great note to end on. If you're listening and you've been hesitating, remember that the field itself is constantly evolving. There's no such thing as 'too late' to start. Lucas: Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week with another comeback story.