Mapping Holland RIASEC Codes to Cybersecurity Career Specializations

What Did This Cybersecurity Research Find?

This cybersecurity career assessment study administered the Self-Directed Search to 2,500 cybersecurity professionals and mapped their Holland RIASEC profiles to their current specializations. Cybersecurity roles showed distinctive RIASEC signatures: penetration testers were predominantly Investigative-Realistic (IR), GRC professionals were Conventional-Enterprising (CE), and SOC analysts clustered around Investigative-Conventional (IC), providing empirical support for career interest matching in security.

Key Findings

• 1Penetration testers showed predominantly Investigative-Realistic (IR) profiles
• 2GRC professionals clustered around Conventional-Enterprising (CE) profiles
• 3SOC analysts showed Investigative-Conventional (IC) as the most common profile
• 4Security architects were predominantly Investigative-Artistic (IA), reflecting creative design thinking
• 5Interest-role congruence predicted job satisfaction at r = 0.41 across all specializations

How Does This Apply to Cybersecurity Careers?

Career explorers can use their RIASEC profile to identify which cybersecurity specialization fits their interests. Career counselors gain empirical data for guiding students toward suitable security roles.

Who Should Read This?

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