My Lists User Guide - Competence Application Tools - Skills For Health: Fill & Download for Free

Content marketing is an amazing way to get traffic over time. By creating valuable and educational content that answers the questions of your target audience, you will be able to organically drive traffic to your site. Content marketing is inbound marketing at its finest. You are creating content that brings people to you.Consistency in implementing best practices is the ticket to long-term success in content marketing.The demand for content is huge. DemandGen’s 2015 content marketing survey report revealed that 75% of B2B purchasers rely on content as a research medium when they’re looking to make a buying decision.If you’re looking to drive more search traffic and build a profitable online business, you may have to seriously reconsider your content marketing strategy.Learning from the successes and failures of others can help you generate search traffic and leads. That’s how we learn what “best practices” are - and that's exactly what this in-depth article will show you.I am going to show you 21 content marketing practices to help you cut through the noise and reach your ideal customers.1. Build More Targeted Landing PagesMy search traffic almost tripled when I created advanced guides for SEO and several other internet marketing topics. Each of those advanced guides has its own separate landing page, optimized for the applicable keywords.Nuffield Health generated 60% more revenue by optimizing their landing pages for the right keywords. They consistently sought to learn more about their market and customers and then integrated their new discoveries into content creation.Or, take a look at Copyblogger Media. Copyblogger has dozens of landing pages, each aimed at a keyword that the target audience is passionate about. That’s a lesson for you when it comes to developing a sound content marketing strategy: when creating more landing pages, think strategically about keywords and build your content around the right ones.The easiest way to start creating high-quality landing pages is to use templates. There are many you could choose from, but I like Unbounce and Instapage, neither of which are free.2. Segment Audience to Increase EngagementSmart content marketers know they need to segment their audiences based on product need. Segmentation is crucial for one simple reason: some of your blog readers aren’t buyers, but others are.Simply put, your content can’t suit everyone because they’re at different phases of the buying cycle. So, example, content designed to create awareness with new customers is wasted on loyal repeat customers.Make the most of your marketing efforts by segmenting customers based on their personas. Remember, a buyer persona is a fully fleshed-out profile of one segment of your audience. It enables you to develop content that speaks to each segment more effectively.Segmenting your target audience is difficult to do on your blog or website. Instead, use your email autoresponder.In fact, email list segmentation is a must if you want to get the most from your list. According to Emarketer, 39% of email marketers who segment their email lists see better open rates. And, 28% report better email deliverability and increased revenue.See also: How to Use Email Segmentation to Increase Conversion Rate3. Know Your Audience, and Give Them What They WantBefore you can create successful, engaging and overall great content, you’ve got to know your audience very well. One technique to employ in this regard is keyword research, aimed at discovering what your ideal customers are looking for.Start by getting a better idea of the existing demand for your topic through Google Trends. Just type your main keyword into the search box to learn how many searches it received within a specified period of time.For instance, here’s the Trends graph showing the popularity of the keyword “online business consulting”:Remember, the more you know about your readers, the more precisely you can base your content creation on them, and the more effective your whole content marketing strategy will be.4. Focus on Facts and Think TacticallySometimes, you need to personally verify results or data through your own experimentation. What was true five years ago - or even last year - may no longer apply.So, instead of accepting everything you read on other sites and blogs at face value, get in the habit of thinking tactically and critically.Results are relative. You may experiment and get a different result - something that happens 98% of the time. Through observation, brainstorming and testing, you can come up with a new concept that others can learn from. That’s how you become an expert.Brian Dean applied the same concept to his business and developed the popular “content upgrade” strategy (at least, I first heard about it from him). Now, lots of marketers are using it to easily build their email lists.5. Target the millennials with adaptive contentThe millennials are a special segment of the human race. A 2014 report from the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers revealed that, as a group, millennials value community, family and creativity at work. They’re also the largest and most diverse generation in the U.S.Almost certainly, millennials constitute a large chunk of your target audience. Your content should speak to their needs and values.Adaptive content is the way to go. Adaptive content is simply the content that supports meaningful interactions across different platforms. Think of it like water - whatever you pour it into, it takes the shape of that container.In other words, your readers should be able to access your content on a desktop computer, then continue where they left off using their smartphone or complete their purchases through your mobile app, with absolutely no hassles at all.Although this concept is relatively new, it’s gaining ground in the ecommerce industry. According to Luxury Daily, 48% of shoppers said they’d like to shop with their mobile phones while in stores.6. Leverage the Hedgehog Content ModelA hedgehog is a small mammal that has a rounded body with stiff spines and a small, pointed snout. So what does a small mammal have to do with content creation and your marketing strategy?Well, it simply means that you should start from where you are, then scale from there. Why worry about the fact your blog isn’t generating 1,000 monthly visits yet?Instead, start small. Create and consistently use a content marketing strategy that will help you reach your goals.Instead of obsessing over reaching 1,000 monthly visitors, for example, focus on 100 each month. Just make sure that your goal is realistic and measurable.If you’re able to hit that smaller goal, the objective of the hedgehog model is to treat them marvelously well with great content that they’ll share with their friends across their social media channels and beyond.Apply the same technique to your email list. Focus on getting 3 - 5 subscribers every single day, instead of your first 100 subscribers. By the end of the month, you’ll have 90 - 150 email subscribers.7. Consistently Run A/B TestsAre you consistent at split testing? A research study by AdPushUp showed that conversion rates typically range from 1% to 3%. A/B split testing helps you convert more. And, even a single additional percentage point in your conversion rate can be significant.Whether you're on a team of b2b marketers or you're a small business owner, running A/B split tests is crucial if you want to know for certain which headlines, calls-to-action and types of content work best for your readers. Once you know what strategies work best for you, your work becomes that much more effective--and your overall content marketing strategy that much clearer.You can split test just about anything. Since you’re concerned about search traffic, however, you should focus on the elements that impact search performance, such as headlines, site speed, visuals, landing pages, CTA and so on.According to Bryan Eisenberg,Most websites don’t have a traffic problem, but every site has a conversion problem.A/B split testing can send more targeted buyers to your product pages as well. For example, Lyyti.com, an online event management software company, ran a split test on their product pages. They set up a product page variation and tested it against the control.At the end of the testing, the variation page performed better. It clearly showed features offered in each plan, while the original design wasn’t quite clear enough. Implementing the results of this test increased visits to their “Free Trial” sign-up page by 93.71%.It’s also time to look into mobile testing. According to Digital Buzz Blog, 91% of people worldwide have a mobile phone, and 72% of tablet owners purchase products from their tablets every week.Clearly, you can’t afford to run A/B split tests solely on desktop users. If you’re experimenting with mobile testing, look at any key user behavior, especially behaviors related to conversions, such as email opt-in form and landing page preferences.8. Learn From Topic Training ModulesContent marketing is a lot easier these days, considering all the statistics, data and content that can be accessed for free.According to Shift Learning, online learning has grown significantly. In 1995, just 4% of U.S. companies were using online learning. In 2011, that figure was 77%.People visit these online training sites in part because they’re effective. E-learning is proven to increase knowledge retention by 25% to 60%.This is good news for content marketers, because with online learning platforms like Udemy, Lynda and others out there, you can benefit from all that useful content provided in their courses and modules.Essentially, you can pick the brains of experts in different industries to create top-notch content for your target audience.Now, there’s no longer any need to waste tons of time researching your topic, because someone with better training, resources and time has done all that for you.So, let’s say you want to create an in-depth article about link building. Here’s how to research your topic using Udemy:Step #1: Go to Udemy.com. Type your main keyword (e.g., link building SEO) into the search box. Hit the enter button on your keyboard.Step #2: Analyze the courses. From the top results, choose one that suits your keyword, then click on it to see the modules.Step #3: Extract ideas from the module. You can find the module for that particular topic when you scroll down.Note: Most courses at Udemy will typically cost you between $15 - $199, although there are free courses available. If you have the budget for it, you can buy the course. Here, however, we’re just looking at ways to get ideas for organizing and outlining your article from the module titles, so there’s no need to sign up for the course itself.From the highlighted module above, I can create 5 unique and high-converting headlines for my next blog post.The module is entitled: Traffic Generating Links and Where To Get [Them]These are the fresh headline ideas:13 Traffic-Generating Links and Where To Get ThemHow to Build Traffic-Generating Links That Google Will LoveTraffic-Generating Links: Where to Get Them and Improve Search TrafficHow to Get Traffic Generating Links From Authority SitesThe Best Way to Develop a Traffic-Generating Link Building StrategySpending just 10 to 20 minutes each week studying Udemy course modules will not only give you lots of ideas to write about, but will also expand your analytical skills and give you a more thorough understanding of your industry and your target audience. Overall, it'll enhance your content marketing strategy - and stands to inform your content creation.9. Craft Content Based on Your Core ValuesYou’re where you are today because of your values. In fact, core values are the building blocks of every human being - and every business (or other organization).Personal core values guide an individual’s behavior and choices. The same is true for your business’s values, as well.For example, if you believe that your target audience should benefit from the information that you share with them, then you’ll research extensively and craft the best content you possibly can for them, if you’re acting consistently with your values.Take the time to articulate your values in writing, the way Google and Buffer have. Google believes in putting users first. Buffer believes in showing gratitude, which helps make their social media management tool so valuable for content marketers.There is no single rule for defining your core values. Just make sure that each value originates from your deeply-held beliefs.When you start to write content based on what you truly believe in, you’ll be able to bridge the gap between your message and your readers’ expectations. Solid content creation will flow from there.Storytelling can also help you bridge that gap. But, from personal experience, I can tell you that it’s much easier to tell stories based on what I know and believe, instead of what someone else says or believes. Such a marketing effort will feel, well, effortless to your readers.10. Use Native Ads, But Don’t Be DeceptiveNative advertising - a form of online marketing in which the “ad” content matches the platform on which it’s published - isn’t new. It’s been around for a while now.Most people believe native ads are deceptive, since they don’t “look like ads.” But, it doesn’t have to be that way. Native ads can still offer value as something more than just a promotional piece.Whatever you may think about it, there’s no question that native advertising works. For example, Newscred regularly pays for sponsored content on LinkedIn, with an ROI of $17 for every $1 spent . That’s almost 6 times the ROI from AdWords.Copyblogger Media also shared 12 examples of native ads and why they work - ideally, as an integrated part of content marketing.Paid content is a great example of a native ad that works well. Here’s a post by Dell on NYtimes.com. Notice all the signals pointing to the fact that the post is a paid one, thus eliminating any deception.A recent study by Forbes found that people are 25% more likely to look at a native ad than at a banner. And, they view native ads 53% more frequently than they view banner ads.According to Pardot, “native advertising is actually a form of content marketing.” This means that it should offer some form of unique and useful information to the target audience.According to Brafton, “83% of digital marketers plan to increase audience engagement and promote brand visibility through native ads.” If you want to join them as part of your content marketing strategy, make sure your ad is consistent with your other content. Above all, native ads should meet the needs of your readers and engage the audience, just like your other content does.Bottom line: Native ads work and will continue to work. The best practice is to approach it with your content marketing mindset and ensure that you use only high-quality content.So, for example, if you decide to do sponsored posts or paid tweets, make sure that your landing page is well-designed and your content is crafted to welcome visitors and convert them into email subscribers or buyers.11. Be Ready to EvolveAccording to Melissa Stanger,It’s survival of the fittest and your business has to evolve.” To “evolve” means “to change or develop gradually.In content marketing, it means you should be willing to change and adapt to the latest developments in your industry. For you, that might mean enrolling in a content marketing institute that can further your education. For others, it might simply mean reading extensively to stay on top of trends.Business models evolve and the only way to stay competitive is to always work with the most current information. Never be caught unaware.As the business and content marketing world constantly evolves, you’ve got to keep your business viable. For example, you should keep abreast of Google’s algorithm updates if you want to keep generating sufficient search traffic.I’m always ready to change what I’m doing if I find it’s no longer yielding significant results. I don’t throw in the towel and quit. Rather, I stay flexible and continually adjust.You can do the same. Be prepared to satisfy your customers no matter what the economic situation or new government policy might be. It’s your responsibility to evolve for the sake of your target audience.12. Conduct a Competitor Analysis and Work With the DataCompetitor analysis isn’t optional these days. You can effectively spy on your competitors to know exactly what they’re doing and how to outsmart them.Industry experts agree that competitor analysis is an integral part of search marketing success. When properly conducted and when its results are integrated into your strategy, competitor analysis can improve many aspects of your marketing, including your conversion rate.The easiest way to know what your competitors are doing, in terms of where they’re getting backlinks and how many quality links they have, is to use the right automated tools.First and foremost, you’ll want to find out who your strongest competitors are. You can use Google to search for your main keyword (e.g. beginners guide to blogging), then check which sites are competing with you.Another way to find out is with SEMrush.com. Plug your main keyword into the search box, then click “search.”Next, scroll down to find the exact web pages that are competing with you:Now, you can analyze their links. Click one of the competing web pages to see the number of links that particular page has earned.When you scroll down, you’ll see the sites where the links came from.It’s time-consuming to check all of your competitors. However, even just checking a few competitors for their backlinks, speed and search performance can give you a better understanding of your industry.13. Get on the Local PlatformAre you taking local placement seriously? Content marketing isn’t just for an international audience, but for local clients and customers as well. According to recent statistics compiled by Bright Local, 97% of consumers use online search for local products and services. In other words, local placement should dictate part of your content marketing strategy.The search engine is the #1 resource for local customers. LocalVox statistics showed that 43% of web searches carried out today use a local keyword. Approximately 86% of those searches are from highly qualified customers. And, their search leads them to either call the vendor/company or visit their physical office.No matter what you do, you should always look out for keywords used by customers in your locality. For example, if you’re a web designer, you can attract high-paying clients from your locality. Here are some keywords that you can target:Note: You can replicate this strategy to target keywords pertaining to your own city. However, you shouldn’t target local keywords in any state or city where you’re not physically present.You can also increase revenue by targeting local keywords. For example, Hauser Ross launched a full SEO campaign. They had a definite goal: to increase organic traffic and attract more inbound queries.By simply optimizing for geographical keywords and claiming their business on Google Maps, they increased revenue by 333%.14. Create Headlines Based on Emotional KeywordsThe best way to create magnetic headlines is to target emotional keywords. Doing so will supercharge your content. People will not only read it, but they’ll be inspired to share it on social media and beyond as well.For example, if you were trying to lose weight, you’d probably go to Google and search for keywords like the following:lose 10 pounds quicklyfastest way to burn extra fatdrop 20 pounds in 2 weeksHere are more variations to the three search terms above:So, in our example, if you found an article or video targeting any of the keywords above, you’d respond positively. The reason is because those keywords mirror what you deeply desire.The same is true for your target audience. When they’re searching for keywords and you notice a hint of immediacy, you know that those keywords will convert into clicks, visits and sales when you eventually rank in Google.So let’s assume you help companies and digital businesses to grow revenue. Here are some of the keywords you can target to create powerful headlines that will, in turn, grow your own search traffic and rankings:From the screenshot above, you can see the “emotional keywords.” I call them “emotional” because people who are searching for them are already pre-sold on the idea of increasing revenue. They’re just waiting for a nudge to take action.To make your headlines high-converting, you should include numbers (especially odd numbers), because some studies show that odd numbers outperform even numbers.Let’s craft some headlines based on those emotional keywords:revenue generating ideas7 Powerful Revenue Generating Ideas You Can Put to Work Now3 Steps to Succeed With 9 Revenue Generating Ideashow to increase sales6 Steps on How to Increase Sales Right NowHow to Increase Sales in Your Small BusinessBetter yet, you could turn the emotional keywords into data-driven headlines to share your personal experiments and results:How To Increase Sales: An Experiment On How I Generated $25,000Case Study: How To Increase Sales as a Beginner to Selling13 Revenue Generating Ideas That Yielded $10,837 Sales and 2,636 Email Subscribers15. Fuel Your Passion With High-Quality ContentIf you feel you’re not a great writer, you’re not alone. According to research statistics from Teach Taught, “fewer than 50% of college seniors feel their writing improved during college.”But, you can change that, starting today. It begins with fueling your passion for writing. After all, if you’re passionate about what you do, there is nothing in this world that can stop you.Success requires consistent effort, and it’s a whole lot easier to be consistent when you’re passionate about the thing you’re doing.This simple formula shows you how to find your passion:With time, you’ll find that something you never believed you could do at all may actually become pretty easy. This chart explains it better:Blogging and business require creativity. The more creative you can be, the more opportunities you’ll have, the more great content you'll be able to write. This is a wake-up call for you to become a creative writer.The more you understand your target audience and serve them accordingly, the more you’ll find yourself growing in love for them.I never started out as an expert. In fact, there was a time when I couldn’t put together a 500-word blog post. I had to continually learn and fuel my passion for writing. Eventually, I got better, learned more and became the expert I wanted to be.Listen up: Successful content marketers don’t know it all. They’ve struggled to get things done, too. But, because they’ve developed thick skins, they can meet the challenge and come out stronger and more influential.16. Give Your Audience a Behind-the-Scenes ExperienceIf you want to attract a loyal audience and boost your site traffic, pre-sell your content and product. For example, if you are going to release a new post next week, tell your readers about the process of writing it before you publish. Behind-the-scenes experiences are welcome moments for your fans.Give them an interesting behind-the-scenes experience, like the one offered by the Cincinnati Zoo.I do this a lot when I write content. I’ve even started doing it when I reply to comments as well, by telling my readers that I’ll be publishing a new post that will more thoroughly address their question.Chris Brogan knows how to send readers to a page. The other day, he posted a behind-the-scenes post for his fans, and several people responded positively:Another typical example of a “behind-the-scenes” experience is when Michael Hyatt asked his blog readers to help him choose the best cover for Living Forward, an upcoming book that he co-authored with Daniel Harkavy.Of course, this is also a type of pre-selling, because the customers and loyal readers now know the title of the book and will look forward to its launch. And now, a majority of them are ready to buy.But, before they buy, they’ll tweet the page, cite it in their blog posts, recommend it to others on their other social media platforms, and follow the updates. This will increase referral traffic to Michael’s blog and search performance will likely also improve as a result of social signals.17. Curate Content Like a ProCuration used to be something you saw only at museums, where different arts and crafts needed to be selected and organized for exhibitions. Now, it’s an indispensable part of content marketing. You don’t always have to create fresh content from scratch.According to a recent survey report by Trap, “57% of marketers say they would prefer to share 10 or more items every day in order to effectively engage their audience.”Content curation is at the heart of social media marketing for most of us. In fact, 76% of marketers share curated content on social media regularly.And yet, even with so much content, Curata’s data shows that 30% of marketers are still struggling to find the right content that will improve their marketing strategy. Hence, the need for curation.A typical example of a blogger who knows how to curate high-quality content from authority sources is Brian Dean. His link building guide is basically a curated web page.As you scroll down the page, you’ll find links to in-depth and valuable articles and multimedia content related to link building.Copyblogger’s founder (Brian Clark) also believes in content curation. Apart from driving qualified traffic to your site and improving search performance, Clark has also advised on how to generate recurring revenue from curated content.A few tips to help you drive more traffic and leads from content curation:Research extensively for authority blog contents. Don’t curate content from low-quality sites.Stay relevant. Every content page you curate into your list must be relevant to the topic.Design for user experience first, then optimize for the right keywords (but don’t stuff).Reach out to bloggers whose content you’ve curated and notify them. Most of them will share it, if they believe their target audience will benefit from it.18. Build Engagement on Your Own SpaceA lot of marketers and bloggers have closed down their Facebook pages. Maybe they had good reasons for doing so and I respect their decisions.You can find out why Yelp Eat24 Order Online followed suit by reading their breakup letter to Facebook.The purpose of this section is not to tell you to do the same. Rather, I want to instill in you the need to build engagement in your own space - that is, your own blog.In other words: instead of working hard to get thousands of Facebook fans, Twitter followers and Google+ connections, work hard to bring them to your blog. From there, encourage them to join your email list. That’s where the real engagement happens.You have more control over your blog and email list than any social media profile or platform. No matter what success you’re enjoying on those sites today, make sure you’re not abandoning your blog audience for Twitter followers.Instead, pay more attention to your email list and nurture your subscribers. Sure, use social media networks to drive traffic and leads as much as you can - but pay more attention to your email list and blog.19. Create an Editorial CalendarYou need an editorial calendar to make your content marketing strategy low-stress and rewarding. Unfortunately, most people never take the time to craft a plan for creating content, marketing it and tracking its effectiveness.The more you understand the goal of a content or editorial calendar, the better your results will be. Here's a great explanation by Convince and Convert:The importance of the editorial calendar just can’t be overemphasized. You need to develop yours as quickly as possible, or use a template.The three steps you need to take to make your editorial calendar effective are:Know your audience and the content type they’re interested inResearch your topic thoroughlyCreate content and measure its effectivenessYou also need to find an editorial calendar template that’s right for you. Most organizations and marketers prefer the monthly calendar template, since it’s a realistic timeframe to measure effectiveness.With the above template, your task is to fill in the blanks. Each day of the week holds a topic or headline idea that you’re expected to write on or outsource.Remember that you need to keep a steady flow of content coming in. That’s the way to generate more leads and indexed pages and improve organic traffic.20. Get Maximum Mileage Out of Your ContentBlogging can help you reach more of your target audience, particularly if your blogs are frequently shared across social media channels. But, how do you get more referral traffic from your content?You’ve got to think outside the box. Inbound marketing works - there’s no question. But, you’ve got to diversify your efforts if you want to get outstanding results.The majority of your target audience haven’t visited your blog yet. They’re on Slideshare, YouTube, Docstoc and other content platforms.You’ve got to be everywhere they are. Your content should make a mark online. If you’ve spent your precious time creating great content, don’t let it sit there in oblivion.In a nutshell, I’m saying you should embrace content repurposing.It gives you the ability to take an old piece of content, and put it to a new use, according to what your audience wants.For example, you could take an article, convert it into a PDF report and share it on Docstoc. You could also create PowerPoint presentations and upload them to SlideShare.net. You’ll drive additional traffic to your blog and enhance your credibility as well.Be very careful to repurpose only your high-quality content that produced measurable results the first time around. Not every piece of content will necessarily work for this purpose.See also: The Unabridged Why and How of Content Repurposing21. Invest in Learning About Your AudienceThe web is a virtual university. You can learn just about anything online, if you know where to look. Content marketing will continually produce the right ROI when you give it time and consistently work to upgrade your knowledge and skills.And according to Bianca Male,Listening is often the best form of learning.The bad news is that your competition will continue to get more intense. The good news is that we’ve never before had so many effective and affordable tools and knowledge bases from which to work.Using the right tools, developing your skill sets and networking smartly will get you to the top. But, if you really want to succeed and reap huge dividends, then you should channel your learning efforts towards understanding your target audience better.ConclusionYou’ve made it. Thank you for reading to the end. However, if you don’t recall everything (you probably will not), remember this: In the world of content marketing, the customer doesn’t care about you and your good plans. They care about their challenges.They expect you to at least provide answers to some of their questions, if not all. Start by getting to know them as well as you can. This will take some time, no matter what tool you decide to use.The moment that you know your audience, you’ve won half the battle of converting them into loyal customers. Implement these 21 content marketing best practices and, gradually, your search traffic will improve.

The best way to transition from Finance to Tech is to wake up and do your homework.When beginning your job search, set four goals for yourself:1. Regain and maintain physical and mental health2. Learn a new industry (technology startups)3. Learn about companies and find job opportunities4. Develop relationships and expand your networkBelow, I’ll break down each of these goals in detail. The Google Sheet of resources by Alex Hardy would be very helpful.Pitching for a role at a company is a sales & marketing process.You are the product and you’re selling your brand but much more broadly you’re selling trust & confidence that you’re going to build something enormously valuable and that you’re going to be enjoyable to work hand-in-hand with over the coming decade of each other’s lives.When you market your product: People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves.I. BE SO GOOD THEY CAN'T IGNORE YOU.Display the hustle that you’d display with the job.1. Regain and maintain physical and mental healthMost people working on in finance severely neglect their mental and physical health. They rarely exercise, their diet is poor, and their stress levels are astronomical.Restoring your mental and physical health would lay a great foundation for pursuing the job search.This post is not meant to be super “self-help”-y, but I firmly believe there is power in both (a) building habits and (b) making those habits unrelated to your search in order to preserve your sanity. It can be exercise, meditation, writing, reading, etc._ _2. Learn a new industry: technology startupsTech companies/startups and financial firms are worlds apart in what their priorities are, how they operate, and what they’re like to work at. Learn as much as you can before applying for jobs. You’ll have a better sense for if startup life will be a fit for you, and it will help you identify interesting opportunities, interview more effectively, and hit the ground running if/when you join.Read more here.Within the context of any job interview, you’ll be expected to have knowledge of the relevant tech vertical, if not the startup world generally. For someone starting with no knowledge, spending about an hour per day getting up to speed is a good target. I’d break up reading into News and Analysis.✿ NewsThe Internet is a goldmine of resources. There has been a ton written and recorded about startups, so take advantage of all that’s available! The more you’ve read about what’s being built and how startups operate, the more effectively you’ll be able to (1) assess and pick a great startup to join, and (2) build a great product, marketing org, customer success team, etc. once you get started.Here are a few suggestions and several resources to get you started and stay informed:* Industry-specific Press: TechCrunch (Keep an eye out for fundraise press here), VentureBeat, The Verge and others maintain a good record of VC/Tech activity.* VC Newsletters: Term Sheet by Eric Griffin, Dan Primack’s Term Sheet, Connie Loizos’ StrictlyVC (Every day, you should read StrictlyVC. It’s a TechCrunch newsletter by Connie Loizos, with an overview of funding, startup news, and great interviews), Jason Calacanis’ Launch Ticker, Alex Kantrowitz's Big Technology, Benedict Evans, GGV’s 996 (about Chinese startups), The Information, CB Insights, Mattermark Daily, CrunchBase Daily are newsletters that summarize daily or weekly trends and venture activity.* Cool hack: Download Nuzzel. Follow the Twitter accounts of tech people, online publishers, and companies that Alex Hardy recommended, see what they’re sharing (Find more people to follow at my Twitter @sarahvo91), or Like/Follow their Facebook pages.The Google Sheet has all those good news sources.I personally prefer to update generic news at the pages I’m following on Facebook rather than Twitter. Of the 800+ accounts I follow on Twitter, a half dozen or so are publications such as companies and online publishers. I’m not interested in reading a press release or generic tweet on Twitter. Instead, I only follow people and prefer to hear candidly from the Co-founders, Executives, Investors, and Media Influencers so that I can stay informed and mentally in tune with their recent success, announcement, failure or wisdom.More Twitter tips can be found below.✿ AnalysisIt’s important to know what’s happening, but even more important to know what it all ‘means’ in context.* Books: How the Internet Happened — context on the evolution of tech over the last ~25 years. Zero to One — Peter Thiel’s take on how to take a company from an idea to reality. High Growth Handbook — advice for scaling startups across hiring, org structures, and more. Keith Rabois also tends to have great book recs. Highly recommend Venture Deals, or career guides such as Vault, etc. If you’re not a great reader, get a library membership & audio versions of several books are free. Get an Audible account if you can.* VC Newsletters & Blogs:A number of VCs and founders, such as Andrew Chen, Elad Gil, Dan Wang, Matthew Ball, Jason Crawford, Kevin Kwok, Eugene Wei, Sriram Krishnan, Lenny Rachitsky, Alex Taussig, Li Jin, Alex Danco, Tren Griffin, Brad Feld, Jessica Livingston, Justin Kan, Mark Suster, David Skok, Sarah Guo, Fred Wilson, Social + Capital Snippets, Marc Andreessen (PMarca guide to startups, particularly the only thing that matters), Paul Graham essays — a couple favorites are maker vs. manager time, and how to start a startup, Sam Altman, Bill Gurley, Steve Blank, Dharmesh Shah, The First Round Review, a16z, Nfx, Trends.vc etc publish advice for entrepreneurs/investors and provide commentary on deals and trends in the industry. I highly recommend Stratechery by Ben Thompson — insightful newsletter dissecting tech strategy and business. Subscription is $100/year but well worth it. A few gems to get started with: Aggregation theory, Amazon’s new customer, 2018 year in review. His analysis is unparalleled. He also has an excellent companion podcast, Exponent.* Podcasts: Recode Decode with Kara Swisher, Exponent Podcast by Ben Thompson, a16z Podcast, This Week In Startups with Jason Calacanis. How I Built This — like it sounds, founders talk about the companies they’ve built. Venture Stories — deep dives with startup founders, VCs, and thought leaders across a variety of topics. Invest Like the Best — interviews with renowned investors and beyond.* Videos: Sam Altman’s How to Start a Startup class. My favorite section is hosted by Keith Rabois on how to operate.The Google Sheet has other good sources for tech analysis and podcasts.Full list of tools here._ _3. Learn about companies & find job opportunitiesFind tech jobs at: John Gannon’s blog, Breakout List, Women in Wireless, Tech Ladies (if you’re a woman).The Google Sheet has sources for where to find companies and job openings: Angel List, LinkedIn, Product Hunt, The Muse, Gary’s Guide, Join-Startups, Uncubed, Vettery, Hired, SquarePegHires.Lists like the Breakout list and Wealthfront’s list can help you hone in on high potential companies. You may find that using the lens of industry/mission or stage to be a helpful way to narrow in on the type of company you’d like to join as well.Many VC Firms have job portals on their company websites.✿ Stay organizedTracking your opportunities will make your search more manageable. You should make a simple ‘target companies’ and contact people list.During your search, you’ll get exposed to many new companies. When you hear of one that sounds interesting, write it on the list. Even if the company doesn’t have an open or interesting role posted, list them anyway. In tech, the best jobs will often not be posted to a job board.One of the benefits of reading tech news is learning which startups recently received funding. Companies that raise money generally do so to hire new people. Those are great companies to target.✿ Determine your criteriaNarrowing your criteria will help you focus your search. Even if you are truly ‘industry agnostic’ and just want to work on something cool, you’ll need to have a better story when you interview. I suggest honing in on the following elements:* Role at the Company: Understand your role. Probably the most important factor. People working in finance may no concept about the different typical roles at a startup. What you did before will determine, to a large extent, what you will do next. If you previously worked in banking and want to pivot into tech, you will likely be hired for a finance-related role in a tech company. If you spent 10 years in the airplane industry and want to start a company, you will likely found an aviation-related start-up. Just saying.It is important to understand what a potential employer will expect of you. This can vary significantly by company, so ask around about a particular firm’s approach to professional staffing. See if you can figure out who the hiring manager is (aka your potential future boss). It can be helpful if this person also has financial experience, as they’ll understand your skillset and where you’re coming from more broadly, but certainly not a requirement.If there is a jobs page at the company you’re interested in, check out the Operations, Business Operations (aka BizOps), Analyst and perhaps Product Manager roles (though those can be notoriously hard roles to get without any previous tech startup or product experience).If you’re not a software developer, you’ll probably end up doing one of the following: Marketing, Sales, Growth, Finance, Business Development, Customer Success / Experience, Operations. Learn what each of these roles does.The Google Sheet has some suggested resources to assist.I found it very helpful to seek out people at startups who actually did these roles, and try to talk to them. Generally, the earlier stage the company, the less defined the role.Speaking about VCs, generally, later-stage and growth equity firms place a have a heavier focus on deal support (due diligence and financial modeling) while earlier-stage firms tend to emphasize portfolio company work.There is also a pretty wide range of expectations for the level of sourcing you will be doing. Almost all firms require investment professionals to actively source new opportunities and help build theses around particular companies and industries.At the early stage, the ranks of the non-partner investor are disappearing. VC firms are going back to being mostly partner driven shops, where dealflow and decisions stay up top. They are, however, staffing up with specialists. Like lefties out of the bullpen, VC firms now have recruiting partners, pr and marketing experts, technologists-in-residents — and USV even has an on board activist. If you can’t walk into a firm and tout a specific skill that is a benefit to portfolio companies, you’re going to have a very tough time getting in.Analyzing startups is not a portfolio company benefit. That’s a benefit to the VC firm. To the company, as a recently minted MBA with no startup experience who wants to run the 4th year numbers, you’re just a pain in the ass.* Geography: How comfortable would you be working remotely? There can be drawbacks to your productivity, happiness, and job safety if you are not working closely IRL with your managers.* Number of employees & Amount of funding: Think carefully about a company’s size. Funding is a good proxy for size & “stage.” Startups range in size or stage from seed stage (<$2m, <~10 people), series A (~$5–10m, ~10–70 people), series B (~$10–30m, ~30–200 people), to series C and beyond (~$20m+, 100+ employees). Note that these ranges are rough and vary by company. Crunchbase is a helpful place for looking up companies by funding raised and number of employees. Generally, the earlier the stage, the higher the risk. The earlier the stage of company, the more risk you’ll take on, but the more exposure you’ll have to things like finding product-market fit and the more equity you’ll have in the company. Your experience at companies of five people vs. 50 people vs. 500 people will be vastly different, even though each might be (wrongly) classified as a “startup.”* Industry/Vertical: FinTech? HealthTech? EdTech? AdTech? The possibilities are (seemingly) endless. Coming from Finance, you may got the most traction with FinTech companies. If there is an area you’re interested in, such as women’s health, or space exploration, this can help focus your job search immensely. If you’re truly agnostic, pursuing a vertical where you have *some* experience and/or genuine interest is a good place to start. Don’t worry if you don’t have an industry you’re particularly drawn to though. Most companies don’t require industry expertise, and you may find that other factors of the job like stage, team and role are more important to you than industry. One quick way to search by industry is to filter by ‘market’ in Angelist’s company directory.* Customer base (Business-to-Business [“B2B”] vs. Business-to-Consumer [“B2C”]): Who does the company market and sell to? How do its users or customers make decisions? Would your work / life experience help you succeed in one environment or the other?Once you’ve pulled together a list of companies you’re excited about, it’s time to reach out.Shotgun resume submissions result in hiring managers sifting through dozens of candidates to find the right person. (Good luck emerging from that particular pile.) To show the hiring manager you are the right candidate, you have to do the work. Instead of shot-gunning your resume, put in the time to determine a company you definitely want to work for — both in terms of the job and in terms of cultural fit.Pretend I’m the hiring manager. “I would love to work for you,” you say. What I actually hear is, “I would love for you to pay me.” You can’t possibly know if you want to work for a company unless you know a lot about it; that’s the difference between just wanting a job and wanting an actual role in a business.If you really want to maximize your chances of success, put as much effort into researching the company you’re interviewing for as you would a final you wanted to ace. Doing your homework will put you ahead of the curve. Fortune, as they say, favors the prepared.Talk to friends, relatives, vendors, customers… anyone you can find. Check out management and employees on social media. When you know the people, you know the company. Learn as much as you can.Follow people who work at that company/firm on Twitter. If they host events, try to get into them. If they run a forum, contribute to it. Demonstrate a track record of interest before you ask them to get interested in you.Research the history, founders, key executives, culture, recent initiatives, product, new innovations, market, customer reviews, public financial data — the whole nine yards. Think about the user, how the product fits into the industry as a whole, new growth opportunities it could pursue in new markets. Moreover, use the product, and develop opinions about it — how could it be better, how could it be changed?Research the shit out of the company looking to fill that role. Figure out what they need to be successful that you can deliver on. Dazzle them in the interview and cover letter by telling them in extreme detail how you’re going to solve their problems for them.Unlike financial jobs that have clear requirements and a well-defined interview process, getting a startup job isn’t typically as straight-forward. There may not even be a job posting at the company you’re interested in, but don’t let that deter you.Focus on the companies/firms where you want to work: Many of the best companies/firms have a process for hiring new employees/partners. They frequently tweet these positions out, often with specific application requests and short timelines. Their goal is to find people who are REALLY interested in their companies/firms.✿ Pitching for the role* Acquire the skills: You need to identify the skills you would need to acquire in order to be the obvious candidate. Make sure you have transferable skills, so career change is always possible.From college admissions to office politics, most things in life are games. If you decide to play games, take the time to learn the rules first, even if you end up not following them.If you’re trying to signal that you’re a member of someone’s tribe, you have to present evidence that you’re a member of their tribe. No one will ever think of you as a member of their tribe until they can actually see you as a member of their tribe. If you’re interviewing for finance, wear a suit. If you’re interviewing for tech, don’t wear a suit. Apply this to any context whatsoever ad infinitum and you get the idea.If you’re trying to connect with someone, you have to learn how to speak their language. If you’re in VC, terms like due diligence, ROI, P2P, B2B, bootstrapping, will be basic terminology. If you’re in music, terms like tempo, measure, pianissimo, DC al coda, will be basic terminology. Apply this to any context whatsoever ad infinitum and you get the idea.You shouldn’t be scared by the technical aspect, especially if you develop a baseline knowledge of how to communicate around a technical problem. Take an intro CS class, and dabble in a Python and a few other languages before your interview, which would be very helpful.Pick up skills you don’t have. Yes, you learned how to model in Excel and make pretty slides, but there are still many gaps in your skillset. I’ve found they break down along the following lines: Data and analytics, Business developments and sales, product.* Write a CV/Resume: Going to a top business school, having banking or consulting on your resume is an indicator to potential venture employers that you’re smart, aggressive, willing to work hard and well trained. There is clearly a bias in the world of finance towards VC jobs as training grounds. It will also bring you into contact with people who are likely to have networks that include venture capitalists as well as potentially up your chances of meeting key people. This is especially true if you’re thinking of later stage venture or private equity who — much more so than early stage venture — tend to look kindly on the training one gets in these jobs.IMPACT. Always show impact in each role, ideally in the form “moved metric X by Y%”. Try to use industry standard metrics and definitions whenever possible (revenue, users, retention, activation, etc). Describe a few of the hardest problems you solved & exactly how you solved them.Unless you are applying for a role in the same industry, don’t use buzzwords or unexplained acronyms anywhere in the resume. Basic spelling and grammatical errors are unacceptable and show a lack of attention to detail.Don’t use weird layouts unless you are really good at graphic design. The typical hiring manager is going through dozens at a time, don’t make it hard for them to read.* Write a cover letter: A brief introduction that shows you read the job description and specifically applied for this role goes a long way and can be the difference that gets you to the first step.Do not use cover letter to summarize your CV/Resume. A cover letter is a business letter in narrative form, not a symbols/bullet-points fest.Cover letter gives you the opportunity to tell the company who you are. They already know what you are from the CV/Resume. Make the most of the chance to get them to see beyond the CV/Resume.If you are making a career change, use a cover letter to tell the reader what you’ve accomplished and how it directly translates to meeting the company’s needs. Put the focus on your reasons for making the career change, and bridge between the experience you have and the job you are trying to get (the requirements of the position), how your relevant skills and abilities in your past career will translate to your new career, how switching industries is an advantage over other job seekers who have worked in the industry for years. Also offer a unique lens to view problems.And remember, enthusiasm goes a long way. Hiring managers get excited about applicants that really show a desire to succeed in the role and industry they are applying to.* Prepare for the interview: Your story is an essential part of your job-search efforts. Don’t overlook it.Among the hundreds or thousands of applicants for any given job, there will always be candidates with more relevant experience, more education, or closer connections with decision makers. Those are aspects you can’t control.What you can control, however, is how you tell your story.Become a marketer of your product. What are your customers’ needs and how does your product address those needs in a way that others don’t? Make your recruiters’ lives easier by owning your narrative. Why do you want to apply for that position? What have you done in the past that’s related to it? What unique skills or experiences can you bring to the table that would benefit your team?Candidates don’t realize that interview questions such as “tell me about yourself” or “walk me through your resume” are often the most important and advantageous questions asked. It’s an opportunity to tell your story and steer the conversation in whatever direction you choose. These questions are not an invitation to list every role and responsibility you’ve ever had but rather convey your knowledge and differentiator.It’s important to craft a story about how your experience is relevant to what you want to do. When pitching yourself for one of these roles, think of how your skillset & experience would translate into the role you’re targeting. Make sure to use the language that matches the job posting. Pull keywords from the posting and “naturally” integrate them throughout your resume. For example, coming from investment banking, it might be difficult to land a role managing a digital marketing team. However, experience with spreadsheets and interacting with clients might make you a good fit for business development or partnerships.Have a coherent story. Companies hire largely based on pattern recognition. They need to be able to glance at your resume, skim your cover letter, or talk to you for five minutes and immediately see why you would be a great candidate.Go work at a company that you believe in. Do not optimize for job title, find the coolest company and tell them you’ll “do anything.” Offer to work for free if you have to to show your value. This is the secret to the universe. I still do free things routinely to get people hooked on what I can do. If the company grows, you’ll grow with it and the job title will eventually come.While working at that company do the job you were hired to do between 8 am and 6 pm. Then do the job you WANT to be doing for that company between 6 pm and 8 am. Eventually if you do the job you want to be doing for free, the company will be forced to start paying you for it if you’re any good.The best way to prepare for all this is to actually go through the consulting process, but there are also online resources that outline the types of questions you can expect. The second best way to do that is through practice — call every friend who has experience and is willing to help, and do 20–30 minute mock interviews until it is almost like muscle memory.✿ Public service announcementRegardless of what you want to do, you need to build your personal brand. Start with an active online presence, because, you know, it’s 2019 and people need to be able to find you on the interwebs. In fact, they shouldn’t have to find you — they should just see you, and then start seeing you everywhere. Lots of doors opened up to me because I spent a lot of time in the last 2 years building my online brand and persona, specifically on Twitter.Leverage the power of media to build up social profile and connect with people => Build and expand your reputation and reach by delivering value => Use that to grow your business. See The importance of personal branding for more information.Maintain an online presence that’s respectful, professional, and courteous, noting that others may be able to see articles, comments, images, or videos that you’ve shared or commented on. Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Ensure your online brand reflects the same professionalism and personality that makes you so engaging and has gotten you this far in real life.Be prepared before diving in to the job search. Even if leaving your current job hasn’t crossed your mind, you should always have two things ready and up to date — your resume and LinkedIn profile. That’s where employers are going to look for you. Make sure your LinkedIn is current with no egregious spelling or grammatical errors. LinkedIn (along with Twitter) is basically the front page of your internet identity.Some companies ask potential applicants not to send in a traditional resume, but instead to point to the applicant’s various activities around the web (their blog, articles they’ve authored, companies they are helping out with, etc). While this may be an extreme example of a firm valuing the online presence of potential colleagues (and one that has worked very well for the firm), having a visible profile online that you can reference and point to will be helpful in many a tech job search (especially so if the firms you are seeking employment from invest in these areas, as USV does). Your online activity can and should extend to reading and sometimes (thoughtfully) commenting on the blogs of the now vast list of VCs/Techies that write a blog. These sorts of interactions are just one way to start to engage in a conversation with people in the industry you might one day work with.And if the idea of a new opportunity has crossed your mind? Before you begin applying, know this: In cover letters, most people tend to talk about what they want instead of how they can help a company reach its goals. Many think the latter is implied, but it’s not — and you’ve got to draw that very specific line. It’s your responsibility to match those job description keywords and show how you line up with the role. There’s a difference between ‘I can contribute to your success in XYZ ways’ versus ‘I’m a great candidate, look at me’. The key here is to look at the success marker for the job and then be very specific about how what you’ve done can help replicate that kind of success. Use concrete numbers wherever possible.✿ Get started and have impact* Determine how you will make an immediate impact in the role from day one.Doing the job before you get the job is a great way to get the job.Many companies see training as a necessary evil. Training takes time, money, effort… all of which are in short supply. An ideal new hire can be productive immediately, at least in part.While you don’t need to be able to do everything required in the job, it helps if the company can see an immediate return on their hiring investment. (Remember, hiring you is an investment that needs to generate a return.)Know your company’s goals and metrics cold, especially if you’re the one responsible for that area of the business. 1) It’s critical to your understanding of the business to understand what the major levers are and how they are defined and 2) it impacts your reputation among your company’s leadership. And don’t be afraid to ask about how metrics are calculated or defined. Sometimes metrics are thrown together hastily without much documentation, and may even have errors in them.Be proactive in your 1:1s. Come prepared with your point of view on the business, with what’s working and what’s not with how things are getting done today. Show that your thinking is rigorous and that you have thoughtful and creative potential solutions for the problems of the business. This will lead to opportunities for you to take on more responsibility and will steepen your learning curve.You can start thinking up strategies for helping them, potentially with hiring, marketing and business development opportunities. One thing that I see too many people moving from the finance world doing, both in attempts to get into VC and to startups, is relinquishing the resources they have at their old job. They can’t wait to get out of their bank or consulting firm, but they forget that they have connections to something that startups want desperately — money. If you want to break into the startup world and you come from investment banking, don’t forget the one thing that your resume says that actually speaks to entrepreneurs — you know potential investors.Focus on hitting goals and moving metrics. You joined a startup so you could build things. This means figuring out what actions will result in moving your company’s key metrics, and doing those things.Put what you can offer on display. If you’re a programmer, mock up a new application. If you want a sales position, create a plan for how you’ll target a new market or customer base, or describe how you will implement marketing strategies the business doesn’t currently use.A tell and show is your chance to prove you know the company and what you can offer. Your initiative will be impressive and you’ll go a long way toward overcoming concerns that you’re all hat and no cattle.Is it fair you’re doing a little work on spec? Should you have to create a mockup or plan to get the job? Not really, and probably not… but doing so will set you apart.Never let “fair” — when the only person “disadvantaged” is you — get in the way of achieving your goals.* The earlier you find a way to demonstrate your value, the better off you’ll be.If you held an internship prior to recruiting for full-time jobs, that’s a very strong signal that you’re not only interested in tech in theory, but also qualified and competent in practice.Of course, having prior experience is certainly not the only path to building legitimacy. If you’re interested in a role but lack any experience, you can demonstrate passion and pick up experience via a “side-hustle.” This could take many forms: building an audience on a blog or social media, helping a friend with their startup, or doing free research (If you see a VC firm that’s investing in a particular sector, develop your own opinion about the space and present it to the VC for free), putting together a prototype for an idea you have, winning a hackathon, leading a club, finding a bug in the company’s website, writing about technology, hosting events or conferences, starting a syndicate on AngelList, building a following on ProductHunt, advising companies, helping accelerators with sourcing or advising, starting a YouTube channel to talk about your favorite tech products, publishing a portfolio to showcase your design work, launching a new product or service of your own creation.II. DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS & EXPAND NETWORK.Be An Ecosystem Adopt — Become an active member of your local startup ecosystem. Spend as much time as possible in the company of aspiring and accomplished entrepreneurs. An effective way to associate yourself with high-caliber members of your startup community is to lend your gratis support to a venture accelerator or incubator or lab or school. In addition, establish relationships with the accountants, bankers, lawyers and investors who comprise your local startup world. This probably won’t lead directly to a job in Tech, but it will help you execute the next task.Having connections isn’t the requirement; it’s access to connections that matters, and this is something entirely within your control.The nature of the business is relationship driven.Building a network — get a warm intro is no secret and it is key to landing any competitive job.We live in a world where 85% of jobs are filled via networking. Building relationships and cultivating network are major keys that can supercharge your success. You need to seek and partner with the highest quality and smartest people in the industry. Your network is your source of opportunities. (Of course you can’t come up with opportunities on your own).The easiest way to get a job is leveraging your connections. In today’s climate, you will have a much easier time landing a job if you have a connection that can help you. No point in beefing your resume if you can’t even get your foot in the door. Be the one who knocks. You need to use the backdoor to gain access to the hidden job market. The big potential win is that by laying all this groundwork, you’ll find your way into a “hidden job” — one that isn’t found online or on a job board or even published. That’s huge. Remember to keep an eye open for hidden jobs that do not yet exist at a certain time. Once a company posts an open job, you are immediately in competition with a gazillion people, usually, for attention. One solution is to apply for a job that doesn’t yet exist at a certain company. In order to do this, you’ll need a solid understanding of the organization and its potential holes in leadership.Don’t wait to be called for an interview. Don’t even wait for an opening to be posted; after all, you’ve identified ways you can immediately help the company you want to work for. Wrangle an introduction, meet with someone who can actually influence the hiring decision, and pitch away.You can start the process by sending along what experts call a “value introduction letter,” or a succinct letter that introduces you as a person and the value you can afford the company. You’ll want to outline a clear action plan for addressing the company’s key pain points and actionable ideas for solving them. Consider starting with a question, like, “Are you looking to optimize operations and save on costs?” and then go into quantifiable metrics that you personally generated in your current or most recent role. The proof lies in the results.Think it won’t work? It will — as long as you show the person you contact how they will also benefit. Say, “I really want to work for your company. I know you’re in charge of social media marketing and I’ve developed a data-driven way to analyze activities, ROI, brand awareness… I’d love to take you to lunch and show you. If you hate my ideas, at least you got a free lunch. If you love them, you learned something. What do you have to lose?”A friend of mine who runs a tech company has hired four people who approached him in a similar fashion. He’s a go-getter; he loves hiring go-getters. And he loves when they find him.Just make sure you go straight to describing how the company will benefit from hiring you. Say, “Your website is good, and I can make it even better. Here are changes I will make in the first month, and here is how those changes will improve conversions and SEO results. And here’s a mockup I created of a new site design.”Approach them right and people will pay attention — especially entrepreneurs and small businesses. I don’t know any smart people who won’t drop everything to learn how to improve their business.Most people don’t mind being closed. Plus a decision put off until tomorrow is a decision added to the to-do list; no one wants more on their plate.If you truly know you want the job — and by this point, you should — ask for it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Who knows: if you’ve worked hard to truly set yourself apart, you might get hired on the spot.It’s best to start early when you are still working for your current company. The secret lies in presenting yourself as a “passive candidate” — someone who is interested in a new professional opportunity but not currently seeking one.A person who is already working for a competitor is seen as a prized candidate, as opposed to someone who is actively seeking employment. Recruiters are particularly zealous about seeking a prized “passive candidate” — someone who is open to new opportunities but not actively seeking them.Why? The psychology of hiring managers and recruiters often goes like this: If someone is good, they are already working for a competitor, and if they aren’t employed or are submitting their resume actively, there is often some kind of problem.Alternatively, even if there isn’t a problem, they can go all the way through a long and expensive hiring process only to find that the candidate has a competing job offer from another company. However, if they are dealing with a candidate who isn’t looking elsewhere, that risk goes away.One mistake I’ve seen is that people will hold off meeting with a potential employer until their resume is utterly perfect. You don’t necessarily have to do this. Of course you need to be good at communicating what you do, but over-preparing is probably not as valuable as building a relationship.When interacting with a potential employer, demonstrate that you have spent time building your network in the entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem. Venture Capitalists and Techies rely heavily on their networks to stay relevant in their particular sector and to ensure that they are interacting with the most promising entrepreneurs and companies. They will be looking to add people to their team who have focused on this core competency.This requires a lot of proactive reaching out and showing off some EQ. It is an art and requires a lot of strategies. If it is too much for you, maybe success doesn’t mean a lot. Move on.Skip the job boards, it’s all about a referral.It’s really important to build good relationships with recruiters. Business is all about relationships. We’ve all made made bad hiring decisions, so a referral from someone we trust is like gold.Unless it’s through on-campus recruiting, dropping your resume into an application link is rarely the fastest way to get a first round interview. More often than not, resume drops are black holes. Referrals, on the other hand, are your best friend.Referrals are the most surefire way to get an interview. A referred applicant is 15 times more likely to be hired than an applicant from a job board. Job boards have just a 0.4% effectiveness rate, according to a recent study, while the rate for someone who comes in the door via an employee referral is over 5%. The best job search is the job search that you don’t need to do.But while some job seekers seem clued in to that fact — almost 35% applied to their most recent position through a referral — the majority have not.Before jobs are posted online they’re filled either internally or through a referral from a trusted source. These gigs go to the people who are already standing outside the door. The recruiters tend to operate on historical data about who makes a good candidate, which is usually at big tech companies. You need to have enough legitimacy so that recruiters don’t look at your resume and wonder why you are applying for the job.Even better, candidates don’t need to be a perfect fit to be hired for these jobs. Instead they’re evaluated based on their track record of past performance, leadership ability and upside potential.It’s because of four reasons. 1/ Their trusted sources already have a strong reference on their behalf, so there’s less screening required. 2/ There’s no leadership/relationship risk. The team already knows each other. 3/ They are likely to move very quickly and follow a great person to another role, which accelerates hiring. 4/ Great people associate with other great people. More trusted referrals means faster, easier and better hiring.That’s terrific leverage.What drives these underlying dynamics? Supply and demand. For each role listed on a public website, top companies are usually flooded with more applicants than they can realistically process. Make their jobs easier by showing them that you’re the one.Without that network or with the wrong network, recruiting costs and time increase. Success rates of new hires declines. And more uncertainty is injected into the business._ _1. Identify the right type of people/companies and build your listMake a list of 5 companies you’d like to work for and for each company, try to find and reach out 5 people who currently work there. You want to be as certain as possible that the company you might jump to will make you happier than the one you’re leaving, and it’s hard to know that until you hear from people who currently work there, and chances are they would be able to help you get a job interview.✿ Get as specific as possibleThe narrower your scope, the easier it is to focus.✿ Organize your listYou should track your curated list of people in a Google Sheet with all relevant details.Again, it’s a numbers game. Manage your recruiting process like a sales funnel. Create an excel spreadsheet of firms and include team members for each firm complete with whatever professional (and even personal) details you can find.I don’t want to be too prescriptive about the length of the list, as there’s no magic number. However, I generally find that a minimum of 10, and ideally in the 15–20 range is good. Too many more and it’s hard to do it well and target effectively; much less and you’re not feeding the funnel.Here are some keys for all those involved on getting a job can use to enter through the backdoor:_ _2. Find out how to get connectedThe High Level✿ Use your network / Lean on your friendsIt would be great if they’re in your circle of friends. If you are in the fortunate position of knowing those people, then great, you can start there directly.Networking is a valuable long-term play no matter what career path you’re aspiring to. However, it would be unrealistic to expect to have a connection into every company — or VC firm on your list. So how do you reach those “untouchables”?If you don’t know those people directly, here are a few more thoughts on what to do next.If you are not connected to any of them but have a friend who is well connected, you should go through him/her. They will trust a recommendation from this source extremely highly. The best type of referral is from close friends or co-workers who can vouch for your performance, though you should also try tapping into your network or contacting alumni from your school.Most opportunities seem to connect in second degree networks. The goal is knowing of these as they come up, and being top of mind when they do.Remember that meeting people comes down to warm intros. A warm intro to a company always beats a cold email. Figure out who can you can get warm intros from. People are always much more receptive to introductions from people that they know and trust. The “warmer” the person that’s giving you the intro, the better.✿ Make new connectionsLet’s say you just got here and don’t know anyone. No friends, no network, nada.If you don’t know any connections, then it’s time to start connecting and building relationships. If you are struggling to connect via your network, your next best bet is to meet them in person. Do an extensive research on those people and find ways to meet and become their friends.It’s still doable.People are intimidated by the concept of “networking,” but meeting people is surprisingly simple.You can come to the Bay Area and meet entrepreneurs very easily..The Nitty Gritty✿ Improve your interpersonal skillsBefore approach your potential employer you have to put in your research. You have to know what the person has done in their life, what they are doing now and even a little about their family and other personal details. You might find that the person likes a particular sport or that they have a particular hobby. These can all be items and points of discussion when you start your efforts to reach out.Above all else, you need to show interest in the person. If you put forth the effort to get to know them even before reaching out you’re showing them that you are willing to work for what you want in life. That effort can lead to that person seeing potential or seeing right through unfound enthusiasm.When you think of getting a job, think of it like a sales funnel.The best way to get a job in Tech is to spend a few years helping people who work in tech, with no agenda other then to build up goodwill. If you do a really good job and help people in a meaningful way, at some point within those few years you will likely get recruited into Tech, asked to apply for a job, or receive an unsolicited referral. Most people will never get to work in Tech because they will not be willing to “help people” for a sustained period of time, without a clear path into a job. People don’t like doing work, unless they know exactly what they’ll get out of it. And if you’re one of the few willing to take the path less clear, you’ll find most of the competition weeded out by the unwillingness of others to do the same.This is especially true in VC. “Networking” as a way to get a job into venture capital does not work. Applying for jobs in venture capital very rarely works.VCs love free help. If you have skills that will augment their deal flow, due diligence capabilities or simply expand their network, you can make yourself an asset within the big world of tech. In other words, this is best done when you have developed a familiarity with a sector and can provide deal flow or chat about an interesting market thesis. Put your money where your mouth is — don’t be afraid to work for free for a firm/company you have a good relationship with and want the position, even if it’s not immediately available.See my tips for improving interpersonal interactions for more information.Fortunately for you, people in tech tend to generously volunteer their time and insight to engage with folks interested in breaking in to the industry.I broke down relationship development into the following:• Social Media• Email outreach• In-person meetings• Tech Events✿ Social Networks: your secret weaponThis seems obvious but spend time where the people you want to meet hang out. If you want to meet VCs → Twitter. If you want to meet engineers or designers or learn those skills → hackathons are a good place to start. Build a strong network in a relevant, concentrated space. Reach out to people who have a job you think you’d be interested in doing.* LinkedIn is probably the most “cold-call” like of all the techniques, but it can work if you do it properly. With the right setup, your LinkedIn profile can become a passive lead generator for new opportunities. But if you’re only using LinkedIn as a digital résumé placeholder, you’re missing out on hundreds of potential opportunities. You need to recognize that LinkedIn is a network of 400 million people, not just a database of them. It is also an incredibly powerful resource when it comes to skipping the online application process. It can help you reach out directly to the person who is on point for filling your dream role.Let’s say you’re applying for an account management role at Google in New York. Searching LinkedIn for “Account Director + Google + New York” will usually bring up the most senior person in the department. Then you can use the steps in this article to find their email address and begin building a relationship.Go on LinkedIn search for Googlers or people from your target companies. Figure out which open group they are in. Join that group. Go into member list, find the person and message them (a trick to message people without InMail). Tell them that you want to work for their company and ask for advice.Make sure you do your homework before sending messages. Do your research: Understand the role, organization, and individual job responsibilities for the person who you’re contacting, and tailor messages to individuals, rather than sending a generic, one-size-fits-all note.* Twitter is really really important.I was initially a huge Twitter skeptic. I thought it was a platform to post useless life updates and navel-gaze. Or another superficial channel to follow celebrities.In reality, some of the best analysis I’ve read, deepest conversations I’ve had, and tightest relationships I’ve formed have happened on Twitter. I’ve learned so much, deepened relationships, and even met new people IRL because of it.Twitter is the thinking person’s social media platform, when used correctly. It is what we think LinkedIn is. It is the fastest way to accelerate your career. It’s the best way to learn faster, build your resume, and find peers and collaborators who can create job and business opportunities for you.First, in the context of the job search, it’s an amazing tool to stay in the “flow” of tech news and analysis. Twitter is television for intellectuals. The idea of “learning in public” is irresistible once you figure out how to open source your thinking & level up with feedback loops from a small, informed, engaged readership. Crossing the inflection point is hard since we are conditioned to learn only in controlled environments.Second, the most effective networking strategy I’ve found has nothing to do with conferences, cocktail hours, cold emails, or any of the common ideas you hear:1) Do interesting things.2) Share them publicly.Like-minded people will come to you.Writing is a superpower.1) Pick a high value, emerging industry. Learn about your favorite obscure topic.2) Write about it.3) Share your writing online.Then, hundreds of interesting people from around the world will contact you. And some will become your best friends. Can’t recommend it enough.The easiest way to be discovered right now in technology and perhaps many fields is to create your own independent blog (which is your own website or Quora or Medium profile) and write then share your content on Twitter, or use Twitter for microblogging through tweetstorms. Twitter is a great place for people to discover your content. There is a huge dearth in availability of good, current, first party content today.Twitter is useful if you have a large network or friends with large networks, or a connection who can amplify your voice. (Facebook can be more broadly useful, though, because you can join groups that are associated with opportunities in your field and monitor posts in groups you are already affiliated with.)Twitter and Quora have many of the world’s smartest people. You can easily find like-minded people who also want to deepen and broaden perspectives there. If used correctly, it can 10x your chances of landing a great job in tech, especially if you have a blog or portfolio or resume available for view online. Twitter allows you to connect with people that otherwise would be impossible. I cannot overstate how magical that is. It’s a great way to interact with Founders, Executives, Investors, Media Influencers. Many of these folks would never respond to your email, phone call, or stop to chat with you on the street — However (inexplicably) they’ll respond to tweets. Sometimes you use sites like Twitter, Quora and LinkedIn not only for the sake of gaining knowledge or writing. Your content is just the key to open other doors. Most of the time I don’t write the best content. However it gives me an excuse to reach out to people in a less creepy stalky way.Sean Rose’s career path is a good example.Keith Rabois has hired people solely based on their tweets or their Quora answers. Keith has discovered insightful people on Twitter and ended up meeting them in person. Keith has offered people jobs, without meeting them in person, just by reading their published material on sites like Quora and Twitter.I built most of my “adult” network on Twitter. I can’t stress enough how valuable it is to use if you work in tech.Everyone must be onboarded! But it’s still so hard for people to join without someone to guide them through how to use it. So here are some tips for novices:* Define yourself and ask yourself what your interests are. I would suggest to have 3 topics that you’re most interested.* Start by using Twitter passively to consume content. Don’t read news. Read independent writers, not publications. If you want original ideas, you can’t consume what everybody else is consuming. Escape the present. We’re trapped in a Never-Ending Now — blind to our place in history, engulfed in the present moment, overwhelmed by the slightest breeze of chaos.I personally do prefer to update generic news at theSkimm and the pages I’m following on Facebook rather than Twitter. Of the 800+ accounts I follow on Twitter, a half dozen or so are publications such as brands, companies and online publishers. I’m not interested in reading a press release or generic tweet on Twitter. Instead, I only follow people and prefer to hear candidly from the Co-founder or Head of the division or Investor or Media Influencer or Journalist/Analyst so that I can stay informed and mentally in tune with their recent success, announcement, failure or wisdom.* Actively manage who you follow.One quick exercise to work backwards and become an early adopter of people is to think of the products and companies you love or use on a daily basis. Chances are they created by people you admire and/or would want to connect with. I’ve developed a habit of visiting the About/Team page of almost startup/company I hear and read about out of a passionate curiosity. Then I look up them on Twitter. The things and people you discover are amazing.Google search the lists of people to follow on Twitter in a specific topic/industry, or the rankings of people in that industry and look up them on Twitter afterwards. (I rarely do this though. Instead I often see them randomly on news pages I’ve been following on Facebook.)Search for your interests with a hashtag e.g #VC (for Venture Capital) and see the people in the search, you will find many.Follow relevant tech people and absorb what’s going on. A quick tip for a focused people search is to find those great people you know of and go through their activities. Read through the tweets of them. See who they are regularly engaging in conversation. See who they tweet with or who they follow. Look for who people you enjoy follow. See what others see by copying follow graphs of others into lists. Ask for recommendations on who to follow from people you respect. This way Twitter starts knowing your taste and provides you with recommendation as well. This will result in a tree branch like path. You can gain a ton of value by simply following relevant accounts.* New features unlock with scale of active followers.I think there are two onboarding challenges. Who to follow. And features only unlocked by having engaged followers. Wonder if there should be onboarding program for friend of friends into Twitter.* Less retweets, more original tweets and replies (ok to retweet with commentary). If you’re shy about tweeting — don’t be! “Just do it”There are two choices you can make with the content you produce.1. Play on the News i.e. what is novel and ephemeral.2. What is timeless.What do you want to be known for? What do you think will stand the test of time?All the best content and conversation is in the replies. Study replies section of power users for discovery. Reply to threads you find interesting! Good way to “meet” people.* Find your tribes and then resonate.* Pick 3 people you think are doing a good job learning on Twitter & observe them for a month. Ryan Hoover was one of them. I spent a lot of time observing how he used it and modeled off of it until I found my own approach. His early writing on the origins of Product Hunt talks about how crucial online relationships were for him.* See How to be good at Twitter for more information.The Google Sheet has a good guide for doing so and also some Twitter accounts for you to start following. (Find more people to follow at my Twitter @sarahvo91)✿ Email OutreachBlind Emails Suck: The corollary of blind in-person meetings being good is that blind not-in-person emails suck. They probably receive around 20k such emails each year, and while they are careful to spend time on each and every one, the lack of a human connection means that it can be super tough to evaluate whether a person is one they believe they can help.For 99.99% of those inquiries, they just don’t have time to actually respond to them. Otherwise, they would spend their entire day talking to random people. Cold email is almost never going to work and is a subpar use of your time — which is the single-most valuable asset for a techie.You should assume that if you just email a “cold” job application, it will not get lifted off the resume pile (unless that’s a strong one). Given the current desirability of working in tech, companies have all of the hiring leverage. It sounds cliché, but you must stand out.One such way to stand out is making these cold emails a little warmer or being referred to an opportunity or person you’re interested in connecting with via a “warm introduction.” This is where someone you know, writes an email vouching for you to someone you don’t know (but want to be connected with). It is a deep-seated tradition in tech. Cold emails should be concisely written and warmly sent. Just use email to connect with a broad group of people who you think would be additive to your job search.When asking for a warm intro, certain etiquette is expected. This is a good overview of rules for requesting an introduction to someone you’d like to meet. See How To Turn A Cold Email Into A $2.5M Seed Round by Allie Janoch for more information.Here are other tips:Proofread. All. Of. Your. Emails. Nothing will torpedo your credibility more quickly than email typos. Prospective Employer: “If you can’t compose an important five sentence email without spelling or grammatical errors, how can I trust you to market or sell my product, or run my company’s finances?” Many people believe this. Mistakes will hurt you. Proofread all of your emails. A good proofreading trick I learned was to read the draft of your email backwards, i.e. starting at the end and reading upwards to the beginning.When asking a favor from someone, your goal is to make their life (and fulfillment of the favor) as easy as possible. So when you ask for an intro, make sure the email that YOU send to THEM is forwardable. It should be a clean email (not a reply to a previous thread). It should include a few sentences on who you are, what you’re asking, and why. Be concise — Use three bullet points max. If you can’t describe who you are, why they should help, and how they should help in 3–5 sentences they will probably not read it anyway.Offer context on who you are first — If you two met somewhere, remind him/her. If you two went to the same school, know people in common, are from the same place, anything. If you both have any connections in common, highlight them. Getting a referral from someone you know is a good reason. You can reach out to that person and let them know that a mutual friend or acquaintance referred you to them. Even something as simple as saying that you saw that person at a local event and didn’t have time to introduce yourself can be an acceptable reason. Or maybe you’re reaching out because you follow that person on social media and find yourself agreeing with them on a number of items. If you have done anything impressive, tell him/her. Interesting as it may be, don’t include your entire life’s history. Your description of yourself should be three–four sentences at most. People are busy.DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK — things work because people pay it forward. You’ll be surprised at how many people will help, do introductions, or give you quick feedback if you ask kindly, are precise in your request, and concise.Have a very short first paragraph that has an “ask” in it or “the point of the email.” Busy people see a long email as an obstacle and often move on to the next, easier-to-process one.Have a specific ask. Offer the reason for your request. Be precise in your request — “Can you help me?” is bad. “Can we get on a call?” is bad. “Do you know person X and could you forward the following blurb to them?” is great. “I am applying to YC. Does my application make it clear what I build?” is great. The most important element of your first correspondence is having a reason for getting in contact. People don’t like to be bothered, but research shows that if you provide a reason for doing something that you’re more likely to get a favorable response. I had a great response rate to cold emails when I had a specific ask, like a quick informational interview or specific advice on the job application process. When you reach out with a clear purpose, people are typically very willing to help. People are inundated with, and loathe the open-ended: “We should get coffee sometime” Better to say something like “As [introducer] mentioned, I’m in the process of figuring out my next opportunity. Given your move to [Company Y] after your time in [Industry Z], it would be great to learn more about how you decided to make the move”. It needs a story about why you would like to have coffee with this person. I’m not saying you have to stroke their ego, but it helps.Explain why it’s related or why they should help you. Tell them why they can uniquely help — Do your research and don’t ask them for help on things they can’t help with. If you didn’t articulate why and how they can uniquely help you, they assume you are spamming a bunch of people to ask for the same thing. Or even better, share your intentions and desire for help. I recommend starting the conversation by stating your reason for reaching out. Ask the person a few questions about themselves. Lead into their professional life and look for a way to move the conversation into your desires for them to be your helper. For example, ask the person about something they’re working on now. Once you’ve given them time to tell their story or to explain the situation, mention your interest in the topic and move into your desires as a professional. This is the perfect way to find common ground and show that a potential relationship can make sense. Discuss what you’re doing right now, share your goals and what you want to work on. Be direct.Add value. It’s about them, not you. If it’s for business, just be more direct and tell them exactly how you can help them. Understanding what’s in it for the other party — the why — to meet is an essential consideration before making the ask for a coffee. The more other-centered and mutual you can be with the request, the higher the probability that your investment time will yield a benefit.Do not undercut your own authority — Don’t apologize for asking. Don’t tell them a sob story. Stay factual. If you demonstrate you are not confident or irrational, they are less likely to want to help you.Invite some of them to coffee — your treat if possible — to connect on a personal level. You can get away with a lot more if you’re the one buying the drinks. People in general will want to help if it doesn’t cost them much. Get great at asking for coffee. Some people are always open for coffee, some need a strong reason, and some people simply don’t meet with strangers regardless of how strong your ask is. However, If you don’t ask, you’ll never get the meeting.Offer three specific times of day to meet, at “whatever location is most convenient” for the person you’ve been intro’d to. Throw in: “if none of those times work, happy to propose more.” Scheduling sucks, and your goal is to make this as frictionless as possible.If you want an action taken DO NOT write to multiple people unless it’s clear who is in charge of the action. Groups often defer assuming somebody else will action (free rider problem). If you need multiple people to take actions send separate, individual emails addressed to each person separately. It takes more work — it yields better results. Also, beware of Gmail font problems (Google it)Here is an example email:Subject: Hi, John — Coffee in Chicago?Hi, John — I’m a big fan of your work. I’ve learned a lot from you, and I’ve been able to incorporate so many of your tips into my career.Can I buy you a cup of coffee next Tuesday? I know you’re busy, but I would love to share my story with you and also figure out a few ways that I can help you. I’ll come by you.Thank You,RobbieORSusie suggested that we meet because of (a particular reason) and thought it would be mutually beneficial for us to connect. I’m available later next week and would love to host you at my office as we have great coffee!Be gracious. Don’t be offended when people don’t respond. If you don’t get a response don’t be pissed off and don’t react snarky. Track which ones have responded and which have not, and determine a cadence of follow-up for those who haven’t responded. The goal is simply to get a reply. You can gently nudge with a follow-up, but be careful. Wait at least a week, and don’t be annoying. Use common sense, but err on the side of being patient. Persistence is annoying — If they don’t respond after the 1st email, they’re probably not going to respond. Don’t email them 6 times/week asking if they saw your email. That’s only going to make them ignore you in the future. Email in a month with another request, and if they can they will help. Politely hit reply to your first email and say something like, “Sorry to chase. We all get busy on email and just wanted to be sure you saw the following.” It may take 3+ reminders. Persistence pays.Be human and actively project warmth. Profusely thank people who make introductions for you. When your connection provides you a warm intro, you (the requestor) should respond promptly — within a couple hours. Let them know how it went — The only payback required is a thank you and a follow up. There’s no better feeling than knowing you helped someone.✿ Blind in-person meetings (Meet people in real life — IRL)Establishing connections via email is one thing, but actually getting together face to face takes the relationship to a different level.A great deal of recruiting begins with a genuine connection with the management team, and so if you meet someone in person you will both be able to test that connection automatically.Tech people all spend a great deal of their time externally. The best place to meet people is an environment in which they can be who they are. Figure out where tech people in your city usually hang out online and offline, and hang out and approach them there. As mentioned above, try to become their friends first. Business second.Not only would many of people you meet immensely be helpful to you in the immediate-term (for which you should be hugely grateful!) — but you run across many of them professionally, keep in touch with a decent amount, and may end up becoming good personal friends with a few.Rules for meeting people IRL:With pre-arranged appointments: Don’t be late. Seriously. Be five minutes early. To some people, there are few greater sins than disrespecting their time.Do your basic research. Look up the person on LinkedIn, and Google a bit about their company and themselves.Have a list of a few questions you want to ask. You can ask them the generic advice of “how they got to their current role”, but better to have specific questions about their background and company.Even if it it’s not a formal interview assume all of these professional interactions are interviews. You never get a second chance to get a first impression. Again, you want people to want to help you.The more that you can establish a genuine connection with someone, the more likely you both will be to help each other.Goes without saying, but you shouldn’t be distracted or checking your phone during one of these such meetings.Keep these meetings to 30 minutes. After 30 minutes has elapsed, tell the person you’re meeting with that you want to be conscious of their time and confirm they can continue chatting.Don’t be shy about asking them how best to pursue a career like they have and if they can think of anyone who might be helpful in your search.When the meeting concludes, thank them profusely, and ask how you can help them — even if you’re unsure that you can.Write a gracious thank-you email that includes any follow-up items.If they liked you, they might refer you internally and get you into a process.✿ Tech Events and MeetupsTake advantage of networking meetups or events to get to know people. Attend industry specific conferences, startup events, demo days, mixers, etc. These offer opportunities to quickly grow the number of deep connections you have in a short amount of time simply by sitting down for coffee with new people.Find out which events and conferences they’re attending, and get yourself a ticket. An easy way to find these events is to read Charlie O’Donnell’s weekly newsletter, search on Eventbrite or Meetup.com (a lot of events are free and only require registration!). Also, If you’re currently part of an accelerator programme or coworking space, keep an eye on the mentoring programme. Various members of venture teams often host workshops and mentoring sessions. Networking in Silicon Valley is very hard. There is no central place to meet people. It’s elusive. It’s all about the back-channel. You rely on founder friends and parties, which can be equally elusive, mostly to get access to investors and helpful people.If you’re in NYC, you can have a never-ending selection of nightly tech events. Gary’s Guide is a good go-to resource for sourcing tech events. For people based in NYC, it’s the most complete weekly overview of the NYC tech ecosystem, period. Don’t let the retro formatting fool you.The Google Sheet has other good sources for finding tech events.How to get the most out of tech events:Some people think that tech Meetups and events are a waste of time. Indeed, some even turn out to be so. I viewed each of them as pure option value. That is, there was no downside to going, and if I could make even one relevant connection, it would be totally worth it.Here are some good general rules to follow:Consider yourself in a business setting. Don’t get too drunk or behave in an otherwise inappropriate manner.Seriously, it’s important. The tech world is very, VERY small. As Warren Buffett said: Your reputation takes 20 years to build and five minutes to destroy.I suggest ‘focused’ industry MeetUps (FinTech, AI, VR, etc.) as opposed to generic tech or startup MeetUps.If you’re not comfortable talking to innumerable random strangers for hours (I’m not), go in with a manageable goal. Talk to two new people.A very easy ice breaker is “Have you been to XYZ event before?” or “How did you hear about XYZ event?” Yes, it feels ridiculously socially awkward at first, but such is life.Cool Hack: at some point during the MeetUp, go up to and thank the organizers. First off, it’s good manners. Secondly, they are generally active members in the Tech community (They went through the trouble and effort of organizing a MeetUp for goodness sakes). They can likely help you.These events generally have a panel of speakers. Often after the panel discussion concludes, the audience, in unison, makes a mad dash toward the speakers to ask them questions one on one. Then a hopelessly long line begins to form. I generally refused to stand around waiting in these lines waiting to schmooze with the speakers. Better to find them on LinkedIn or Twitter afterwards, and reference that you saw them speak but didn’t have a chance to connect.In any social interaction at these events, don’t monopolize someone’s time. Similarly, be courteous if your time is being monopolized and you’d like to exit the conversation. You can always say “It would be great to continue this conversation some other time.”Again — this will feel socially awkward. Get over it.Don’t interject or blatantly interrupt people who are mid-conversation. It is understood that you are allowed to “saddle up” to an in-progress conversation. Wait for a natural break if you’re going to make a comment.If possible, identify people ahead of time you’d like to talk toI don’t make myself business cards, but find it effective to simply connect with people on LinkedIn soon after I’d met them.I know what you’re thinking: All of this is too much work to put in, especially if there’s no guarantee your extra effort will result in a job.But you’re looking at it the wrong way. Doing what everyone else does is very unlikely to result in a job.Decide you will be different — and then work hard to actually be different. Then you will stand out. Then you’ll have a much better chance of landing the job you really want.Best of luck!

Once a specialty only associated with government agencies and defense contractors, cyber security has now entered the mainstream. Industries such as health care, finance, manufacturing and retail all hire cyber security professionals to protect valuable information from cyber breaches. The demand for specialists in the field is high. A report by job analytics firm Burning Glass Technologies found job postings for openings in cyber security have grown three times faster than those for IT job overall, and cyber security professionals are earning 9 percent more than their IT counterparts. Read more to learn how to get started in a cyber security career, from the types of degrees available to the various careers in the field.**WHAT DOES A CAREER IN CYBER SECURITY ENTAIL?**CYBER SECURITY DEGREES AND CAREERS AT-A-GLANCEFrom “ethical hackers” who probe and exploit security vulnerabilities in web-based applications and network systems to cryptographers who analyze and decrypt hidden information from cyber-terrorists, cyber security professionals work hard to ensure data stays out of the wrong hands. Cyber security professionals work in virtually every industry, responding rapidly to real-world threats. While there are cyber security associate degree programs, high-level careers require an array of technical IT skills and advanced analysis capabilities found in graduate-level degree programs.CYBER SECURITY DEGREES AND CAREERS IN-DEPTHA four-year cyber security degree program focuses on the array of methods used to protect data and information systems. Students receive training in technical and business skills such as database applications, systems administration and data recovery. Coursework combines criminal psychology, digital forensics and policy analysis to provide a complete perspective if IT security. There are hundreds of job titles in cyber security, but some of the top positions include:* Security Analyst* Security Engineer* Security Architect* Security Administrator* Security Software Developer* Cryptographer* Cryptanalyst* Security Consultant**HOW TO BECOME: PURSUING A CYBER SECURITY DEGREE & CAREER**1EARN A BACHELOR’S DEGREEWhile it’s possible to find certain entry-level cyber security positions with an associate’s degree, most jobs require a four-year bachelor’s degree in cyber security or a related field such as information technology or computer science. Coursework in programming and statistics combined with classes in ethics and computer forensics prepare students with the technical and analytical skills required for successful careers in cyber security.In an environment where data breaches are becoming the norm, more cyber security degree programs are being added every year. Before choosing a cyber security degree, prospective students should make sure that it is not only accredited, but also aligns with their career goals.2COMPLETE ADVANCED TRAININGSome employers will require candidates to hold an advanced degree such as a master’s degree in cyber security. Prospective employers may offer tuition assistance to meet this goal. A master’s degree takes an additional one to two years to complete after the bachelor’s degree-level and provides advanced instruction in protecting computer networks and electronic infrastructures from attack. Students learn the ethics, practices, policies and procedures of cyber security as they study how to tackle network security defense techniques and countermeasures. Cyber security professionals can also earn certification to boost their skills while working full-time to gain hands-on experience.3PASS SECURITY CLEARANCES (IF APPLICABLE)Security clearances are necessary for those who wish to work with classified information as part of a military of government agency. A variety of agencies issue both personnel and facility security clearances, but most are issued by the Department of Defense. Each type of clearance has its own procedures and paperwork. The process, which takes three months to a year, does not begin until an employer decides to hire you, at which point you receive a conditional offer of employment. The first step is to submit clearance documentation, followed by a Background Investigation.**FIND THE RIGHT CYBER SECURITY DEGREE PROGRAM**The field of cyber security focuses on network and data protection at various levels. Whether looking for an accredited online program or a traditional on-campus program, students have many options when it comes to cyber security degrees. For those unsure which degree level they want to pursue, the table below looks at the options.Career Goals & Educational NeedsAssociateBachelor’sMaster’sOnlineCertificateI’ve always wanted to work in cyber security but haven’t pursued a degree because of my busy personal and professional schedules. I need a program that allows me to take classes from home on my own flexible schedule. I would like to find an accredited online college that offers a program for students who want a cyber security career.While I think I would like to work as a computer support technician, I’m not sure if I should explore other options in cyber security. I want to enroll in a program that allows me to learn about all aspects of cyber security on a general level. Then I can decide whether to continue my education in a four-year degree program.I’ve followed the stories in the news about companies experiencing major data breaches. I want to work in the field and make a difference as a cyber security analyst.After working in cyber security for several years, I want to hone my skills and specialize in cryptography.I have a bachelor’s degree in cyber security and may eventually work on a master’s degree full-time. For now, I’d like to develop digital forensic skills by taking courses that I can apply to a master’s degree program later on.**CYBER SECURITY DEGREE LEVELS**While still a relatively new field, cyber security degrees are available at all levels, from associate degrees to PhD degrees. Students can pursue cyber security degrees online or in a campus-based environment. Each degree-level prepares students for specific opportunities, from entry-level employment to careers in academia. Before choosing a cyber security program, students should make sure it supports their goals. Find out more about each type of cyber security degree below.**Associate Degree in Cyber Security**An associate degree in cyber security is a two-year program appropriate for the following types of situations:* Securing entry-level work as a computer support technician or a related position* An additional qualification for those already working in the field* A step on a path to a four-year cyber security degreeAssociate degree coursework covers the vulnerabilities of various hardware and software systems, network technologies, and key cyber security concepts such as security administration and intrusion detection. Many programs also prepare students for certification exams often required for full-time employment, ranging from basic CompTIA Security+ to ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). Here are several courses offered in a typical associate degree in cyber security program.**INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER FORENSICS AND CYBER CRIME**Basic foundation in the concepts, terminologies and terms used to communicate and understand the history of computer forensics and cybercrime.Skills Gained* Processing crime scenes* Digital evidence controls* Recovering image files* E-mail investigations* Network forensics**DATABASE SECURITY**Provides a framework in the importance of database security; students learn how to protect a company’s technology infrastructure and intellectual property.Skills Gained* Understand database security models* Advantages and disadvantages of access control models* Defending against common attacks* Knowledge of common integrity constraints**COMPTIA SECURITY+**Introduces the concepts and understanding of the field of computer security and how it relates to other areas of information technology.Skills Gained* Hardening systems* Securing networks* Cryptography**Bachelor’s Degree in Cyber Security**While there are plenty of bachelor’s degrees in cyber security, it is also possible to enter the field with a four-year degree in a related field such as computer science, computer engineering or even mathematics.The curriculum in bachelor’s degree in cyber security program is similar to that of a computer science degree. It begins with a foundation in programming, database applications and statistics. Then students have the opportunity to delve into more advanced topics such as artificial intelligence, cryptography and ethical hacking.Graduates are qualified for employment as cyber security analysts, information security analysts and computer forensic analysts. Below are some of the courses in a bachelor’s degree program.**FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING**Overview of networking technologies for local area networks, wide area networks and wireless networks; students learn how to recognize the network design appropriate for a given scenario.Skills Gained* Open system interconnection model* Security protocols* Networking protocols**INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING WINDOWS SERVER**Preparation for the Installing and Configuring Windows Server exam, part of MCSE Server Infrastructure Certification; covers how to install, configure and troubleshoot Windows Server operating systems.Skills Gained* Configure server roles and features* Configure Hyper-V* Deploy and configure core network services* Install and administer Active Directory* Create and manage Group Policy**ETHICAL HACKING**Instruction in the development of the structured knowledge base needed to discover vulnerabilities and recommend solutions to protect data from potential hackers; focuses on penetration-testing tool and techniques.Skills Gained* Safe techniques on World Wide Web* Hands-on techniques to defend a computer against security attacks* Hands-on techniques to defend a LAN against security attacks**Master’s Degree in Cyber Security**Master’s degree programs in cyber security teach students how to be sophisticated practitioners in the industry as they protect vital computer networks and electronic infrastructures from attack. Coursework in these two-year programs investigates key technologies such as digital forensics, cryptography and biometrics. Graduates are prepared for careers as security-application programmers, penetration testers, vulnerability analysts and security architects. Some students choose employment developing security products.The following courses are often found in a master’s degree in cyber security program:**PENETRATION TESTING AND VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS**Introduces methodologies, techniques and tools to analyze and identify vulnerabilities in stand-alone and networked applications.**APPLIED CRYPTOGRAPHY**Examines Modern Cryptography from both a theoretical and applied perspective; emphasis is on provable security and application case studies.**DIGITAL FORENSICS**Instruction in the application of forensic science principles and practices for collecting, preserving, analyzing and presenting digital evidence; covers topics from legal, forensic, and information-technology domains.**Cyber Security Certificates**Many colleges and universities offer certificates in cyber security for those professionals who want to develop further expertise in the field or add credentials to their resume. Students examine principles of computer systems security, including attack protection and prevention. Courses explore cryptographic techniques, legal issues in computer security, digital forensics and designs for network perimeter defenses.Most certificates are 12-18 credits and available online. In some cases, students can apply credits earned in a certificate program to a master’s degree in cyber security later on. There are several types of cyber security certificates that cover cyber security technology, cyber security management and related areas.The following courses are often offered in a cyber security certificate program.**TECHNOLOGY AND NATIONAL SECURITY**Explores the impact of technology on national security and the lessons learned by the U.S. through multiple conflicts and wars; examines the advantages and risks of technological innovations on our military power.Skills Gained* Terrorism* National security policy* Intelligence gathering* Military platforms* Nuclear and biological weapon technologies**INTRODUCTION TO PENETRATION TESTING**Lab-based course providing students with an understanding of the threat vectors and exploitation techniques used to penetrate systems and networks.Skills Gained* Assessment* Exploitation* Remediation techniques**CYBER RISK MANAGEMENT FOR DECISION MAKERS**Explores the issues and concerns surrounding cyber risk management; students learn to identify high-level risks and map their impact across an organization.Skills Gained* Conducting assessments within multiple areas* Mitigation strategies* Standards, ethics, and legal issues**Look, Feel, & Smell your best** (http://D.Sc)**. Degree in Cyber Security**For those with a solid foundation in computer science, the Look, Feel, & Smell your best (Look, Feel, & Smell your best). in cyber security is an opportunity to combine their computer science emphasis with applied research in IT security. Students learn the latest techniques in specialized cyber operations activities such as reverse engineering, data collection, analysis of malicious code, and software exploitation. Graduates can bring their knowledge to intelligence, military and law enforcement organizations as well as employers in data-driven industries.The Look, Feel, & Smell your best (Look, Feel, & Smell your best). in cyber security program typically takes students 3-5 years to complete and includes a dissertation. Although there are online programs, students are usually required to complete annual on-site research seminars.Here are some of the seminars offered in a cyber security doctoral program.**FULL SCOPE SECURITY TESTING**Review of the tools, techniques, and sources of digital information and its role in attacking and defending software systems and network environments.Skills Gained* Penetration testing processes* Exploitation**ADVANCED MALWARE ANALYSIS**Covers advanced techniques used in malware analysis; focuses heavily on static analysis of unknown binaries utilizing reverse engineering tools and procedures.Skills Gained* Anti-debugging processes* x86 assembly language* IDA proCyber security concerns the technologies, methods, and practices employed to protect the virtual world – including computers, mobile devices, databases, networks and programs – from infiltration and attack by unauthorized individuals and organizations. The number and sophistication of cyberattacks is evolving, threatening national security and the global economy. Effective security requires highly trained professionals who have specialized knowledge to protect a wide variety of environments.This guide offers a comprehensive review of careers in cyber security, including an overview of the steps one can take to enter this profession, as well as job outlook and earning potential.**CAREER PATHS IN CYBER SECURITY**New cyber threats appear constantly, creating new and innovative career opportunities. And because any individual or organization is a potential target for cyberattacks – from governments to banks to hospitals – cyber security professionals can find employment in a wide range of industries. Some of the more common career paths in this field include:**Chief Information Security Officer**The chief information security officer (CISO) is typically a mid-executive level position whose job is to oversee the general operations of a company's or organization's IT security division. CISOs are directly responsible for planning, coordinating and directing all computer, network and data security needs of their employers. CISOs work directly with upper-level management to determine an organization's unique cyber security needs. They are commonly tasked with assembling an effective staff of security professionals, which means that the position requires an individual with a strong background in IT security architecture and strategy, as well as solid communication and personnel management skills.**Education requirements**CISO positions normally require, at minimum, a bachelor's degree in cyber or information security, information technology or other computer science-related subject. Additionally, most midsize and large organizations prefer CISOs with a master's degree in one of the above-described subjects or an MBA in a related subject such as information technology or database administration.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Computer and Information Systems Managers)**Forensic Computer Analyst**The forensic computer analyst is the detective of the cyber security world. Forensic computer analysts review computer-based information for evidence following a security breach or other incident. Tasks include handling hard drives and other storage devices and employing specialized software programs in order to identify vulnerabilities and recover data from damaged or destroyed devices. Forensic computer analysts must be sensitive to the security concerns of their employers or clients and follow closely all privacy procedures when dealing with financial and personal information. They must also keep detailed and accurate logs and records of their findings, which are often used in litigation.**Education requirements**Employment as a forensic computer analyst normally requires holding a bachelor's degree in computer security, forensic computing or a related subject. Previous experience may also be necessary.Source: Payscale.com (http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Forensic_Computer_Analyst/Salary)**Information Security Analyst**An information security analyst (ISA) is responsible for the protection of an organization's computer systems and networks. They plan and execute programs and other measures, including installing and using software for data encryption and firewalls. Additionally, ISAs help design and execute plans and methods for the recovery of data and systems following a cyberattack. ISAs must continuously stay on top of the latest industry trends and cyber threats, which involves researching new security technologies and networking with other professionals.**Education requirements**ISAs need to earn a bachelor's degree in computer science or related area. There is a growing trend toward undergraduate degree programs specializing in the information security field, which may become the preferred choice of employers in the future. Some employers, particularly large corporations or organizations, may prefer job candidates with an MBA in information systems.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/information-security-analysts.htm)**Penetration Tester**Penetration testing concerns the proactive authorized employment of testing techniques on IT infrastructures to identify system vulnerabilities. Simply put, penetration testers attempt to (with authorization) hack into computer and network systems to preemptively discover operating system vulnerabilities, service and application problems, improper configurations and more, before outside intruders have the opportunity to cause real damage. Penetration testers must be highly creative in their methods, often using testing tools of their own design, to "break into" the systems under scrutiny. Penetration testers are required to keep careful records of their activities and discovered vulnerabilities.**Education requirements**Penetration testers typically earn a bachelor's degree in information technology, cyber security or other closely related subject. Many employers additionally require applicants to have earned relevant professional certifications.Source: Payscale.com (http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Penetration_Tester/Salary)**Security Architect**A Security architect is responsible for establishing and maintaining network security for his or her organization. Security architects work in all sectors of the economy for companies, government agencies, and nonprofits. They may be employees of companies or independent contractors. In addition to working on specific security systems, security architects develop and implement organization security policies and procedures for employees and others with access to computer, network and data systems. Security architects are responsible for the hands-on repair of issues raised in problem reports as well as analysis of breaches following security incidents. They typically work in an office environment on a full-time basis.**Education requirements**A job as a security architect normally requires a bachelor's degree in information security, information technology or computer science. Some previous work experience is often required in addition to an undergraduate degree.Source: Payscale.com (http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Security_Architect,_IT/Salary)**IT Security Engineer**Security engineering provides a specialized engineering approach to cyber security, specifically regarding the design of security systems to counter potentially catastrophic issues. Security engineers are often involved in systems maintenance, performing security checks to identify potential vulnerabilities, as well as keeping logs and developing automation scripts to track security incidents. To succeed as a security engineer, individuals must have strong math and communication skills and a solid working knowledge of computer operating systems and languages.**Education requirements**A bachelor's degree in engineering (electrical engineering preferable) or computer science is required for employment as a security engineer. Many employers additionally require some level of previous experience and/or professional certification(s) in the field.Source: Payscale.com (http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Security_Engineer/Salary)**Security Systems Administrator**A security systems administrator's core responsibilities are quite similar to those of many other cyber security jobs: installing, administering, maintaining and troubleshooting computer, network and data security systems. The main distinction between security systems administrators and other cyber security professionals is that the security systems administrator is normally the person in charge of the daily operation of those security systems. Typical tasks include systems monitoring and running regular backups, and setting up, deleting and maintaining individual user accounts. Security systems administrators are additionally often involved in developing organizational security procedures.**Education requirements**Security systems administrators need to earn, at minimum, an associate degree in computer science or a closely related field. In most cases, however, employers will look for job candidates with a bachelor's degree, preferably in information security or systems administration. Work experience and professional certification may also be required.Source: Payscale.com (http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Systems_Administrator/Salary)**IT Security Consultant**IT security consultants meet with clients to advise them on how to best protect their organizations' cyber security objectives efficiently and cost effectively. They are often hired by smaller companies and agencies that cannot afford to handle their security issues in-house, but are also employed by larger businesses to supplement their security teams and provide an unbiased outside perspective to current systems issues. Working as an IT security consultant can require long, flexible hours and often involves a fair amount of traveling to client business locations.**Education requirements**Employment as an IT Security Consultant commonly requires a bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, cyber security or other closely-related subject. In addition, many clients will require IT security consultants to have obtained one or more professional certifications.Source: Payscale.com (http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Security_Consultant,_IT/Salary)**CYBER SECURITY SALARIES**The explosion in the demand for skilled cyber security professionals combined with a scarcity in talent supply has resulted in high wages and excellent benefits for qualified applicants. Below is a brief look at the national median salaries (as of September 2015) available for some of the most in-demand cyber security careers:$143,334**Chief Information Security Officer**$124,624**Security Director (Computing, Networking, IT)**$113, 905**Security Architect**$89,209**Security Engineer**$81,980**IT Security Consultant**Source: Payscale.com (http://www.payscale.com/)**ESSENTIAL SKILLS, TOOLS, AND TECHNOLOGY FOR CYBER SECURITY CAREERS****SKILLS**There are a number of core skills needed by anyone entering the cyber security employment market, whether starting his or her first professional job or transitioning from another computer-related field. Here are a few of the key required skills:**Communication Skills**Cyber security professionals must have strong written and verbal communications skills. Jobs in the field require the ability to communicate clearly and concisely with clients and executives, network administrators, legal professionals and law enforcement, media and public relations staff, fellow team members, and others.**Ability to Work in a Team Environment**A required skill for practically anyone, the ability to work with others as an effective team member is particularly important for cyber security professionals. Team members must have a clear understanding of their delegated responsibilities and need to complete their work on time, while additionally being able to contribute positively to accomplishing larger team goals.**Integrity and Discretion**By its very nature, working in the cyber security field requires sensitivity to an organization's security vulnerability issues and be able to tackle those issues in a way that engenders trust.**Organizational and Problem Solving Skills**One important characteristic of the cyber security business is the sheer mass and complexity of data involved. Cyber security professionals must develop solid organizational and problem solving skills or risk being overwhelmed.**Programming Skills**A variety of scripts and programming tools are required to design effective security programs and analyze cyber attacks and breaches. Experience in system and network programming is a must.**Understanding of Security Principles**An understanding of basic security principles, such as privacy, confidentiality, authentication, access control, and others, results in a greater chance that systems will be less vulnerable to failures and attacks.**Risk Analysis**Cyber security personnel must be able to assess a client's particular security needs in light of its organizational goals, which requires knowledge of risk analysis principles.**Network Protocols**A working knowledge of common network protocols, their similarities and differences, how they work and what they are used for.**Malicious Codes**Additionally, cyber security professionals need a working knowledge of malicious codes, how they are propagated and the risks associated with each.**Intruder Techniques**In analyzing attacks, personnel should be able to recognize known intruder techniques, their characteristics and effects, and identify new intruder techniques by means of elimination of known ones.There are also a variety of certifications that can be earned by cyber security professionals. Choosing the most effective depends on an individual's specific interests/goals and job requirements. The list below outlines a small number of the most popular professional credentials among cyber security personnel:CompTIA Security + (http://certification.comptia.org/certifications/security)Covers essential principles for network security and risk management.Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) (https://www.isc2.org/cissp/default.aspx)For competence in the design, implementation, engineering and management of information security programs.Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) (http://www.giac.org/certifications)Certifications available in several categories including Security Administration, Forensics, Audit, Management, Legal, Software Security and GSE.EC-Council Certifications (http://www.eccouncil.org/)EC-Council offers a number of security-related certifications including Certified Security Analyst, Licensed Penetration Tester, Certified Chief Information Security Officer, Certified Ethical Hacker, and others.ISACA Certifications (http://www.isaca.org/CERTIFICATION/Pages/default.aspx)Professional certifications available in IT Audit, Security, Governance and Risk.**TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGY**The most effective tools employed by cyber security experts are software programs designed to protect against hackers, viruses, and the like. Here are some of the most pressing areas cyber security technology is focused on today:**Access Management**Third-party identity and access tools are used to provide additional protection for security gaps from Microsoft's Active Directory.**Botnet Protection**Defends against botnets that would otherwise require individual identification and deletion.**Cloud-Based Security**There are a variety of cloud-based SOS security tools available for network protection.**Data Encryption**Provides added security for data as its being transferred.**Data Leak Prevention**Ensures system information is secure from intruder access and stores information in a secure form in the event of a security breach.**Endpoint Protection**Endpoint protection addresses security issues for endpoints such as PCs, mobile devices, network connected printers, servers and others.**Intrusion Protection**Filters access to websites by blocking potentially harmful files.**Malware/Virus Security**Prevents attacks from viruses and malware designed to harm both software and hardware.**Next Generation Firewall**An advancement when compared to traditional firewalls. Provides additional capabilities like integrated intrusion protection, stateful inspection, and application and identity awareness.**Wireless Security**Provides WEP/WAP security for data transmitted over wireless connections.**CYBER SECURITY JOB GROWTH AND OUTLOOK**According to Cisco Systems, Inc., there is a distinct shortage of cyber security professionals, particularly those with data science skills. As a result of this scarcity, many computer science workers, particularly those currently in the IT field, are eyeing employment in cyber security.Indeed, as job growth goes, it's hard to find a profession that outpaces cyber security. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, job growth from 2012 to 2022 for Information Security Analysts is projected to be 37 percent compared with 18 percent for all computer occupations and 11 percent for all occupations.So why is job growth in cyber security expected to be so robust? Cyber crime continues to be a significant and growing problem, both in the United States and around the world. For example, a record 79 percent of respondents to a recent PricewaterhouseCooper's study (http://www.pwc.com/us/en/increasing-it-effectiveness/publications/assets/2015-us-cybercrime-survey.pdf) reported that they had detected a security incident within the past 12 months.**What Do Related Occupations Make?**As the demand for cyber security experts grows, as does the variety of cyber security job titles. Here are a few examples of closely related careers, along with estimated total annual pay:Source: Payscale.com (http://www.payscale.com/), September 2015**RELATED OCCUPATIONS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW**As far ranging as it is, cyber security is just one of countless career options within the larger computer science field. Determining the right option for anyone requires time and effort in researching what each has to offer. Below is a brief look at a few occupations related to those in the broader computer science field:COMPUTER AND INFORMATION RESEARCH SCIENTIST**15%**Salary$102,190**Education and Training:**Doctorate in computer science. Bachelor's may be sufficient for some government positions.COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER**15%**Salary$120,950**Education and Training:**Bachelor's in computer science or IT, or related field. MBA in some cases.COMPUTER HARDWARE ENGINEER**7%**Salary$100,920**Education and Training:**Bachelor's in Computer Engineering.COMPUTER NETWORK ARCHITECT**15%**Salary$91,000**Education and Training:**Bachelor's in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering or related field. MBA in information systems preferred by some employers.COMPUTER NETWORK SUPPORT SPECIALIST**7%**Salary$59,090**Education and Training:**High School Diploma or Associate's degree with some computer knowledge, in most cases. Some employers require Bachelor's degree.COMPUTER PROGRAMMER**8%**Salary$74,280**Education and Training:**Bachelor's in Computer Science in most cases, but Associate's degree may suffice.COMPUTER SYSTEMS ANALYST**25%**Salary$79,680**Education and Training:**Bachelor's in Computer Science or Information Science is common, but degree in business or liberal arts with experience may suffice.DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR**15%**Salary$77,080**Education and Training:**Bachelor's in IT or other computer-related subject.SOFTWARE DEVELOPER**22%**Salary$93,350**Education and Training:**Bachelor's in Computer Science, Software Engineering or related subject.WEB DEVELOPER**20%**Salary$62,500**Education and Training:**Associate's in Web Design or related subject. Some employers may prefer Bachelor's.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/home.htm)**CYBER SECURITY DEGREES & CAREER RESOURCES**National Initiative for Cyber security Careers and Programs (https://niccs.us-cert.gov/home/students)Information about cyber security or becoming a cyber security professional offered by the Department of Homeland Security.US-CERT United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (https://www.us-cert.gov/)Provides response, support, and defense against cyber attacks for the Federal Civil Executive Branch and responds to major incidents with trusted partners. Individuals can report incidents, phishing, malware or software vulnerabilities and share indicators through links on the site.Cybercrime (https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ccips)A clearinghouse of cyber crime information, this site includes legal and policy issues and instructions for reporting computer crimes.Security Bloggers Network (http://securitybloggersnetwork.com/)This site is the largest collection of information security-related blogs and podcasts in the world, including corporate security and individual security blogs.Information Systems Security Association (https://www.issa.org/)ISSA is an organization of information security professionals and practitioners that provides educational forums, publications, and networking opportunities.National Cyber security Student Association (http://www.cyberstudents.org/)As the largest association of cyber security students, NCSA provides members with access to the latest cyber security research and development, conferences and training events, and networking opportunities.For more detailshttps://www.learnhowtobecome.org/computer-careers/cyber-security/ (https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/computer-careers/cyber-security/)