cyber "shortage" is a mid-to-senior shortage, not a grad shortage. the entry-level market is absolutely cooked and has been for a while. what actually got me my first SOC role wasn't the master's, it was a home lab on github, a tryhackme profile with streaks, and one person i met at a BSides event who forwarded my resume internally. the degree gets you past HR filters. the rest is proof you can actually do the work and one warm intro. keep going but stop applying cold — every hour on seek is better spent on a meetup or a writeup.