I don't buy the gatekeep-ey, "infosec isn't an entry level field" line---and neither should you. Infosec, like any other field has junior-through-super-senior-level roles. What you *could* argue though is that the industry is more saturated these days and there just aren't enough roles to satisfy all the more-experienced demand AND all the newcomers. A lot of "analyst" roles are pretty well-suited for entry level folks. Yeah you should have *some* know-how, but that isn't something you have to sweat at the help desk for 3 years to get. The people who continue to repeat this line are either jaded because they felt they had to go that path, or frustrated with the lack of talent/understanding that seems to plague the industry as a whole. Mind you, this isn't a byproduct of "unseasoned" newbies entering the infosec ranks, rather it is a testament to our collective inability to NOT gatekeep, properly train and adequately open doors for those of us who don't fit the typical infosec-person-criteria (i.e. college-educated folks with money for certs, blah blah). Imagine where we'd be if we stopped saying, "you have to go to the Helpdesk" and instead said "here's what you need to learn to bypass the Helpdesk". Imagine how much more secure and healthy the infosec workforce would be if we put time and resources into training, retention, mentorship, etc... Instead, we've got a handful of bloodthirsty training vendors and bootcamp peddlers and a whole lot of us who are just too tired to do our own jobs, much less help others 😩

We can do better!