When you're trying to break into a specialized IT role from scratch, "what should I even study?" is a hard question. I was there myself.
I started as a network engineer and now I do vulnerability assessment. After moving across roles a few times, one thing got clear: skills split fairly cleanly into the ones that transfer and the ones that don't. Here's how I tell them apart.
The hot tool ages out faster than you think
When you're job-hunting, it's tempting to chase whatever is most in demand right now. The tool names that show up in every posting, the framework everyone's talking about. I get it.
But a thing that's popular is, by definition, a thing that gets replaced in a few years. You learn it, and by the time you have it down the next one is already taking over. Chase only that, and you're chasing forever.
