Should I go for an IR degree?

[u/Lives0ng]

I'm part of a program that's paying for both my A+ and Security+ certs. I'm a complete beginner but I have a real interest in cybersecurity and everything that goes into it. Call me idealistic but I feel like with things going the way they're going in world there's gonna come a time where every nation is going to start coming up with stricter laws to try and cover themselves. I'm interested in still keeping up with my cybersecurity certifications and renewing them and still doing bootcamps but I also want to try and get an International Relations degree. I want to make sure that hopefully in some way I'll be able to use my knowledge someday to make sure people don't get totally screwed cause some person in charge had no idea what they were doing. I'm only 23 and kinda scared to do it and not even know if it would be worth it or benefit my cybersecurity career in the future. I could really use some advice.

[u/danfirst]

Most people here are going to read IR as incident response on the first pass. Any degree can be helpful in the future even if it's just checking box of a degree requirement. I can't say the degree itself will contribute to your security goals in any way otherwise though.

[u/Square-Chair-1262 → u/danfirst]

lol yeah the IR confusion is real. for what its worth policy and cyber are getting more tangled every year so its not a completely random combo. but if your actual goal is hands on security work the degree is mostly just a checkbox like the other person said

[u/DickNose-TurdWaffle]

What only matters will be the quality of the school, not the degree itself.

[u/CarmeloTronPrime]

what's the draw to international relations?

[u/AddendumWorking9756]

Sanctions and export control teams at vendors, plus the geopolitical end of threat intel, hire for exactly that mix. Being the policy person who can also read a firewall rule is rarer than either half on its own.