🔓 The Hidden Door into Cybersecurity Is Still Wide Open
Why Tier-1 IT Support Roles Are Your Fastest, Freshest Way to Break In - Even in 2025
🔓 The Hidden Door into Cybersecurity Is Still Wide Open
Why Tier-1 IT Support Roles (Helpdesk, Tech Support) Are Your Fastest, Freshest Way to Break In - Even in 2025
If you're looking to launch a cybersecurity career — especially without a degree or prior tech experience — here's something you need to know:
The single most common path to your first real job in tech is still Tier-1 IT support.
Think: Helpdesk. Desktop support. Service desk. IT support specialist.
These roles are often dismissed by people who chase “cooler” job titles. That’s a mistake.
Because the demand for these roles is massive, the barrier to entry is low, and the turnover is high — which means there's always a fresh opportunity if you're prepared.
This post breaks down:
How many jobs opened in 2024
What’s available right now in mid-2025
Why turnover is your unfair advantage
And how this all fits into your hiring timeline if you start today
🚪 Tier-1 Support = The Door to Cyber
These roles include:
🖥️ IT Support Specialist
💬 Help Desk Technician
🧰 Desktop Support Tech
🔧 Service Desk Analyst
📞 Technical Support Representative
They’re typically:
Full-time
Entry-level
Remote-friendly (or hybrid)
Fast to hire
And most importantly — they’re the launchpad to Tier-2 analyst roles inside security teams and SOCs.
📅 What Happened in 2024?
According to labor data and hiring platforms:
🔹 60,000+ Tier-1 support jobs opened in the U.S. during 2024
🔹 Monthly average: 10k–15k new postings (CompTIA/Lightcast data)
🔹 Desktop Support alone saw 18k+ openings (Indeed, late 2024 snapshot)
🔹 Help Desk roles were in the thousands across Glassdoor and LinkedIn
Many of these came from employee churn — not just net-new roles — meaning the replacement cycle keeps hiring momentum alive.
🔄 The Wild Card: Turnover
Here’s what most candidates don’t know:
💥 Helpdesk roles have a 30% to 60% annual turnover rate.
That means:
People leave fast (for promotions or burnout)
Employers are always replacing them
Even if total job counts shrink, the opportunities keep coming back like clockwork
So while your feed might say “tech layoffs” or “slow job market” — Tier-1 support is still quietly booming beneath the noise.
📍 What’s Open Right Now (June 2025)?
Role Category Current Openings (est.) IT Support / Tech Support ~14,500 (Indeed) Help Desk / Service Desk ~3,000–5,000 Desktop Support ~18,000 Total (across roles) 20,000+ live jobs
Other signals:
🔹 LinkedIn: 237,000+ listings under “IT Support”
🔹 CompTIA (May 2025): 470,000 open tech roles — Tech Support among the top drivers
🔹 Low unemployment in tech: ~3.4% (better than national average)
These are not dead-end jobs. They're career igniters.
🧭 Why It Matters for You
If you're:
Starting from scratch
Switching from another industry
Learning on nights/weekends
Or trying to get your first cyber job…
Then Tier-1 support is the realistic, proven, and fast track in.
That’s why we structure our curriculum like this:
🔹 Tier 1 (Helpdesk / Support) →
🔹 Tier 2 (SOC Analyst / Blue Team) →
🔹 Tier 3 (Threat Hunter / Automation / Engineering)
You can’t skip the reps. But you can skip the guesswork.
🚀 If You Start Now...
Here’s the math:
It takes 30 days to become hire-ready through our system (for helpdesk)
The job market is actively hiring 20,000+ people in roles that match your certs and skills
Even if those jobs close, new ones open every month due to turnover
You could go from zero to interviews by JULY (seriously)
📌 Most people will still be "thinking about it" by then. You’ll be on your second interview.
🎯 Final Word
The opportunity isn’t going away. But someone else will take it if you don’t.
You don’t need to get lucky. You need to get qualified.
And that’s exactly what we do.
🧠 Book a Call to Learn More
If you’re serious about making cybersecurity your career — not your hobby — the Zero to Hoodie Bootcamp is where it starts.
✔️ 90-Day Training
✔️ Certifications: Network+, Security+, AZ-900, Splunk
✔️ Weekly mentorship and resume reviews
✔️ AI learning tools + job search support
✔️ Student Success Advisor every step of the way
📞 Click here to book your intro call now.
We’ll walk you through the whole thing, no commitment.
🔚 Closing Thoughts
Most people overcomplicate breaking into cybersecurity.
They obsess over advanced tools they don’t need yet. They wait for “the perfect time.” They try to skip the foundational steps — and wonder why the doors stay closed.
But the ones who get hired?
They play the long game… by starting with the short-term win:
Get the first job. Build the first credential. Show the first receipts.
Tier-1 support isn’t glamorous — but it pays, it promotes, and it opens real doors.
If you’re tired of waiting for “the right time,” here’s your signal:
You don’t need another sign. You need a strategy.
And we’ve built it — step by step, cert by cert, project by project.
Whether you’re starting from zero or pivoting from burnout,
this is how you turn 90 days into a career trajectory.
Stay focused.
Stay tactical.
And I’ll see you in the discord.
Cheers,
Evan Lutz (BowTiedCyber)