The Gatekeeping Problem in IT and Cybersecurity Hiring

IT and cybersecurity hiring has a gatekeeping problem.I do not mean that every requirement is unfair. Some jobs really do need someone who has touched the system before. If a company needs a senior identity engineer, a cloud security architect, or someone who can lead incident response during a live breach, it is reasonable to ask for specific experience. Nobody wants a person learning the basics of firewall policy, privilege escalation, or endpoint containment for the first time while production is actively on fire.That is not the part that bothers me.The part that bothers me is how often the industry talks about needing more people, then builds hiring filters that only reward people who already had access to the exact tools, titles, and environments the job is supposed to train them into.That is where the gatekeeping starts.A degree in IT, cybersecurity, computer science, information systems, or a related field should mean something. It does not mean the person is automatically…