How Can I Help You?

You may have noticed that for most of the second half of 2015, I tried to survey as many readers as I could. The goal of the survey was to find out what readers are looking for and where are they in their security career. My hope originally was to better deliver materials that are relevant to my audience. Over time though, I’ve continued to become more curious in the data.

I call it the *How Can I Help You? *survey. It has about 6 questions, some demographic, on what you’re looking for in your security career. The results are driven by your responses to the questions.

The survey shows most readers are newer to the security field. But most users are also over 40 years old and predominantly male. I compared this with what Facebook and Google report visitors to the site for the age and gender and found them consistent.

For 2016, I’ve changed my approach to the survey. First, it’s now called an assessment — primarily because the data is used to help you, the reader, find the right materials on my sites. If you click “Take the Assessment” below, you can take the new Security Career Assessment that will provide many of the same pieces of information while also translating these answers into a customized learning plan.

I also changed one of the questions in the hopes to see if I was asking the questions wrong. Given that most readers are new to security but the age range is on the older side, I think that many readers are transitioning into security. I’ve added that as a possible answer in the hopes it more accurately reflects the readership.

If you’re curious, I’ve put together an infographic outlining the more interesting results of the survey: