How Playing Cyber Games Can Help You Get Hired

While having the right technical chops and certifications matter, having cyber-gaming experience, whether it's participating on a cyber games team or in online competitions, can help you stand out when potential hiring managers are reviewing your resume. It can also give you more confidence after you land the job.

From showing that they can perform well under pressure to demonstrating that they're a good team player, there are many reasons why playing on a cyber team could give a candidate a leg up, says US Cyber Games commissioner Jessica Gulick, who has often asked job candidates what they did in their free time to get a broader understanding of their technology capabilities. Gamers always stood out, and she found it beneficial to hire them, particularly in areas such as penetration testing and forensics. These candidates usually were good at entering unknown environments and figuring things out given limited information, as well as sticking it out to identify solutions if they initially fail, she says.

"They're the kind of people that walk into a room and are constantly looking around and looking beyond what they see," Gulick says. "Is there an Easter egg? They don't need instructions; they'll just figure it out. And to have that kind of employee, it means that it's a faster time to value for your corporation. You're bringing on somebody who doesn't need a lot of hand-holding, [someone who is] going to really take the ball and run with it."

Demonstrate Technical Proficiency

When it comes to technical skills, cyber games give players the chance to practice the kinds of skills that they'll use on the job but in a safe context — not connected to any active business or infrastructure network that would be harmed by an actual cyberattack. And it gives players exposure to a broader array of cybersecurity experience than they might get in a role with specific responsibilities.

"Players are gaining skills in areas that they may not be particularly focused on right now, and that's a huge thing to give them those extra skill sets to work on the workforce and have on their resume," says US Women's Cyber Team assistant coach Chelsie Cooper, also a senior intelligence analyst at CrowdStrike. "That's a huge boost. Having this skill set specifically is definitely going to help them push forward to stand out in an applicant pool."

Showing technical proficiency in a cyber game, like having experience playing with the National Cyber League (NCL), can help candidates stand out. The NCL, an organization that holds cyber competitions for students, issues report cards to participants that they can use to show how well they performed in subjects like forensics or Web security. That can give them an edge as job candidates.

"If you have two students or two early career professionals that are interviewing and you ask, 'What's your experience doing pen testing with this particular vector of an attack?' the one who doesn't have experience is going to say, 'I don't have experience. Why are you asking me this?' whereas the one who has experience playing a game can say, 'Well, I don't have on the job experience, but I saw something similar when I was playing this game. Here's what I did about it,'" Gulick says.

The person who played the game will likely get the job.

Develop Soft Skills, Teamwork

Being on a cyber team can also help you hone nontechnical skills that are valuable in the workplace, like collaboration, mentoring, and working well in groups.

"Cyber games allow us to really cultivate those skills, the situational awareness, the ability to work as a team, to be able to pass off or to ask for help, or to mentor," Gulick says. "These are all critical skills that create high-performing teams."

Sarah Ogden, a 19-year-old student at Northern Kentucky University and a junior member of the US Women's Cyber Team, says she's excited about participating in this year's competition, but it's with a bigger goal in mind: to be competitive when it's her turn on the job market.

"My end goal is to get into a large company as a security engineer and actually get to see how the code and systems are developed, and to make an actual difference in that company's security and see the payoff of that," she says.

Exposure to Job Opportunities

Playing on a cyber team can also give competitors exposure to job opportunities with corporate sponsors. According to Gulick, sponsors like Battelle have hired team members.

"Competing as part of the US Cyber Team continually exposes athletes to a wide range of skill sets — such as binary exploitation, reverse engineering, and red-versus-blue activities — that enable them to excel in an increasingly competitive early-career job market. This experience provides them with a distinct credential on their resumes that sets them apart from their peers," says Chase P. Schueler, division manager for Battelle's cyber business.

US Cyber Team athletes also demonstrate "remarkable self-motivation," he adds.

"The selection process demands both skill and dedication, which are critical in a field where formal academic training is still limited when compared to the physical sciences," Schueler says. "This strong display of commitment makes them especially attractive to employers, including here at Battelle, who can see them as known quantities with demonstrated proficiencies."