damen

Ok, so I'm a Sr SysAdmin for a pretty large company - I've been doing IT stuff all of my fairly short life (I'm 24). Really what I want, though, is to move into Security. The trick is, to get into the field, you need to already have experience in it. That makes it a bit hard.

Anyone have any suggestions for how to "break-in" (I know, I know, bad joke) to the field?

Cellus

Very good question.

As a senior sysadmin you are probably already experiencing some aspects of IT security. This helps when you need to start getting into the security field, including but not limited to the more premier security certifications like CISSP and such (which require at least a few years experiencing several "bodies of knowledge" relating to security).

If possible, start trying to expand your current position and - if you have a security team in your company or not - get more involved. Expand your education (Security+ is only a start). Start to take a more active role in securing your own personal network and involve yourself in the security community. Ask questions. Seek answers. Create a test lab at home and work on personal projects to freely learn, design, implement, and test your personal network and work from there. Get those spare beige boxes home and start serving, and experiment on implementing security on them. Seep yourself in the environment and, if you are persistent and personally progress, it will translate directly into skills and experience you can use in the workplace.

And above all, ask for help.

Addendum: Now is the time where the ladder is no longer provided for you to work up on. While there are guides (both material and people) available, you will also need to build the ladder and work up.