Your Cyber Path: How to Get Your Dream Cybersecurity Job · Kip Boyle

EP 106: All About Internships

·38 min·2 clips

Kip’s community college internship led to a year-round program built around four certifications: A+, Net+, Security+, and CCNA.

1. Your Cyber Path: How to Get Your Dream Cybersecurity Job focuses on internships as a way into cybersecurity and career growth. 2. Kip Boyle and Jason Dion host the episode, with Kip speaking from private-sector hiring and Jason from defense, government contractor, and federal government work. 3. The episode asks what internships are for when cybersecurity hiring often demands experience before a first job exists. 4. Kip says private-sector internship programs are uncommon because leaders want a fast business case and a 90-day return on investment. 5. Jason says government internships are more common, especially for government civilian employees he calls GSs. 6. Jason describes an NSA partnership with about 100 schools that can lead to an internship or a position after graduation. 7. He says the NSA wrote to him after his University of Maryland master’s degree in cybersecurity and offered a GS-9 track because of his GPA. 8. Jason says that in the Fort Meade area a GS-9 can pay roughly $60,000 to $80,000 a year, so the internship is not cheap for the government. 9. Kip says private companies often worry that they will train someone for six months and then lose them to another employer. 10. Jason says the government can still benefit if the person leaves for a contractor role with Booz Allen Hamilton or another firm. 11. Kip says internships are also about clearing barriers for candidates who have only a degree or certification and no work history. 12. Jason says six to twelve months of experience can change how hiring managers view a candidate for the first cybersecurity job. 13. Kip says employers lose time, salary, and onboarding effort during a probationary period when a new hire does not fit. 14. Jason says he can train an experienced instructor in about three hours, but a brand-new person might take three months. 15. Kip says T-Mobile has a structured internship program with the University of Washington and uses it as a talent pipeline. 16. Jason says Deon Training runs a summer internship with a local technology-and-cybersecurity high school, plus a SkillBridge program for active-duty service members. 17. Jason says the high-school interns worked on development, customer service and operations, and production tasks like script research, editing, and video editing. 18. The conversation stays practical and example-driven, with Kip and Jason trading specific employer models, program structures, and hiring tradeoffs. 19. People trying to enter cybersecurity or HR and hiring leaders building pipelines would get the most from this episode. 20. People wanting a story arc, technical deep dive, or quick entertainment may skip it.

As heard by us

A practical look at internships as a real hiring path, not just a resume line.

This episode treats internships as a practical filter for fit, pay, and pipeline. Kip Boyle and Jason Dion bring private-sector and government-adjacent views into the same frame, then keep coming back to the same point: internships lower risk for employers and give early-career…

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Get a clear-eyed take on internships from private-sector and government angles.

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