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Things to Include on Your CV When Your Job Focuses on Keeping Systems Running
You don’t need to be a red teamer to have a cybersecurity portfolio. In fact, you should have one, especially if your work lives in the world of compliance, detection, asset protection or operations. Yet, when most people think about a cybersecurity portfolio, they imagine flashy exploits, TryHackMe screenshots or exploit write-ups. That narrow view leaves out a huge portion of the workforce, those professionals whose job isn’t to break things but to keep them secure, compliant and resilient.
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If you’re a junior SOC analyst, a GRC specialist, or someone working in ICS environments, the idea of a cyber portfolio might seem irrelevant. It’s not. Employers need tangible proof of your skills, and a well-constructed portfolio does just that – whether your job touches logs or legal frameworks.
I’ve mentored a number of students stepping into cybersecurity roles, particularly blue team or GRC positions, and many of them were uncertain about what a portfolio should look like. They assumed if they weren’t doing penetration testing, they had nothing to showcase. That disconnect is common, and its holding people back from effectively telling their professional story. The truth is, your portfolio doesn’t need to look like someone else’s. It needs to reflect your role and your value.
Rethinking What Counts as a Cybersecurity Portfolio
A cybersecurity portfolio isn’t just about showing off code or exploits. It’s about demonstrating:
- How you approach security challenges;
- How you think, document and communicate;
- How you solve problems relevant to your role.
When hiring managers review candidates, especially for entry- to mid-level roles, they’re often looking for signs of initiative and clarity. Your portfolio is how you prove you understand the work and how it connects to the greater business operations, even if your “deliverables” are not in a terminal window.
What to Include Based on Your Role
The content of your portfolio should reflect the kind of cybersecurity professional you are, or what you aspire to be. Here’s how that might look across different domains:
GRC and Policy
If you work in governance or audit:
- A sample (anonymized) risk assessment or audit report;
- A self-written summary or walkthrough of a specific regulation (HIPAA, PCI-DSS, NIST CSF);
- Policy templates or process diagrams showing controls implementation;
- A blog post on how compliance ties into security outcomes.
These showcase your understanding of frameworks, your ability to communicate with stakeholders and your skill in translating standards into practice.
SOC and Blue Team
If you’re in threat detection or incident response:
- A detailed walkthrough of a lab-based detection (e.g., using Wireshark or Zeek);
- Documentation of incident triage or log analysis using open-source tools;
- Notes and visuals from a CTF that focused on defensive strategies;
- Screenshots from a SIEM dashboard you configured (e.g., Splunk, Wazuh).
This proves not only your technical knowledge but also your ability to document and communicate in real-world scenarios.
OT and ICS Security
If you’re working in operational environments:
- A network segmentation plan or diagram from a mock industrial system;
- A white paper summary or analysis of a real-world ICS incident (e.g., Colonial Pipeline);
- A case study of protocol use (e.g., Modbus, DNP3) and its implications for security;
- Asset inventory documentation from a lab or real-world simulation.
This tells a story about how you approach critical infrastructure security and that you understand the operational context behind your controls.
Cloud and Infrastructure Security
If your work involves cloud or enterprise environments:
- IAM policy examples with explanations of security trade-offs;
- Screenshots and documentation from AWS or Azure labs;
- A brief video walkthrough of a misconfiguration and how you fixed it;
- Infrastructure-as-Code scripts (Terraform, Ansible) with annotated logic.
Here, the goal is to show technical literacy, environment awareness and attention to secure configurations.
How to Structure and Share It
Your portfolio doesn’t need to be on a slick personal website—though that can help. Many effective cybersecurity professionals organize theirs using:
- GitHub repositories (for code, documentation and markdown explainers);
- LinkedIn articles or blogs (great for policy, process, or thought leadership);
- PDFs (for formatted reports or assessments);
- Loom or OBS videos (to narrate and present walkthroughs).
sure each piece has a brief summary or reflection: What did you do? Why did it matter? What did you learn?
Important: Always label labs or simulations clearly as hypothetical. Transparency builds trust.
A Note on Ethics and Professionalism
Portfolios should never contain sensitive data, even if “scrubbed.”
If your work involved proprietary tools or clients, don’t use real screenshots unless you have explicit permission. When in doubt, build a lab and demonstrate your skills in a controlled, safe-to-share environment.
I’ve reviewed hundreds of resumes over the years, and the ones that stand out aren’t always from the people with the most certifications or the deepest GitHub commits. The ones that linger in memory are from professionals who could explain what they did and why it mattered. If you can capture that kind of thinking in a portfolio, you’re doing more than showing skill. You’re showing maturity, clarity and the kind of mindset this field needs.
You don’t need to hack into a system to prove your worth.
You need to demonstrate how you add value and that starts with a portfolio tailored to your role.
Not sure where to begin? Start by documenting the last lab you completed or the last process you improved at work. Write it up, reflect on it and save it. That’s your first entry. Build from there.