You don't need to understand the OSI Model to work in cyber...
...because nobody in cyber really understands the OSI Model anyway. They've all heard of it. They can all describe parts of it they think they understand. But everyone knows they are hazy on other parts.
The infographic below is wrong, actually. Any graphic like this that you see is wrong. You can verify this yourself by searching for "OSI Model" on Twitter and see whether everyone's pictures of the 7 layers actually match each other. They don't.
In other words, you know they are wrong not because you can find the correct one somewhere (you can't), but simply because they all disagree with each other.
The reason is that OSI was created to for how mainframe networking worked in the late 1970s, to create an official set of standards. The Ethernet and TCP/IP Internet didn't conform to that model, but became the unofficial, de facto standards anyway.
Ever since they've been trying to "retcon" the OSI Model, to reconcile it with Ethernet and the Internet. "Retcon" means "retroactive continuity", like when the second Star Wars movie says that Vader is Luke's father, when in the first movie, it said Vader killed Luke's father.
The same with OSI Model. Instead of paying attention to what the original model actually was, they attempt to redefine it to fit the Ethernet and Internet that we have now.
But there's no standard for this, so everyone's retcon version is slightly different, so no two sources describe the model the same.
Meaning, nobody really knows that the model is.
It's kinda freaky. Everyone is hazy on the details, especially the upper layers. But they are certain somebody, somewhere, has a handle on this, a expert that truly knows the details. There isn't. At least, there's me, telling you it's all wrong. But there's no expert that can challenge me on this, such as somebody who defends the above infographic as being correct.
stolen from the internet - but a reminder that you don't need to work at every single layer of the OSI Model to work in cyber.....
(one example: it's just a model it's not a Map of life!)
sending an HTTP packet doesn't require you to KNOW how TCP works.... it might help... but also you might just not care because your space and outcomes might be in higher level areas....
or you might want to know how the electrons pass through wires etc. it depends!