10 Highest-paying IT Security Jobs (sigh)

N2IT

Phil would you go after anything less than you are making now? Gosh I hope not!

philz1982

Not unless it would have a dramatic uptick like equity, stock options, ect.

NetworkNewb

Yea, I wouldn't go below 250k. Save anything below that for the slackers out there.

ArabianKnight

Is there a 50% tax rate on salaries above $250k?

NetworkNewb

There is, but that is why God invented offshore banking.

eSenpai

WilliamK99 wrote: »

Anyone here been in the tech field since 99? I see Cyber Security certifications going the route of Microsoft certifications ASAP as people attempt to "paper cert" in order to get a high paying job regardless of whether they actually know how to do or are passionate about the job... I see it where I work right now, a bunch of people who just came to cyber security because that is where the money is...

Certifications are nice but if you don't know what you are doing, it will be found out real quick...

Meh...Having both hired MCSE's and stopped interviews with paper MCSE's in under 5mins, my take is that the MCSE, like all certs, are only as good as the ability of the person carrying it. I feel the exact same way about the vaunted Cisco & Redhat certs. I have interviewed CCNx's who knew a lot about a little when what I generally need is someone who knows a lot about a lot yet in talking to more than a few CCNx's, they feel I should hire them on the spot simply because they are Cisco certified. At least the MCSE debacle got most of them past this big of cert arrogance. [Cisco people please don't view that as a flame. It is simply an example I pulled from my own experiences. ]

I have never believed in the silo for anything but the top echelon of IT. Want to be the VMware guru? No problem, but you are going to be cross trained in everything until you get there. For me this is especially true in security, and my greatest concern with security certs is not "paper" security people but new security people who lack exposure to different silos. Big business has spent decades pigeon-holing IT people because it's easy yet what we need most now are people who can not only speak the language of the individual disciplines but understand how the various disciplines interact and form the complete attack surface needing assessment, remediation and vigilance. I get so annoyed when people start talking as if the network is the only vulnerability or encryption is the cure-all. I digress....

Degree programs routinely go up & down in popularity as people chase the hot sector and I see no real distinction between that and chasing the hot certification. Not one of us here would say that the degree automatically makes you a good security person. Or if you do then which degree is it that does so? Is it the BS of Cybersecurity? BS of Information Security? How about the BS of Information Assurance? Or maybe it’s the Master's versions of these? Should I not hire the person who got that Art, Business or History degree then switched to IT? My point being that without experience, the degree, like the cert, is just a piece of paper needing to be put into context so following the money to get the hot certification (or degree) is only a problem when your hiring process is filled with people who are incapable of judging the validity of said skill-set. Neither chasing the degree nor chasing the certification is an issue for me. It is the hiring process which is incapable of vetting real talent that is the problem and it is a problem chasing itself. By that I mean, if experienced security people are scarce across the board then WHO exactly is hiring the new security people into an organization where it did not exist before?? Where it failed miserably before? That’s right….people who don’t know what they don’t know. Let’s not blame the certifications (or the degrees) for that.

JoJoCal19

NetworkNewb wrote: »

What kind of position are you referring to by one that "creates value"? Developing applications for companies? Sales position?

Yup. Pre/post sales, sales engineer, business development. It's why I got my undergrad in business and am going back there for my MBA. I have always had a long term view and knew I being in a pure cost center wasn't going to be my first choice.

paul78

ArabianKnight wrote: »

Is there a 50% tax rate on salaries above $250k?

In the US, the highest federal income bracket is only 39.6%. However, US taxes are a bit complicated so the actual effective tax rate can vary once you include state and local taxes. I think in NY, it can top 50%.

wd40

This tax thing is confusing to me, we do not pay taxes

When you say 50% Tax rate, does this mean they take 50% of your income :

paul78

wd40 wrote: »

When you say 50% Tax rate, does this mean they take 50% of your income :

Yes - that's correct. Depending on the country and tax structure, it's how any government derives revenue to provide services. In the US, the tax structure is graduated meaning that the tax rate varies depending on your gross income but there are deductions that reduce the taxable portion and different states have different taxes. So depending on where you live in the US, the amount of taxes paid varies. Also, the 50% is not really an accurate representation, only high income wage earners usually would be end up with those kinds of total taxes.

If I recall, Bahrain's government revenue primarily derives from oil.

@op - sorry about hijacking the thread.