2 Job offers - which one?

northmania

Hello,

My main goal is to work in cybersecurity(broad term).

I have 2 job offers, where I can start my career, and learn. But I have difficulty chossing which one.
The two jobs that have been offered are: Junior security engineer, and Junior Penetration tester (diffrent companies)

Junior security engineer, its for HPE and I will learn the following:
Palo Alto, Cisco Next Generation Firewalls, Check Point, Juniper, Fortinet, TrendMicro and TippingPoint IPS
Responsibilities:
Manage and implement simple and complex network changes.
• Protect data and cover network security risks for client environment. Keeping supported network security infrastructure in great working and functional condition.
• Analyze and solve complex issues involving multiple support teams and make appropriate recommendation to avoid future failure.
• Support various firewalls and IPS/IDS technologies within large enterprise network environments.
• Working with the best and latest cutting edge network security technologies. Cooperating with top vendor engineers in resolving complex and challenging issues.

Junior Penetration tester:
Conduct Cyber Security Assessments and Penetration Tests
-Search for security vulnerabilities
-Follow industry best practice methodoliges for penetration testing(e.g., OWASP guidelines)
-Drive technology and research in the area of Penetration Testing.

northmania

can anyone help please

jelevated

Congrats on the offers. Um...I'm feeling the job roles of the Junior Security Engineering position (although that Junior part is odd). If you will have full hands on access to the devices then that is a golden opportunity.

Pen Test...eh...thats good experience too but I prefer the hands on net op experience. Some people wait a long time to get at that level.


Oh, which one pays more?

jcundiff

hmmm... one of them is with HP... take the other one! ( take this from an ex-employee) HP looks great on paper, but they are the most dysfunctional, lowballing enterprises in the world today. tech looks great, but pen testers are also in high demand. personally, you want to look at logs all day? or try to infiltrate systems?

only you can make that decision...

7.5 years after being wfr'd by HP, I'm making about 3 times my highest salary with them...

IronmanX

Whats your work experience like?

You mention the one learning the following:
"Palo Alto, Cisco Next Generation Firewalls, Check Point, Juniper, Fortinet, TrendMicro and TippingPoint IPS"

I'm gonna say if your fairly new you should probably stay away from the pen test job. I'm saying that because your going to want to be very proficient in all those things listed in the above job and then some when doing pen tests.

Danielh22185

Also might be good to consider what does the pay / benefits, etc look like for both and who has the better package?

Seems like both might be fine for entry level folks. I don't know much about security roles but based on the job descriptions alone it seems like the 1st one covers a wider field of industry / vendor level experience. Pen testing is a needed thing too obviously but how much actual pen testing does a "junior pen tester" do? Or is that tech more of a support role for the senior guys who are doing the actual pen testing? Again I am not sure much about the security industry / job role expectations but seems like the 1st covers a wider area for you to maybe pick to specialize in later.

Just my .02...

Verities

I also worked for HPE for 3.5 years (completely agree with Jcundiff about them being sleeze bags and low balling) and can tell you right now they are headed down the drain. When CSC assimilates the borg of HPE, there will be additional work force reductions. With that said, it's a great starting point because they are willing to bring in entry level people. Just make sure you keep up to date with certifications once you start getting hands on experience and make it a goal to get out of there after 2-3 years.