Realistic salary

George32

I always thought it was pretty trivial to make 100k in IT based on what I read here and on reddit.(high cost of living tech hub). But I've read some salary threads here and I am getting some mixed opinions. Some people claim it takes 10 years experience in a specialty before breaking six figures. I was just wondering if someone with a BS + cissp and 3 years experience in a security role really wouldn't be at 100k in a hcol tech hub?

networker050184

It just depends.... Two people with the same qualifications on paper in the same city can make vastly different salaries. It's all about the specific role, company and industry.

That being said, $100k in a tech hub area shouldn't be hard to obtain with those qualifications if you know what you're doing.

George32

The reason I am wondering is because city workers like teachers, police, firemen make about 88k at 10 years exp except they get a fat pension when they retire

TechGromit

Really depends on where you talking about, these how much is a good salary threads are pointless unless your specifying a very specific area. Silicon Valley for example, a 1 bedroom apartment is at least 2,200+ in the city,(nice places are $3,000+ a month) and 1,800+ outside the city. Where I live in Rochester, NY, the same apartment is less than 1/2 that price, (I pay $1,300 a month for a 3 bedroom + garage duplex townhouse) I've seen one bedroom apartments (1,000 sq ft) in decent areas for $650 a month. So my 100k+ Salary goes a hell of lot further than your 100k salary.

swamprat

Remember also that it varies a lot by where and what IT you're doing. desktop support at an elementary school isn't going to make what an SE at a large vendor/VAR does. Operations vs sales, desktop support vs engineer, so on.

George32

I live in an area where it costs about 1.8k -2k to rent something that within an hour of the city. I would like to stay here but unless I am making at least 100k it just would not be worth it. Even if I did decide to move I would still only consider moving to a lower cost of living tech hub such as Atlanta or somewhere even a bit cheaper then that. I guess I just didn't expect this, I thought 100k salaries were pretty common in IT in hcol areas

LeBroke

I just want to point out that you can't even have a CISSP with a Bachelors and 3 years experience. You're only eligible for a CISSP once you have 5 years of verifiable experience in at least 2 domains of the CISSP.

Also it's definitely more doable in some specialties than others. I did it on about the same timeline for DevOps. It's pretty easy with software development with a CS degree as well. On the other hand, it'll take a long time to do if you're a Windows admin or a networking guy.

LordQarlyn

LeBroke wrote: »

I just want to point out that you can't even have a CISSP with a Bachelors and 3 years experience. You're only eligible for a CISSP once you have 5 years of verifiable experience in at least 2 domains of the CISSP.

Also it's definitely more doable in some specialties than others. I did it on about the same timeline for DevOps. It's pretty easy with software development with a CS degree as well. On the other hand, it'll take a long time to do if you're a Windows admin or a networking guy.

Well you can get a waiver for one year by either having a four year degree or an approved certification from that least, but yeah it still takes four years of experience.

EANx

Four big things that impact the amount you get paid:

- The cost of living in your location
- Your skill-set / experience
- How much stress you'll have to deal with
- How much downtime you will typically have

Someone who has weird hours, regularly works 50 hrs a week and that works in a high-performance industry where people get stressed out if the slightest thing goes wrong probably gets paid a lot more than the guy down the street doing the same job for a firm where everyone is pretty mellow, he has time for 1-2 classes a year and almost always leaves work on time.

So you see, you can't simply plug in location, skills and years of exp and have a number pop out.

jwdk19

You hit the nail on the head EANx