List of entry level job titles that lead to Cyber Security

Cyb0rgdilly

All I hear from everyone is that Cyber Security is in such high demand and that $90,000 is the typical starting salary for an entry level worker in the field.

Well, how do people progress into these Cyber Security jobs? What are the exact job titles that I want to search for online? What are the entry level job titles to lead towards Cyber Security careers?

Or do people with no experience and just a cert or two just directly enter into a $90,000 role before ever doing a help desk role or something more simple in order to prove their worth? Is this real?

My first job was at 13 years old a golf caddy making a few dollars per hour if even that. So you are trying to tell me that that kids are skipping any other jobs and just jumping directly into $90,000 high earning careers?

Why have so many people given me such warped progress time lines with Cyber Security careers? Is this even real? Is there zero hard work involved anymore? Do kids not have to work their way up anymore? They just get Sec+ and they are immediately gold?

$90,000 to start? Plus a full range of benefits? For a kid with no prior life experience or work history? Just because they passed a certification exam or two? $90,000, seriously all Willy Nilly?

What gives?

kaiju

$90k is a bit high for entry-level UNLESS you are coming out of college with MS, have industry certs for Cyber/Systems/Network and interned at a reputable company to show that you can hit the ground running.

Most entry-level positions will be in the $50K ~ $65K range depending on experience, certs and how well you do on the interview. I have personally interviewed candidates with multitudes of certifications who could not answer simple real world (non-cert testing) questions. There is no substitute for experience. I have encountered C-suite level individuals who do understand the need for change management (CM), baseline security implementation, version control, COOP and much more. No joke, I wasted 3 whole days explaining to a high ranking C-suite individual, with CISSP, how CM strengthens a network or system and prevents it from straying from the baseline configuration. This person thought CM was theoretical..... lol.

Many people either assume every Cyber person can make a high starting salary or embellish about their own. 

Titles:

Information Assurance (IA) Analyst

Information Assurance (IA) Technician

Information Security Analyst

Information Security Specialist

Cybersecurity Engineer *** NOT ENTRY LEVEL ***

Security Awareness Training Specialist

Look at this Indeed Cyber Security job search.

JDMurray

Despite the increased opportunities in remote work, salaries are still heavily tied to geographic regions. You might find a $90K entry-level job in a place that is very expensive to live (e.g. New Your City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Wash DC, etc.) but not in smaller markets with a lower CoL index.

E Double U

Cyb0rgdilly said:

All I hear from everyone is that Cyber Security is in such high demand and that $90,000 is the typical starting salary for an entry level worker in the field.

Well, how do people progress into these Cyber Security jobs? What are the exact job titles that I want to search for online? What are the entry level job titles to lead towards Cyber Security careers?

Or do people with no experience and just a cert or two just directly enter into a $90,000 role before ever doing a help desk role or something more simple in order to prove their worth? Is this real?

My first job was at 13 years old a golf caddy making a few dollars per hour if even that. So you are trying to tell me that that kids are skipping any other jobs and just jumping directly into $90,000 high earning careers?

Why have so many people given me such warped progress time lines with Cyber Security careers? Is this even real? Is there zero hard work involved anymore? Do kids not have to work their way up anymore? They just get Sec+ and they are immediately gold?

$90,000 to start? Plus a full range of benefits? For a kid with no prior life experience or work history? Just because they passed a certification exam or two? $90,000, seriously all Willy Nilly?

What gives?

Who is "everyone" that is telling you that? Are these people actually working in the field? Sounds like something someone trying to sell something would say to someone that does not know any better lol.

A lot of cybersecurity professionals, myself included, started in other tech roles before moving into information security. I worked for a telco for five years in networking roles (network operations center, network configuration team) before joining the same company's security operations center. When I landed the NOC role, I had CompTIA (A+, Network+) and Microsoft (MCDST) credentials. After years of working with Cisco routers I obtained the CCNA. I landed the job via a recruiting agency. Prior to that I had over two years of general IT experience as a contractor. One job was building, delivering, and installing computers for a school district and the next job was a computer refresh project for an automobile manufacturer. My IT career began 18 years ago making $10/hourly and now my base salary is over 90.000 euros (six figures when converted into US dollars). 

Regarding you being given warped timelines, I think it might have to do with the way your questions are worded. Honestly, some people just might not be taking you seriously. We all have different experience so we all will give you different advice/opinions. Is $90,000 to start realistic? Well, I do believe anything is possible, but that has not been my personal experience nor am I aware of anyone else around me starting off that high. There are other factors to salaries besides experience such as location, company's budget, negotiation skills, and more. Maybe that 90k you've heard about is an entire compensation package instead of just a base salary. I do not know the source of your information so cannot confirm nor deny what you have been told. 

TechGromit

Cyb0rgdilly said:

Or do people with no experience and just a cert or two just directly enter into a $90,000 role before ever doing a help desk role or something more simple in order to prove their worth? Is this real?

I knew a couple of people how landed a cyber security role just out of college with out any certs. But it was more being in the right place at the right time sort of thing, also a degree in cyber Security I think helped a lot. For me I had 20 years IT experience, but no Cyber security experience or Cyber Related certs at the time. Again, Luck had a lot to do with it, no one competent was applying for the role and I happened to be in the right place at the right time.  

E Double U

Cyb0rgdilly said:

E Double U said:

Who is "everyone" that is telling you that? Are these people actually working in the field? Sounds like something someone trying to sell something would say to someone that does not know any better lol.

A lot of cybersecurity professionals, myself included, started in other tech roles before moving into information security. I worked for a telco for five years in networking roles (network operations center, network configuration team) before joining the same company's security operations center. When I landed the NOC role, I had CompTIA (A+, Network+) and Microsoft (MCDST) credentials. After years of working with Cisco routers I obtained the CCNA. I landed the job via a recruiting agency. Prior to that I had over two years of general IT experience as a contractor. One job was building, delivering, and installing computers for a school district and the next job was a computer refresh project for an automobile manufacturer. My IT career began 18 years ago making $10/hourly and now my base salary is over 90.000 euros (six figures when converted into US dollars). 

Regarding you being given warped timelines, I think it might have to do with the way your questions are worded. Honestly, some people just might not be taking you seriously. We all have different experience so we all will give you different advice/opinions. Is $90,000 to start realistic? Well, I do believe anything is possible, but that has not been my personal experience nor am I aware of anyone else around me starting off that high. There are other factors to salaries besides experience such as location, company's budget, negotiation skills, and more. Maybe that 90k you've heard about is an entire compensation package instead of just a base salary. I do not know the source of your information so cannot confirm nor deny what you have been told. 

LOL
Everyone = CompTIA call center. They couldn't quit it with the $90,000 starting salary! Over and over and over that is all I heard on that phone call. $90,000 to start, $90,000 starting salary, $90,000 per year. It really made me give CompTIA a second thought it did.

Call it a hunch, but CompTIA might be a biased party on this topic 

E Double U

My relationship with Cisco is exactly the same as every other vendor I have taken exams with: bought their study materials and took their exams. No more, no less. Never considered if they were in my corner or trying to fleece me given that I only deal with vendors based on what I want from them. You're talking about a vendor's call center telling you how much money you can make with one of their credentials which sounds very odd to me unless you were the one that asked them odd questions lol. My dealings with Cisco were via the Pearson Vue website when signing up for their exams. I ordered their books from Amazon. I do not recall ever having the type of contact with them to the point where I could judge them on the basis that you are asking. I do not expect any industry or company to be my friend. They have a product that I want for knowledge and career advancement so I take advantage. 

FluffyBunny

Cyb0rgdilly said:

Is this even real? Is there zero hard work involved anymore? Do kids not have to work their way up anymore? They just get Sec+ and they are immediately gold?

Unfortunately a lot of newbies to IT and/or InfoSec get the idea that "Sec+ is enough to start in security". I don't know whose marketing dept. keeps telling them that, because I want to slap'm with a wet trout. 

Security+ is a curriculum (and exam) which provides foundational knowledge of a lot of different InfoSec concepts. It does not prepare you for a role in cybersecurity, it prepares the student for a role in IT by providing a solid grasp of a lot of important concepts. Similar to how ITF+ does a decent job of introducing a lot of non-security concepts like programming, databases, networking, clients/servers and so on. 

JDMurray

When someone asks me about a future career in cybersecurity, I point them to the Security+ and say if they find the material really interesting then they may be suitable for career path in cybersecurity. Most people I know would see the Sec+ material and either fall dead asleep or run away. Passing the exam is one thing, but talking intelligently about the material is quite another.