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I'll join in, I got a "new" job too!
Danielm7
Member Posts: 2,310 ■■■■■■■■□□
Why is it "new", because I'm a contractor flipped to FTE, finally. Typically this would mean a step down in pay because of the benefits, but in my case it went the other way quite a bit!
The longer version is that I when I wanted to change to a full security role I took a contractor position, my first time doing that, I was a W2 contractor to the recruiting company, but no benefits, etc. The hiring manager at the time was a MAJOR penny pincher, negotiations were kind of rough, I got them above their range but it still was less than I should have been making. Eventually I got a new security director who realized this and vowed to take care of me.
I was supposed to be hired in Dec but a company wide hiring freeze hit due to a weather related business downturn the offer ended up getting revoked as quickly as it was offered. This kicked off a chain of events where I started looking elsewhere and pushed heavily into self study for the CISSP.
In the end it really worked out quite well. By the time the hiring freeze lifted I had passed my CISSP (which my director thinks is the greatest thing ever since he has one, hah) and reworked my whole resume. They came back with a significantly better offer than they did in Dec, and even pushed me to a higher compensation structure so I get better benefits, bonus, etc, than the standard employees.
So, now I'm doing the same job I did before, but because of the changes I have the approval to hire someone below me to offload some day to day tasks so I can do more of the engineering work that needs to be done, same schedule and people I already liked, but being much better compensated for it, whew!
It was kind of a gamble after having the position frozen before but the cert prep and the couple months of them realizing they could very likely lose me paid off well in the end.
The longer version is that I when I wanted to change to a full security role I took a contractor position, my first time doing that, I was a W2 contractor to the recruiting company, but no benefits, etc. The hiring manager at the time was a MAJOR penny pincher, negotiations were kind of rough, I got them above their range but it still was less than I should have been making. Eventually I got a new security director who realized this and vowed to take care of me.
I was supposed to be hired in Dec but a company wide hiring freeze hit due to a weather related business downturn the offer ended up getting revoked as quickly as it was offered. This kicked off a chain of events where I started looking elsewhere and pushed heavily into self study for the CISSP.
In the end it really worked out quite well. By the time the hiring freeze lifted I had passed my CISSP (which my director thinks is the greatest thing ever since he has one, hah) and reworked my whole resume. They came back with a significantly better offer than they did in Dec, and even pushed me to a higher compensation structure so I get better benefits, bonus, etc, than the standard employees.
So, now I'm doing the same job I did before, but because of the changes I have the approval to hire someone below me to offload some day to day tasks so I can do more of the engineering work that needs to be done, same schedule and people I already liked, but being much better compensated for it, whew!
It was kind of a gamble after having the position frozen before but the cert prep and the couple months of them realizing they could very likely lose me paid off well in the end.
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scaredoftests
Mod Posts: 2,780 Mod
Let me be the first to congratulate you.
Never let your fear decide your fate.... -
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636-555-3226
Member Posts: 975 ■■■■■□□□□□
Congrats! What type of work will you be doing in security? -
OptionsDanielm7
Member Posts: 2,310 ■■■■■■■■□□
Thanks, big company but a tiny security group so i'm an "engineer" which means sort of everything, ha. We have an outsourced SOC that does alerts off the SIEM and escalates those to me, which I'll soon be able to hand a lot of them to someone else. So far it's pretty much everything outside of forensics and pentesting (with that said pentesting is the next on my training list). Policies, FW rules, IPS/IDS tweaking, secDNS, phishing testing, DLP, SIEM tweaks, incident response, vuln scanning, OS hardening/testing, ISE soon, etc. As the group grows more we can segment more tasks which will be nice because, for example, we have a full SourceFire setup, but barely enough time to really dig into it because of day to day stuff, so it'll be nice to hand some of that off and really lock down the tools we already have.
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JoJoCal19
Mod Posts: 2,835 Mod
Congrats! Always a great thing when you can stay where you like but "move up".Have: CISSP, CISM, CISA, CRISC, eJPT, GCIA, GSEC, CCSP, CCSK, AWS CSAA, AWS CCP, OCI Foundations Associate, ITIL-F, MS Cyber Security - USF, BSBA - UF, MSISA - WGU
Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
Next Up: OSCP
Studying: Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework -
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coffeeluvr
Member Posts: 734 ■■■■■□□□□□
Congratulations!!!!"Something feels funny, I must be thinking too hard. - Pooh" -
OptionsDanielm7
Member Posts: 2,310 ■■■■■■■■□□
Thanks everyone. I always read about peoples' job changes here I figured I'd throw my story in as well.
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Optionsjlhct
Member Posts: 92 ■■□□□□□□□□
Thanks everyone. I always read about peoples' job changes here I figured I'd throw my story in as well.
Great News, congrats! -
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aderon
Member Posts: 404 ■■■■□□□□□□
Damn what a story book ending haha. That's really awesome man. It's also nice to see a company really take care of someone and live up to their word. Your director sounds like a really good person. Congrats and good job on that CISSP!2019 Certification/Degree Goals: AWS CSA Renewal (In Progress), M.S. Cybersecurity (In Progress), CCNA R&S Renewal (Not Started) -
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TechGromit
Member Posts: 2,156 ■■■■■■■■■□
Why is it "new", because I'm a contractor flipped to FTE, finally. Typically this would mean a step down in pay because of the benefits, but in my case it went the other way quite a bit!
Being a contractor sucked for me, low pay with no benefits, never would have taken the job in the first place if I wasn't the fact the economy was in the toilet at the time. When I got hired as a Full Time Employee 570 days ago, I got a 60% bump in pay, full benefits, Pension plan, Stock Options, 401k, and access to Training to boot. Not mention to job security. Congratulations on the new job, it feels great to be valued as an employee doesn't it.
Still searching for the corner in a round room. -
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UnixGuy
Mod Posts: 4,564 Mod
Were you out of job during the hire freeze?
Good story! Congrats! -
OptionsDanielm7
Member Posts: 2,310 ■■■■■■■■□□
Nope, I was still a contractor the whole time. Contractors are an expense they can budget for, which from an accounting standpoint is totally different than hiring a new employee.
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Dakinggamer87
Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats and best of luck!!
*Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
*Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63
