Intelligence Professional Career Move

Hello All,

I am very happy to have just discovered this forum! This place is exactly what I needed. I hope to gain knowledge and also contribute to the forum.

A little about myself:
I was in the Navy for 6 years working as a Cryptologic Linguist. I have a Top Secret Clearance. I've done SIGINT, Geo-Location, COMINT, some CNO and more. I speak Persian-Farsi, some Persian-Dari, Spanish, and some Portuguese. I was discharged August 2010 and got hired on by Booz Allen in October as a Senior Consultant. I'm currently working as a SIGINT Reporter.

I keep myself very well informed of trends in the job market, defense and technology. I'm trying to decide if I should make a jump into the Cyber realm. Why? Simply put, it’s the future. Can I make more money than I do now? I don't know, maybe you all can give me a range of what a Cyber Professional with a Top Secret Clearance makes in the mid-level. I am blessed to have access to almost all cert training courses for free and even the testing would be payed for.

What is the low and very high range for an IT professional? That includes all types of IT.

Linguists: 80k -135k (240k if you go to afghan)
Intell Prof: 70k - 140k

With that knowledge, should I even try for Cyber? Or should I stick to what I've got?

As I type this I realize that I’m letting everyone know what my capabilities are and also asking what I should do with my life. I understand that it's my decision but, I would like the insight of seasoned IT vets.

Thanks everyone for the help!

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Comments

shodown

navydude wrote: »

Hello All,

I am very happy to have just discovered this forum! This place is exactly what I needed. I hope to gain knowledge and also contribute to the forum.

A little about myself:
I was in the Navy for 6 years working as a Cryptologic Linguist. I have a Top Secret Clearance. I've done SIGINT, Geo-Location, COMINT, some CNO and more. I speak Persian-Farsi, some Persian-Dari, Spanish, and some Portuguese. I was discharged August 2010 and got hired on by Booz Allen in October as a Senior Consultant. I'm currently working as a SIGINT Reporter.

I keep myself very well informed of trends in the job market, defense and technology. I'm trying to decide if I should make a jump into the Cyber realm. Why? Simply put, it’s the future. Can I make more money than I do now? I don't know, maybe you all can give me a range of what a Cyber Professional with a Top Secret Clearance makes in the mid-level. I am blessed to have access to almost all cert training courses for free and even the testing would be payed for.

What is the low and very high range for an IT professional? That includes all types of IT.

Linguists: 80k -135k (240k if you go to afghan)
Intell Prof: 70k - 140k

With that knowledge, should I even try for Cyber? Or should I stick to what I've got?

As I type this I realize that I’m letting everyone know what my capabilities are and also asking what I should do with my life. I understand that it's my decision but, I would like the insight of seasoned IT vets.

Thanks everyone for the help!

You should be able to jump the security side of things fairly easy. There are a bunch of jobs at Meade with guys with signit skills combined with IT. I do like that you are thinking about the future with 400Billion getting ready to be cut from the defense budget it will be interesting to see how jobs unfold especially for intel types who have very specialized skills that not to many other employers need. Also you speak another language, granted the military teaches what they need from the language your still a good step ahead of all others. So if you get the basic certs S+, and if you have a poly you should be able to find something if you have the intrest.

Onto money

When I 1st moved back to the east coast I still had a clearance and about 18 month of real IT experience I got a NOC job at one of the alphabet gangs and I got 91K, I moved onto a mid level network engineer and I was able to get over 100K with a secret clearance. Now I still get calls to work at the other 3 letter gangs and they usually offer 125K+. A friend of mine works at the HQ of a federal agency and he is making over 200K as a High end Sr Engineer.

I hope that puts things in a view for you.

Your millage may vary