Hard work pays off! Offer made, offer accepted! 80K Salary

I know a lot of people are not comfortable working with recruiters but just like anything else, they are a means that can help put your name out there. After passing my CISSP back in January, I updated my resume, formatted it, added some new skills, removed some irrelevant stuff and structured it towards the position I wanted to apply for.
So anyway, I send my resume everywhere, used recruiters, used LinkedIn, used different job sites, made accounts directly to company websites etc etc! I put effort in it, I started to feel my current role does not match my future expectations or my current knowledge for that matter. Any job that I thought I would be a good fit, I applied for it. Even applied for a Director's position and got a call back only to be shut down because I didn't have Health care IT experience. That didn't stop me from looking though.

I made a connection with a recruiter back in February, almost 2 months ago! He set me up with a phone interview maybe 1-2 weeks later and during my lunch break I spoke with one of the manager for 30 minutes or so. He was impressed I guess because he told me at that moment that they will invite me in for a face to face interview. More weeks go by and I was still waiting, no calls, no updates. Then my recruiter calls me and tells me that he has been working with the HR rep to bring everyone together in one location so I can interview with all of them, make it or break it type of deal. "This is it", he said, "they feel you are the strongest of all the candidates and they want to bring you in, are you ready"? I take an emergency day off the next day from work and go in for the interview. I was scheduled to interview for 4 hours! With 4 different people! The interview went great, was very comfortable. Probably another week or so passed and today they just made me an offer for 80K+ Bonus, that is 26% increase from my current salary. I'm happy with it.
The IT department right now is small and they wanted someone that will build the framework of the processes, policies, procedures and be able to handle the day to day operational tasks of supporting users in terms of necessary access to system resources. So I will be working with different networking monitoring tools, access management, email filtering, firewall rules etc. Basically I would be allowed to grow and expand my knowledge, and be able to support other areas of IT even though I might not have the experience right now. They will help train and mentor me. The hiring manager was very nice. He told me, I will be the only person in my group right now so he expects me to put a lot of work and effort, which is fine with me because that's the environment I excel in. This is a huge opportunity for my career, very excited to start this role!
Monday I will have to give the bad news to my manager, I have brought up many interesting topics that need improvement in our current environment but nothing was allowed to flourish. This would definitely be a shock to them, but probably something that they have thought about the past 2 months.

Also wanted to mention something that many have told me over the years, learn, always learn, never stop learning, it doesn't have to be a cert, it can be a book, some knowledge from an article, anything that will increase your value as a professional. Learn to be descriptive and be able to hold a conversation, to be able to respond intelligently to questions. Soft skills do matter even in IT.

PS: for those who say CISSP doesn't help anymore, I will tell you this, I do not know if it helped me in this case but it probably gave me an edge, 2 months after passing it and only 1 week after receiving the paper certificate I was offered a job. Is it luck, is it timing, it is probably a lot of factors but without it I can tell you, I probably wouldn't feel as confident and comfortable confronting the people interviewing me.

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Comments

[Deleted User]

Way to go dude!

successrealm

Awesome outcome! Congrats!

UnixGuy

Congrats!!

TLeTourneau

Congratulations!

Robertf969

Outstanding accomplishment! I am in the same posstition as you just need that offer! Let me know if you need a second in command I am willing to relocate

Mide

Congratz! I'm sure your CISSP played a role in getting hired. What is your background and experience level if I may inquire? Was it in IT security since you put in your years to get endorsed for the cert?

N2IT

First of all gratz on the new position. Excellent work.

I always laugh when people on here dog the CISSP, especially when they are security professionals. I've know several people in the security sector and every time they get the DAMN CISSP they end up landing a job that pays a ton.

I worked with a guy on the desk, who was security crazy. It was his whole focus and all he would do is studying the CISSP. He landed an associate security position for a large credit card company and now he is making over 6. The funny thing is another veteran help desk former employee ended up back dooring into a security position, no certs or degree making ~55,000.

I'm not a huge cert guy anymore, I've seen too many people making way to much money in IT tech roles without 1 cert for me to believe they help or hurt, but..... there are always exceptions and the CISSP is one of them from what I have seen.

TheFORCE

Mide wrote: »

Congratz! I'm sure your CISSP played a role in getting hired. What is your background and experience level if I may inquire? Was it in IT security since you put in your years to get endorsed for the cert?

Thank you all for the kind words! This forum helped a lot with motivation and never giving up on your goals. I'm not cert crazy either but the CISSP I had to get it.

Mide I have about 10 years experience in IT, about 8 working professionally. My first job was as a Helpdesk Tech and through that I was promoted internally when there was an opening for an Application Security admin. I did this job for 2 years and was promoted to a level 2 admin after the 1st year but moving internally the pay was not great. I learned a ton though, the position was in the Banking industry and I was involved in fail-overs, DRP/BCP, migrations, was maintaining the main Access database with about 1500 users, was doing access management and identity management, setting up Active directory accounts, permissions, doing some networking troubleshooting when it was required. I did not have any certs in IT Security when I did that and was getting paid about 45K and with OT I would get close to 55k. I was doing a lot of OT work, weekends too. After that I found my current company and been with them for 3 years so total I have 5 years experience in IT security, I work mostly with Oracle databases now, maintaining the user access and permissions, working with PKI and creating smart cards and tokens that can be used to either remote in to the network or used for email encryption, doing some work with Arcsight checking up on threshold alerts and recently doing some vulnerability reporting through MVM but one of the main focus was access management, writing some policies, documenting procedures and sometimes liaison with Vendors and working with them to build apps that met our requirements. The job started to get mundane and easy so I had to find challenges elsewhere.

N2IT I was in the same situation, I got into IT Security as I mentioned above by accident because I didn't want to do Helpdesk anymore and fell in love with it. Did not have any experience but when you work for a company for 2 years you kinda learn all the software and apps they use so you can use that as your advantage to be promoted within. That experience helped me land my current job even though I didn't have the CISSP then, got some additional experience and combined with the CISSP was able to get this new job. The manager also holds CISSP and CISM and probably some other certs so maybe he feels strongly about the certs too. The point is that if you are stuck in a position and you have the experience but you do not have that positions industry standard cert, why not go and take it? It's like working with Cisco switches and routers being an engineer without having a CCNA. If you try and move you probably will take longer to land a job than if you had a CCNA also to back up your experience.

zxbane

Congrats on the position, it sounds like a great opportunity!

Jon_Cisco

It's great to hear stories like this. So many people come to this forum and ask what cert will earn you 100k next week.
The truth is hard work is what pays off. The cert just gives us something to work towards.

Congrats!

JustFred

Congrats, have fun.

TheFORCE

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

It's great to hear stories like this. So many people come to this forum and ask what cert will earn you 100k next week.
The truth is hard work is what pays off. The cert just gives us something to work towards.

Congrats!

That's absolutely true Jon. Certs alone won't do anything, you need to have a passion for what you do and always looking to improve. I've said it many times here, it's not about the money, you have to enjoy what you do. It's always good to get some recognition and reimbursement for your skills too, thats a bonus

. Sure there are people that make it big right out of college, those are unique situations these days. But most have to keep working, learning and looking for the next opportunity to better themselves, their families and their companies. At the Helpdesk I was making 35k, I've come a long way since then in 5 years, it took time and effort but I enjoyed the process in between, it was fun even when it was bad.

H3||scr3am

Congratulations on the new position

way to go

Itrimble

Congrats. I agree with the hard work part. When I was put on help desk, I immediately knew that it wasn't what I wanted to do, so I started studying my butt off. I studied in the evenings and weekend, and like those before me, I earned certifications and used those to get my foot in the door. Hard work, dedication and having a goal will get you anywhere and anything you want in this world !

fuz1on

Congrats! Hard work always pays off! Also, I agree that CISSP is still the gold standard for HR, in terms of infosec opportunities.

Mide

TheFORCE: Thanks for the brief history of your path! Great job. I'm glad that hard work led you to where you are today.

coffeeluvr

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your career journey....you prove that determination pays off!

The_Expert

First of all congratulations! You've worked hard and earned this new position...

I too just started in a security role with a new company making more than I have ever before. This is a new area for me, however, focusing on certs and pushing myself forward these last 2 years gave me the knowledge necessary to pass the interview.

I like what you said - learning should always take place. One should keep learning something new all the time. This is the key difference between the people who move forward versus those who just complain and never get ahead.

hannism

Congratulations.

N2IT

TheFORCE wrote: »

N2IT I was in the same situation, I got into IT Security as I mentioned above by accident because I didn't want to do Helpdesk anymore and fell in love with it. Did not have any experience but when you work for a company for 2 years you kinda learn all the software and apps they use so you can use that as your advantage to be promoted within. That experience helped me land my current job even though I didn't have the CISSP then, got some additional experience and combined with the CISSP was able to get this new job. The manager also holds CISSP and CISM and probably some other certs so maybe he feels strongly about the certs too. The point is that if you are stuck in a position and you have the experience but you do not have that positions industry standard cert, why not go and take it? It's like working with Cisco switches and routers being an engineer without having a CCNA. If you try and move you probably will take longer to land a job than if you had a CCNA also to back up your experience.

I agree certifications in alignment is critical. Like you mentioned, about routers and switches makes a lot of sense. Aimlessly getting certifications in an area where you have 0 focus or experience doesn't make sense to me. Doesn't mean it's wrong however.....

In your case the CISSP made perfect sense and it showed. Alignment is the key with certifications.

Cyberscum

N2IT wrote: »

First of all gratz on the new position. Excellent work.

I always laugh when people on here dog the CISSP, especially when they are security professionals.

I personally think the CISSP is a joke; No legitimate employer takes the cert serious anymore. Granted I make over 30% more having the cert and have been offered positions in various sec roles....I think its more of a "good karma thing."

GJ OP, hard work does pay off indeed

doobu

TheFORCE wrote: »

I know a lot of people are not comfortable working with recruiters but just like anything else, they are a means that can help put your name out there. After passing my CISSP back in January, I updated my resume, formatted it, added some new skills, removed some irrelevant stuff and structured it towards the position I wanted to apply for.
So anyway, I send my resume everywhere, used recruiters, used LinkedIn, used different job sites, made accounts directly to company websites etc etc! I put effort in it, I started to feel my current role does not match my future expectations or my current knowledge for that matter. Any job that I thought I would be a good fit, I applied for it. Even applied for a Director's position and got a call back only to be shut down because I didn't have Health care IT experience. That didn't stop me from looking though.

I made a connection with a recruiter back in February, almost 2 months ago! He set me up with a phone interview maybe 1-2 weeks later and during my lunch break I spoke with one of the manager for 30 minutes or so. He was impressed I guess because he told me at that moment that they will invite me in for a face to face interview. More weeks go by and I was still waiting, no calls, no updates. Then my recruiter calls me and tells me that he has been working with the HR rep to bring everyone together in one location so I can interview with all of them, make it or break it type of deal. "This is it", he said, "they feel you are the strongest of all the candidates and they want to bring you in, are you ready"? I take an emergency day off the next day from work and go in for the interview. I was scheduled to interview for 4 hours! With 4 different people! The interview went great, was very comfortable. Probably another week or so passed and today they just made me an offer for 80K+ Bonus, that is 26% increase from my current salary. I'm happy with it.
The IT department right now is small and they wanted someone that will build the framework of the processes, policies, procedures and be able to handle the day to day operational tasks of supporting users in terms of necessary access to system resources. So I will be working with different networking monitoring tools, access management, email filtering, firewall rules etc. Basically I would be allowed to grow and expand my knowledge, and be able to support other areas of IT even though I might not have the experience right now. They will help train and mentor me. The hiring manager was very nice. He told me, I will be the only person in my group right now so he expects me to put a lot of work and effort, which is fine with me because that's the environment I excel in. This is a huge opportunity for my career, very excited to start this role!
Monday I will have to give the bad news to my manager, I have brought up many interesting topics that need improvement in our current environment but nothing was allowed to flourish. This would definitely be a shock to them, but probably something that they have thought about the past 2 months.

Also wanted to mention something that many have told me over the years, learn, always learn, never stop learning, it doesn't have to be a cert, it can be a book, some knowledge from an article, anything that will increase your value as a professional. Learn to be descriptive and be able to hold a conversation, to be able to respond intelligently to questions. Soft skills do matter even in IT.

PS: for those who say CISSP doesn't help anymore, I will tell you this, I do not know if it helped me in this case but it probably gave me an edge, 2 months after passing it and only 1 week after receiving the paper certificate I was offered a job. Is it luck, is it timing, it is probably a lot of factors but without it I can tell you, I probably wouldn't feel as confident and comfortable confronting the people interviewing me.

Many congratulations! I hope you learn more and develop a more solid career from it!

bpenn

I think the CISSP is extremely valuable. Maybe employers are looking for it, maybe not. All I have to say is that the information I LEARNED while studying for the exam has benefited my career immensely. I am able to speak on topics I had no prior knowledge of before. It is one thing to take certs just have that piece of paper saying "certified" and it is another to take a cert and learn everything there is to know about the information it provides and apply it.

I actually had a situation a few weeks ago where I got a call from the CIO that his machine was acting up. I went over and fixed the issue. Afterwards, he asked me why the issue occurred in the first place and what was I going to do about it, along with a few other questions related to security and processes. The knowledge I gained from the CISSP helped me answer his questions and to think from a managment perspective (or, like him, the CIO!).

I am extremely happy to have taken the test and passed. I have expanded my knowledge, my career, andmy confidence.

Oh, and congrats OP!

N2IT

Cyberscum wrote: »

I personally think the CISSP is a joke; No legitimate employer takes the cert serious anymore. Granted I make over 30% more having the cert and have been offered positions in various sec roles....I think its more of a "good karma thing."

GJ OP, hard work does pay off indeed

30% more isn't a joke to me

Those are real dollars.

Cyberscum

N2IT wrote: »

30% more isn't a joke to me Those are real dollars.

....It was a joke....

The cert obv holds value.

E Double U

Good job man!

N2IT

Cyberscum wrote: »

....It was a joke....

The cert obv holds value.

Ahhh.......

Well hell man I've been working on this monster query all day. That side of the brain is dark.

Cyberscum

N2IT wrote: »

Ahhh.......

Well hell man I've been working on this monster query all day. That side of the brain is dark.

I hear ya, been pushing a C&A package through for the last few weeks.....burnt OUUUUUTTTTTT!!!!!!