Starting pay for Security+ Cert??

Hello everyone, I'll being getting my security+ certification soon and already have my foot in the door with a government contractor in Washigton, DC. I'll have to get a security clearance in order to work for this contractor as well as have the Security+ certification training completed. I'll probably start off as help desk and work my way up. I have no IT experience and am currently working on my degree. My question is how much can I expect to start with as far as salary?

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Comments

slinuxuzer

glassdoor.com is going to be your best source of information for that. Also realize the geographic region your in dictates a good bit of this, D.C. is 40% higher cost of living than where I live.

joshlikewhat

That is definitely the magic question and the first one that comes when studying for a new cert!

I can only attest to the landscape in my city, Austin TX.

Entry level security administrators with Security+ would probably make around 50-55k here. As someone who frequently interviews security engineers, I can honestly say that certifications mean very little to me. I just offered someone with a bachelors degree and a CISSP 53k because he was so green (he accepted)... and someone with no certificates and a 10 years of experience 90k (waiting to hear back...)

I think that certs are an excellent HR filter... but after that its all about your experience

TechGuru80

If it's a security position the $50k mark is pretty spot on. If the job is not necessarily a security job (these do exist and require security+), then you could be talking in the $40s. For help desk, no degree, and no experience...$40s is probably more likely (not sure as far as cost of living difference). Help desk mainly includes system administration pieces (pw resets, account management, etc.) and most security tasks are done at different levels. Joshlikewhat's range sounds more like security administrators (as he stated).