Millions of Cybersecurity Jobs Available That Could Earn You Six Figures are Predicted to go UNFILLED!
Mark Cuban (billionaire entrepreneur and majority owner of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks) stated, “Information is power. Particularly when the competition ignores the opportunity to do the same.” He realizes the importance of information just as much as the United States government.
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the term cybersecurity? Maybe you think of someone in a room, in a black swivel chair, wearing glasses, with a cup of coffee illuminated by the light emanating from the four computer monitors on the desk in front of them, effortlessly typing 80 words a minute while lines of indistinguishable symbols and letters in succession scroll past their confident glance.
Maybe you think of Google sending you an email every time you log into your account from a new device. Either way, you are correct, but I can only give you partial credit. There is so much more to cybersecurity than hacking and you can make a lot of money by pursuing any of the many other roles.
Google makes an estimated $400 million strictly off data … every day. By the time the average adult reaches this point in the blog, at least 2,500 hacks have been attempted. The value of data has caused a huge demand for personnel that can (1) protect information systems from unauthorized access, (2) tampering, and (3) [availability]. This demand raised the cybersecurity budget in the US to $14.98 billion, enough to buy 69,700+ individuals a 2021 Lamborghini. Allow me to introduce some of the roles that could place you closer to getting that dream car through cybersecurity.
Let’s start off simple. Are you terrified of the black terminal, however, you have a basic understanding of information security, love interacting with others, are great at program management, and have a teacher’s spirit hidden within you? With an average annual salary of $95,500 plus benefits, becoming a security awareness training officer could be the job for you.
On the other hand, maybe you do aspire to become the person drinking coffee in front of four monitors. Maybe you do understand how systems work and connect and you have the critical thinking skills, creativity, and patience for hacking. Maybe you find the thrill of being able to get past security without anyone suspecting you. Becoming a penetration tester might be something of your interest then – averaging $82,235 per year.
Maybe you like the work that is done after the breach has already taken place. You may not know how to prevent the hack, but you do understand how malware affects systems and have experience with file recovery after you regrettably deleted a file and spent hours on google looking up methods to retrieve it. You might find an interest in becoming a cyber crime analyst, with an average annual salary of $104,500.
Still haven’t found your niche yet? Perhaps you have a great grasp of risk management. You also have skills in data analysis. You may not be a hacker, but you have a good understanding of IT systems and would like to make the person who puts the check beside policies, procedures, and control implementation. You might find your niche as an IT auditor at an average $84,000 a year.
There are still more roles; don’t worry if you haven’t found your interest yet. Do you have a great grasp of IT systems and infrastructure? You may not have the know-how to recover lost data, but you can look at the information system and see its vulnerabilities. Then you could be a cybersecurity analyst. They average $108,000.
Are you already in a cybersecurity role? Maybe you have an understanding of the business side of agencies as well as the technical side. You can see the risk to the company and the customer. You have the communication skills and the umbrella of knowledge to lead a cybersecurity team to implement the best risk management practices you can think of. Then pursue a position as a chief Information security officer. It takes time and experience, but they average $158,939 annually.
So why are millions of these positions predicted to go unfilled this year? The government and companies know the value of data. Therefore, when it comes to cybersecurity, they want to make sure that potential employees are qualified to do the job. To prove that you are qualified, there are several certifications that you can seek to showcase your knowledge in a specific area in the cybersecurity field.
A popular certification that agencies and companies expect a seasoned cybersecurity professional to have is the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification. For an auditor, having the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) certification would be essential to establishing your credibility. If you are more into cloud security, as this is its own discipline of cybersecurity, having a Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certification would be extremely beneficial. Adding any of these certifications to your resume will make you a sought-after talent and can increase your potential salary. CISAs, CISSPs, and CCSPs respectively make $104,000, 135,000, and 150,400 in the United States on average.
Conclusion
The cybersecurity field is growing rapidly as data has become one of the most valuable assets to businesses and agencies. Those interested in pursuing a career in it can stand to receive an attractive salary offer for their skills and knowledge, and there are multiple services that can help you receive a certification for the roles you are interested in. The demand is still high and the supply is still low; so, don’t worry! There is no need to rush and there is no reason to wait. Cybersecurity will be here as long as there are information systems.
