Cybersecurity/Info security career

early 30s here, always been in big tech firms doing cyber...current salary at 300k per annum covering multiple regions in asia as a consultant for cyber...weekends usually off and we have a large team managing 24x7 escalation

working hard to get a promo by mid 30s to get around 400k per annum...

local U grad here and has been lucky to fasttrack throughout my career...born and bred here in sg and of course, served ns...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

early 30s here, always been in big tech firms doing cyber...current salary at 300k per annum covering multiple regions in asia as a consultant for cyber...weekends usually off and we have a large team managing 24x7 escalation

working hard to get a promo by mid 30s to get around 400k per annum...

local U grad here and has been lucky to fasttrack throughout my career...born and bred here in sg and of course, served ns...

There we go.. and you're doing way better than me (getting only ~240k OTE). I'm aiming to reach your position even though I'm now nearly mid-30s, so am lagging behind quite a bit.
Are you in a sales/presales function? individual contributor?

Please share some companies and roles. Thanks

Originally Posted by Unregistered

early 30s here, always been in big tech firms doing cyber...current salary at 300k per annum covering multiple regions in asia as a consultant for cyber...weekends usually off and we have a large team managing 24x7 escalation

working hard to get a promo by mid 30s to get around 400k per annum...

local U grad here and has been lucky to fasttrack throughout my career...born and bred here in sg and of course, served ns...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

There we go.. and you're doing way better than me (getting only ~240k OTE). I'm aiming to reach your position even though I'm now nearly mid-30s, so am lagging behind quite a bit.
Are you in a sales/presales function? individual contributor?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Please share some companies and roles. Thanks

I don't think any of us will post the company and role here as it's a small world.
But you can get actual/real numbers by going to mycareersfuture, search for "cybersecurity" or "security", and filter by salary "15000" etc. These are actual numbers.

If cannot share companies, maybe can at least share the roles or industry?

I'm the 300k guy...

I'll be frank and upfront about the opportunities above 300k so you can perhaps inspire toward my path. All offers I get are above 300k. These offers are only possible for global tech companies covering regions, usually asean or entire apjc. For local companies, they will quote that I am too young for such a salary, or that I'm too expensive. Usually 300k and above is 15+ years tenure for local companies and is managing a large team of cyber-security folks.

At global tech companies, 50/50 to be individual contributor or to manage a large team of very smart and talented individuals at this salary range.

Usually they dont care about nationality at this level, but care about your ability to solve very tough problems that has not yet been solved or has very little people who can solve it at a regional level.

Each job opening has more than 200+ applications across the region. So you're competing with people who are very good at English, very good at getting certified, very smart, knows matrix organisation, can make very difficult concepts easy to understand, and can solve large scale complex problems.

How to get such a job? Update your LinkedIn, get certification like drinking water, be articulate, stay sharp all the time and always be there when needed. All my offers are via headhunters directly from the companies.

[minamikaze1]

Thank you so much for sharing!
Would you be able to also share what type of roles/responsibilities would the ~300k indiv contributor jobs cover? Solutions architect role? Presales? Or highly specialized, highly technical roles?
Also, is the 300k just base salary? Or annual package?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I'm the 300k guy...

I'll be frank and upfront about the opportunities above 300k so you can perhaps inspire toward my path. All offers I get are above 300k. These offers are only possible for global tech companies covering regions, usually asean or entire apjc. For local companies, they will quote that I am too young for such a salary, or that I'm too expensive. Usually 300k and above is 15+ years tenure for local companies and is managing a large team of cyber-security folks.

At global tech companies, 50/50 to be individual contributor or to manage a large team of very smart and talented individuals at this salary range.

Usually they dont care about nationality at this level, but care about your ability to solve very tough problems that has not yet been solved or has very little people who can solve it at a regional level.

Each job opening has more than 200+ applications across the region. So you're competing with people who are very good at English, very good at getting certified, very smart, knows matrix organisation, can make very difficult concepts easy to understand, and can solve large scale complex problems.

How to get such a job? Update your LinkedIn, get certification like drinking water, be articulate, stay sharp all the time and always be there when needed. All my offers are via headhunters directly from the companies.

There's a few categories of cyber-security jobs that pays above 300k per year.

1) top sales in cybersecurity for a region. Usually the top sales guys or management level for a region and above. Else, average is 100k to 200k+. Again, this is for global tech companies.
2) top presales for cybersecurity in a region. Most presales are 100k-200k once again. You're usually the top guy in the region in the company for a global tech organisation.
3) engineering. Usually top person in a regional or global team for a large tech company.

There's varying pay, but usually the bigger region you cover, the more prestigious company you work for, and being the go to person inside the company usually can get 300k+.

Most of these jobs, in fact, I have gotten around 5 offers above 300k, and all are via headhunters who work for these large tech or large cybersecurity companies. Interviews are generally very hard and need to spend a lot of time on it. Feel free to ask any other questions and I'll try to give my perspective.

Thanks for the insights!
Just to ask, is the ~300k just the base salary, or the annual package?
It's mind-boggling how much they are willing to pay, and I thought I was already getting paid quite well (almost 200k base) as a presales.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

There's a few categories of cyber-security jobs that pays above 300k per year.

1) top sales in cybersecurity for a region. Usually the top sales guys or management level for a region and above. Else, average is 100k to 200k+. Again, this is for global tech companies.
2) top presales for cybersecurity in a region. Most presales are 100k-200k once again. You're usually the top guy in the region in the company for a global tech organisation.
3) engineering. Usually top person in a regional or global team for a large tech company.

There's varying pay, but usually the bigger region you cover, the more prestigious company you work for, and being the go to person inside the company usually can get 300k+.

Most of these jobs, in fact, I have gotten around 5 offers above 300k, and all are via headhunters who work for these large tech or large cybersecurity companies. Interviews are generally very hard and need to spend a lot of time on it. Feel free to ask any other questions and I'll try to give my perspective.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

There's a few categories of cyber-security jobs that pays above 300k per year.

1) top sales in cybersecurity for a region. Usually the top sales guys or management level for a region and above. Else, average is 100k to 200k+. Again, this is for global tech companies.
2) top presales for cybersecurity in a region. Most presales are 100k-200k once again. You're usually the top guy in the region in the company for a global tech organisation.
3) engineering. Usually top person in a regional or global team for a large tech company.

There's varying pay, but usually the bigger region you cover, the more prestigious company you work for, and being the go to person inside the company usually can get 300k+.

Most of these jobs, in fact, I have gotten around 5 offers above 300k, and all are via headhunters who work for these large tech or large cybersecurity companies. Interviews are generally very hard and need to spend a lot of time on it. Feel free to ask any other questions and I'll try to give my perspective.

1. Which certifications do you have and which one open the most door for you (other than CISSP)?

2. How many years of experience do you have?