r/financialindependence • u/fidgit86 • Aug 13 '21

What do you do that you earn six figures?

It seems like a lot of people make a lot of money and it seems like I’m missing out on something. So those of you that do, whats your occupation that pays so well?

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u/kog Aug 13 '21

I don't want to discourage you, but cybersecurity generally requires you to have intimate knowledge of low-level programming, and you probably want to be an expert specifically in C and C++.

If I wanted a job in the software field that is less intense in terms of programming work, cybersecurity is just about the last place I would look.

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u/Grim-Sleeper Aug 13 '21

Software engineer here. Can command very healthy pay. Have worked all over the stack, from low level drivers to front end, and tons of infrastructure and systems in between. Every language and framework you can think of, from assembly to newest fad of the day. Decades of experience.

I actually understand what it takes to do security work. And while I have the necessary skills and would enjoy the thrill of it, I also never would go there. So hard. There are much easier ways to make a living as a software engineer. Unless security is your calling, pick something else

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u/kog Aug 13 '21

I'm an embedded software engineer, and this is exactly my perspective.

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u/FungulGrowth Aug 13 '21

I work in cybersecurity and could not disagree more. I don't know how to program for shit.

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u/ArtFUBU 29d ago

Yea I read in depth about cyber security day over day. It depends on where you work from reading but it can either be a buttload of programming or literally 0.

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u/kaydub88 Aug 13 '21

I don't want to discourage you, but cybersecurity generally requires you to have intimate knowledge of low-level programming, and you probably want to be an expert specifically in C and C++.

LOL

Just like anything else, there's levels to it. There are many entry(ish) level infosec/cybersecurity positions. It's not rocket science keeping an eye on some splunk dashboards in a soc.

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u/kog Aug 13 '21

That's certainly true, and I guess for a certain type of person that would be fine, but you would very much be limiting your career to the lower echelons of security work if you can't do low level programming. You probably won't earn a salary that makes this subreddit relevant to you.

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u/kaydub88 Aug 13 '21

No, you wouldn't really. There aren't a lot of infosec/cybersecurity jobs doing low level coding work. I don't know why you guys would think that.

I'm also not sure what you consider the "lower echelons" of security work. Most of the higher paid work is going to be in governance and compliance. For every 1 infosec person you're thinking (some imaginary elite hacker type) there are going to be 10 ISOs, 100 pentesters using metasploit, and 1,000 security analysts monitoring logs and dashboards in splunk or some other siem.