@@buenogoodlive Also depends on what the job req entails. Some IT specialist roles do sys admin work and some, some are basically just glorified helpdesk.
I have been an IT specialist for over 20 years. However, the level of stress depends on many factors. Because of the few resources I had, incompetent managers and because we were always understaffed, I had a bad nervous breakdown a few years ago. I'm just saying that one morning I passed out at work and woke up inside an ambulance. A couple of years ago I changed my life. Less money, but my health certainly gained.
@@looksmatteronly people handle stress differently man. bro got to his breaking point cuz of shit in his environment. it happens to a lot of people lmao
Time clearly has the strongest correlation to your salaries (wink wink, that's the hard truth for some people). I wish you would have discussed how many years you've been working. No one just getting into cybersecurity will be a "senior" anything, no matter what degree certs etc you might have. There are very specific ways to bypass this ladder and make a lot of money in this field FAST, such as the security clearance, changing jobs often, having good contacts, starting your own business, and more I'm probably not thinking of.
Stress are highest in positions where you have to delegate work to other people but you don't carry much authority. You basically at the front if the barrel when other people fucks up. Both in positions where you produce work by working heads down or you are a major decision maker authority, stresses are quite low.
I agree about the cybersecurity jobs in that once you’ve been doing it for a while it’s not really that hard. In my experience it’s always the people who make it stressful. Especially on Government contracts. Most government leads are incompetent A-holes.
This times 1000, but some civilians are just as bad. Had the misfortune of working for a company that somehow the cybersec lead got permission for a bottomless budget. It was so frustrating that they'd buy & implement all these tools at the same time w/o fully training people AND, arguably more important, tailoring them to the company's needs.
Agree lol. I work in cybersecurity for government contracts. Been doing it for awhile, so the day to day stuff is pretty easy to me. It's definitely the people who make the shit difficult for no reason lol.
I experienced this very thing when I was working in my fintech company previously....I was doing a bunch of IT support stuff I didn't want to be involved in with a WAF project and freakin' engineering teams were a nightmare to collaborate with for certain key infrastructure changes being put into place. So glad I got out of there.....doing a 100% software developer role for a defense contractor now.
Support job = most stressful and difficult. Totaly agree. 💯 In most cases, it's a low paying, stressful job where you are not valued that much by the company, but you are in first contact with the custoner, and you're expected to come up with answers similar to what a Solutions Engineer (salary of $120k +) does while doing it in a "timely manner" to avoid SLA breach. I've been preeching this for years that if you end up in a support role in IT, your #1 priority should be to do whatever it takes to get off of that job. 🙏 I sure as hell know that the grass has been much greener ever since I moved on from tech support.
I'm currently in the process of finishing certification mainly the security+ I already have the Google support cert. What job would u say I should try to get in as I'm interested in cybersecurity. What's ur advice ?
Hey Josh, thanks for the vid! Next time I think a general time line of dates would be helpful to know as well for those newer to the IT scene. I’m currently an intern doing help desk and I can only dream of working my way up to cybersecurity one day
I agree with Josh. When I worked on Department of Defense (DoD) projects in San Diego, the work was high-value and the salary was good, although not overly challenging. However, there was a lot of stress because I had to be on call in case something happened, even if it meant coming in at 2 AM. I didn't mind it earlier in my career, but I wouldn't do it now. Many cyber security (CS) and information technology (IT) jobs these days are just boring.
Depends on who you work for too. I've seen many people work in a SOC that's contracted out and get burned out quick because they never employ enough people for the mountain of alerts they get. Then they have to hit a certain amount of tickets in x timeframe
There's definitely a correlation between salary and job order. Makes sense, seniors get paid better than juniors. I think that should have had some effect on the formula since it otherwise puts less value on positions where you weren't promoted as highly
Really informative video! Looks to me like the takeaway is: "take the higher paying job, and find out the working environment afterwards" and "if you're earning good money and you are content, don't go for something that pays slightly better" (as it might be a big jump in terms of difficulty and stress)
@@0xC47P1C3 Right, just your take time in time it does get pretty interesting 😊🥰 I say this because I myself I'm learning it's a bit difficult in the beginning but once you start to grab the basics, stuff tends to be easier from there.
I was at first interested in Development lile every other student who sits besides you in college. But it was just too saturated for me. So I decided to change and learn IT and Security and your videos have been helping me a ton. Thanks a lot!
Sounds about right. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to confirm a career theory: low value jobs don't pay much & stress increases as you try to progress (over all difficulty increasing); however, there's a moment of maximum confinement that once you get past it, it's like an explosion. You're treated really well, paid well & stress begins to go down.
Do you think stress goes down partly because of developing the skill set that you have acquired over time making you more effective/efficient at dealing with challenging situations?
@@killerbung no, it's the people. Most jobs are relatively easy (some easier than others, so called unskilled vs skilled). Once you pass what I call the crucible, people just treat you better. For example, 30-60min lunches vs whatever lunches & the company trusts you to get work done. Or you have to clock in/out vs arrive & leave whenever so long as you get work done (usually still 8 hours, but they're at your discretion). Need to take time off for any reason? Some jobs hassle you, others will say "take all the time you need to handle business". I WFH now, but my last job was fantastic too. I rolled in (usually) around 8a & went to my office & worked alone next to our server room. I sat playing movies/music with snacks while building systems & writing documentation for it all. Take lunch whenever (let my manager know as a courtesy) & usually rolled out around 5p. No weekends/ on call, rare late nights.
@@killerbung while i have not dealt with this curve yet as ive only just started going for my degree i can say with reasonable confidence that its a mix of developing skills and meeting others that have developed their skills. When the entire team is competent they can trust each other to get work done without breathing down each others backs all the time, and when you know what you are doing you feel so much more confident, and when you have dealt with past difficulties it makes current difficulties seem not as bad.
i'm a desktop support for a big company in nyc and i make about $100k. i'm 47. i would rate my job difficulty: 3 and stress: 3. i'm ok where i am now. but if they were to let me go....i'm gonna take an early retirement.
In tech, imo senior is the sweet spot unless you're really career oriented... To make the jump from senior to something like staff, you need to work really hard to separate yourself from a lot of super smart people by showing great people skills to have influence, async communication/documentation and being able to be both in the trenches and also think big picture
Super helpful Josh! Thank you for this video, my take on it, based on your chart I think riding out IT specialist is the way to go, if you’re not chasing money. Awesome video!
This is interesting. I'm currently at WGU studying for Cloud Computing but am still at the CompTIA A+, Net, Sec phase and debating about how soon after completing those to start job hunting and also if I should pivot to Cyber Security, but since where I live there's a Microsoft that does quite a bit with Azure, I've so far felt like that's the best long-term opportunity. It's interesting see the salaries and perspective. Thanks.
For me I started applying when I started at WGU no certs and had minimal luck. It was after A+ I started getting traction but I found employers were really interested in my ITIL cert for some reason. So start applying today
@@nmor187 if you were to give a list of the best certs to get and things to do to prepare to go into a job after 4 years(getting a degree in cybersecurity). what are some key things you would put on that list? ive just started working towards my A+ certification and i plan on getting networking+ and security+ after. I also have some things down like getting my own homelab made but im curious if there was anything else that would stand out that i could complete in that 4 year time.
I think the biggest factor for stress is the company culture and your manager. This list really doesn't give any sort of measure of culture or management, therefore, doesn't provide any real guidance other than the pay rates.
Totally agree, I've been in Cyber Security for 2 years and my knowledge is increasing everyday, sometimes you get tasks that you just simply cannot do and your managers are breathing over your shoulders expecting you to know everything. Asking for help will only get me weird stares and most likely gonna get shouted at.
A lot of it has to do with the company itself and the people. I'm a bit suprised that the Intune was a stressful complicated role really isn't that much too it and so much Microsoft support guess it really depends on the situation or deadlines
an additional metric you might want to consider would be "interesting/engaging"... I've had jobs that were hard, paid crap, super stressful... but the work was interesting and only reason i stayed.
Hi Josh, Love your videos and all the resources you provide. I have done hour vulnerability project using Nessus and really want to do you current course you have out. Have you consider including payment plan for your class? Like one of these pay in 4 type thing for those who can pay it all upfront. Thanks for all you do
So the question is why did you leave the last job, seems like a dream gig. Was youtube that much better? Layoffs? What pulled you away. Also would interesting to hear how long you were in those roles. Great vid!
i would guess that either they cant give out info about their new job if they have one, or they retired early because if you are making 180K a year, whether you have family or not, you are set for early retirement if you dont live a lavish life. And if youtube is their dream job then making so much money would have given them enough of a cushion to be living off youtubes less than great pay.
It would be cool to see how long you spend doing each job. Also accounting for inflation, how much would your salary be for the earlier jobs like IT Specialist or Junior Network Admin?
I’m on route to get cpa and masters in accounting but hypothetically speaking… how could I transition to cyber security or IT with that? What do I need to supplement with? Degree, certifications, experience? I feel like if I have cpa and masters, showing certs should be enough? What do you think?
Definitely check these two videos out. They will answer your exact questions. First video is high level answer, second video is more detailed: ua-cam.com/video/N-pskzV_WQk/v-deo.htmlsi=8CMHwbd3xqoDVynZ ua-cam.com/video/7PPsufbJHhU/v-deo.htmlsi=qW5ZrsofUqruA6Du I'm also releasing a cyber range community soon with an internship. Of course it's not necessary, but it's worth checking out. I will announce it on UA-cam eventually, just sub and bell if you wanna see it, or follow my LinkedIn ^^
I think the value you gain from jobs can be based on many factors for different people, salary being a main component obviously. For example, in my current position as a SOC analyst, I make more than I've made in the past and it's my first FTE security position out of college. Which already makes it incredibly valuable on top of the insane number of days off I get to focus on hobbies. However, the value comes down a little due the fact it is incredibly easy, and while I like easy, I wish there was more to be done and more opportunity to hone and develop skills on the job.
You won't get a lot of training/skills/opportunity on the job these days. There's not a lot of upward mobility in jobs anymore, as they want to bracket your salary into a range that can't actually be exceeded by market value. This is why job hopping has become a lot more prevalent than working your way up in one company. Enjoy the pay for an easy job while you level up your skills outside of work.
Thank you for being transparent about pay Josh. You are great as always! I may have missed it but are we to assume the timeline in your chart is for years of employment?
Hey Josh! I was wondering if your course, roadmaps and advices are also suitable for non-American audiences, especially Europeans. I'm sure they are, but are there any differences we should be aware of? Except the WGU problem with international students we all know. Thanks!
Hey josh! Love the content really enjoyed your perspective on the Gambit of your jobs and their titles. I did have a question about stress versus pay in your opinion. What do you think about GRC roles in the cybersecurity space? I.E as it relates to stress versus pay. And also enjoy your opinion on the difficulty level also.
I'll make a video response to this now! Basically, it really depends on your personality. GRC is arguably one of the most chill areas of cyber because you are sort-of exempt from having to deal with incidents and panic and having to be on all. But the bad part is, you have to basically do behavior modification on humans, in the sense of get people to follow policies and policies and stuff once they are in place. If you are chill with that and are OK with taking weeks or months to get the simplest of tasks done, then GRC will probably be OK. I couldn't deal with this because I was spending a lot of energy and people were just making my job difficult, haha
hey Josh i'm really really greatful for this video. it helped me a lot into gaining insight about cyber. Was wondering if there are any cyber analyst jobs in Osaka,Japan. it would really help me out a lot if you could provide some insight on this
Hey, glad you liked it! I actually did a interview with a guy who got a job in Osaka doing Cybersecurity. You can see it here: ua-cam.com/video/p_OFSx4f7fE/v-deo.htmlsi=wd8VanlXDriqieQy There is also another business-related approach that lets you practice cyber from anywhere in the globe. I'll paste an email which I sent to someone else below: --- Getting a job in the US as a foreigner is quite difficult due to visa issues and stuff (H1B, etc.) Even more-so for a remote position. I know this is easier said than done, but if I were in your position, I would create really high quality cybersecurity content. See what works for others, then replicate it with your own spin. The higher the quality and easier it is for people to understand, the better the content will do. Consider making your social accounts and everything in the United States (VPN, VM etc.) so your audience is American. Once you have established some kind of audience, you can start making products and selling to them. You are in a decent position to do this since you've done business before. I have two courses for example, and I'm about to release a third product, (a cyber range) joshmadakor.tech/cyber joshmadakor.tech/it UnixGuy has a course: grcmastery.com/ Gerald Auger (SimplyCyber) has a course: academy.simplycyber.io/p/the-definitive-grc-analyst-program You could do some community, a course, 1:1 coaching etc in a new niche of cyber, or a niche someone else is already doing, but put your own spin on things. It's possible to make a decent amount of money with not that many subs. Hope this helps!
I was in the Marine Corps for 5 years as a communications and network maintenance technician, and was in Japan for most of that time. I would love to know which unit you had your unfortunate experience with, as I was always pretty impressed with our comms operators and they rarely needed my help as a maintenance guy.
It really depends on the country doing the hiring. In developed countries (Japan), I believe you need a bachelors, but it really depends on the country. There are always exceptions too and a degree is often just part of the picture
Fool to be an Individual Contributor with such low salaries. Management is better career path. Engineering Manager starts around $200k and VP is around $300k. Lower stress and higher pay. No skills whatsoever. Bad decisions happen, management always blame it on an IC.
It's one of those scenarios where it's hard to break into the field, but once you're in, the jobs are really not that hard TBH. (I'll make a video response to this)
@@JoshMadakorwhat exactly do you need to learn for some of the lower stress and lower level jobs? How much math is really involved? And have you done anything with software engineering?
There is little correlation between pay, stress and difficulty IME. My previous gig was 10-hour days with toxic leadership, cutting edge/difficult code (reactive programming) and free nights and weekend support. My current gig pays far better, sticks to 40 hours and is honestly so boring I'm getting antsy. No huge uptime/performance needs, etc.
Hey Josh, I recently found your channel and i love your videos! I was wondering what's the best certification in cybersecurity to have, to be able to work remotely?
Hey Josh, I want to get into tech, but idk what to do. I don't have a degree, but I wanted to get certifications in either Cybersecurity or Web Development, but then again I look at how the job market is and also I don't have a degree so I guess Cybersecurity won't be good for me. I was also thinking about Coursara, but idk how that is.
my problem isn't the job, it's not stressful or difficult, my problem is the people, how do you teach John, your average boomer manager that has been on the same position for the last 40+ years basic security culture? like don't open links you don't know where they lead, don't download PDF's from emails you're not sure who's the sender, use 2FA and strong passwords, no John, your grandkid's birth date ain't one that's my main cause of stress in my current position, I'd say 3 on the difficulty and like 20 on the stress factor
Wow from desktop admin to a senior cybersecurity analyst how were you able to pull that off? You didn't even go thru a junior cybersecurity analyst role and nor I'm assuming you dont have previous experience work as a cybersecurity analyst.
@JoshMadakor My current situation is I’m starting my bachelor degree in Cybersecurity at UMGC and got Secret Clearance from the military and starting a new mos as an 25B. Did the google cert and playing on doing sec+ and currently doing cisco cybersecurity analyst.Any way for me to get more experience that I can apply on resume? Or resources I can use?
Hello, Thank you for your video. What do you think about Data Steward and/or Analyst ? I am studying as an industrial engineering master's degree student. I have a few good experiences in the fields metioned earlier. I would love to opinion on those :) Again, loved the video ! Thank you
Hello Mr. Madakor. I love watching your videos and am considering working in the IT field. Would getting a university degree in IT be worth it? There are some options to "hack" university and spend less money and time there, but I am not sure how much a degree would benefit me. I know many companies value experience more than a degree, and that you have a course to help people get a job quickly. I was wondering what your thoughts are on this? Thank you for your videos! They are a tremendous help!
![How I would get a Job with ONLY Google Cybersecurity Certificate! [$1000 Giveaway]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7PPsufbJHhU/mqdefault.jpg)
![How I would get a Job with ONLY Google Cybersecurity Certificate! [$1000 Giveaway]](/img/tr.png)
🖥 New IT Career in under 3 Months with my Hands-On Course 🖥
joshmadakor.tech/it
Finally a guy who is not scared to talk about his salary…
Haha thank you
Incroyable.
Amen
I’m very confused when people don’t state it, are we going to take it away from you or something? 😂
@therealist2000 some people like to eliminate as much competition as possible sad to say
Working with Marines: "Ultra confident, mean, dont actually know what theyre doing"
Yep. That checks out.
I'm trackin' ya... we trackin' 😂
A shared experience.
I could be wrong, but Josh is the first UA-camr who’s open and honest about salaries.
Incroyable.
Not sure about that IT Specialist job, that pay seems high for that role.
@@buenogoodlive it all depends on the state.
MA has higher salaries than IN
@@buenogoodlive Also depends on what the job req entails. Some IT specialist roles do sys admin work and some, some are basically just glorified helpdesk.
Now this is a cybersecurity youtube video. Great job! Thank you.
Glad you liked it! 😍
I have been an IT specialist for over 20 years. However, the level of stress depends on many factors. Because of the few resources I had, incompetent managers and because we were always understaffed, I had a bad nervous breakdown a few years ago. I'm just saying that one morning I passed out at work and woke up inside an ambulance. A couple of years ago I changed my life. Less money, but my health certainly gained.
Hope you are feeling better.
Sorry for the health buddy... But idm what role have you moved ??
You need a psychiatrist dude. Imagine passing out for a job lmao could never be me
@@looksmatteronly people handle stress differently man. bro got to his breaking point cuz of shit in his environment. it happens to a lot of people lmao
@@looksmatteronlyyou must be trolling by the looks of your username
Time clearly has the strongest correlation to your salaries (wink wink, that's the hard truth for some people). I wish you would have discussed how many years you've been working. No one just getting into cybersecurity will be a "senior" anything, no matter what degree certs etc you might have. There are very specific ways to bypass this ladder and make a lot of money in this field FAST, such as the security clearance, changing jobs often, having good contacts, starting your own business, and more I'm probably not thinking of.
Having incredibly hard certs at a young age will allow you to skip most of the ladder especially if the CEO has trust in you.
@@pineappleenjoyer9297Which certs are you talking about? I want to know because I plan to do exactly that
@@frxnsirq482yes which certs ?
Which certs?@@pineappleenjoyer9297
@@frxnsirq482 did you find some exemples ?
Stress are highest in positions where you have to delegate work to other people but you don't carry much authority. You basically at the front if the barrel when other people fucks up.
Both in positions where you produce work by working heads down or you are a major decision maker authority, stresses are quite low.
Truer words have never been spoken lol
What would the decision maker authority be different than the delegate work to other people be?
@@Technie87 Try asking ChatGPT
I agree about the cybersecurity jobs in that once you’ve been doing it for a while it’s not really that hard. In my experience it’s always the people who make it stressful. Especially on Government contracts. Most government leads are incompetent A-holes.
what;s a while (hours)?
@@Ricocase something around 5k hours, in my experience
@@Ricocase if you are measuring in hours, you are going to be disappointed
This times 1000, but some civilians are just as bad. Had the misfortune of working for a company that somehow the cybersec lead got permission for a bottomless budget. It was so frustrating that they'd buy & implement all these tools at the same time w/o fully training people AND, arguably more important, tailoring them to the company's needs.
Agree lol. I work in cybersecurity for government contracts. Been doing it for awhile, so the day to day stuff is pretty easy to me. It's definitely the people who make the shit difficult for no reason lol.
Nice breakdown. I feel like I would have never been able to ace an interview if it weren't for your homelab Active Directory tutorial, thanks again!
Thank you, and good job!!!
"It's annoying because people don't cooperate." I don't think any truer words have been said about GRC.
I experienced this very thing when I was working in my fintech company previously....I was doing a bunch of IT support stuff I didn't want to be involved in with a WAF project and freakin' engineering teams were a nightmare to collaborate with for certain key infrastructure changes being put into place. So glad I got out of there.....doing a 100% software developer role for a defense contractor now.
holy cow. 160k subs!?! I have been following you since less than 10k! congrats on all your success Josh!
Thanks so much!!❤️🔥
We doing our best out here, haha
Support job = most stressful and difficult.
Totaly agree. 💯
In most cases, it's a low paying, stressful job where you are not valued that much by the company, but you are in first contact with the custoner, and you're expected to come up with answers similar to what a Solutions Engineer (salary of $120k +) does while doing it in a "timely manner" to avoid SLA breach.
I've been preeching this for years that if you end up in a support role in IT, your #1 priority should be to do whatever it takes to get off of that job. 🙏
I sure as hell know that the grass has been much greener ever since I moved on from tech support.
I'm currently in the process of finishing certification mainly the security+ I already have the Google support cert. What job would u say I should try to get in as I'm interested in cybersecurity. What's ur advice ?
@@MC_Myukiany update about on your progress?
Hey Josh, thanks for the vid! Next time I think a general time line of dates would be helpful to know as well for those newer to the IT scene. I’m currently an intern doing help desk and I can only dream of working my way up to cybersecurity one day
I agree with Josh. When I worked on Department of Defense (DoD) projects in San Diego, the work was high-value and the salary was good, although not overly challenging. However, there was a lot of stress because I had to be on call in case something happened, even if it meant coming in at 2 AM. I didn't mind it earlier in my career, but I wouldn't do it now. Many cyber security (CS) and information technology (IT) jobs these days are just boring.
Really? Boring? 😢😭
Every IT job is on-call.
Yeah working on call shifts suck if you aren’t paid to take the call and overtime.
How long have you been in the field?
180,000 "Ya know when your pay is kinda high" SIR
Low compared to other fields or professions
@@49erman2Lol what
Not high compared to some other people I met making over $300,000, which is mind-boggling.
@plumbingphase compared to what, brain surgeon? more risk involved
@@dieglhix Senior engineering positions, management, etc.
So cybersecurity analyst is the best all around. High pay and relatively low stress
Unless there’s a BREACH. Then you’ll be stressed
@@TerikaSaidIt depends if it's my data or not lol
I'd like to go that way, cybersecurity hold my beer
Depends on who you work for too. I've seen many people work in a SOC that's contracted out and get burned out quick because they never employ enough people for the mountain of alerts they get. Then they have to hit a certain amount of tickets in x timeframe
Its amazing how having to work with certain people/customers can make or break a job in this field.
Yeah, this is no joke
There's definitely a correlation between salary and job order. Makes sense, seniors get paid better than juniors. I think that should have had some effect on the formula since it otherwise puts less value on positions where you weren't promoted as highly
Really informative video! Looks to me like the takeaway is: "take the higher paying job, and find out the working environment afterwards" and "if you're earning good money and you are content, don't go for something that pays slightly better" (as it might be a big jump in terms of difficulty and stress)
Nice video man! Could you share the timeframes for each role ? That would help a lot to put everything in perspective
The Marine Corps description was so accurate. Shoulda gave them crayons, monster/redbull and some smokes lol - prior service Marine here.
Your editor has been killing it. 🔥
those free practice exams you have on your site are huge, thanks
This was cathartic to listen to, I'm going to do one now :)
I’m stressed just learning cybersecurity
It should be fun. Don’t force yourself
@@0xC47P1C3 Right, just your take time in time it does get pretty interesting 😊🥰 I say this because I myself I'm learning it's a bit difficult in the beginning but once you start to grab the basics, stuff tends to be easier from there.
You've gotta trust that the stuff that doesnt click yet will click after some time
Dude i just started too and my head is spinning
You can do it!
Josh
Your consistency is inspiring. Thank you for all you do.
I was at first interested in Development lile every other student who sits besides you in college. But it was just too saturated for me.
So I decided to change and learn IT and Security and your videos have been helping me a ton.
Thanks a lot!
I think that getting a clearance, especially TS:SCI at least, really makes your pay options massively increase.
Yes I agree, big scarcity on those jobs
Very interesting, thanks for sharing your experiences in this aspect. Never considered these factors...it's got me thinking. Cheers!
Glad it was helpful! :D
Man, you been everywhere. Great Stuff. ✌🏽😎
Haha for real, thank you :)
Sounds about right. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to confirm a career theory: low value jobs don't pay much & stress increases as you try to progress (over all difficulty increasing); however, there's a moment of maximum confinement that once you get past it, it's like an explosion. You're treated really well, paid well & stress begins to go down.
Yes yes exactly, it's crazy to see/experience. Hard to break through too
Do you think stress goes down partly because of developing the skill set that you have acquired over time making you more effective/efficient at dealing with challenging situations?
@@killerbung no, it's the people. Most jobs are relatively easy (some easier than others, so called unskilled vs skilled). Once you pass what I call the crucible, people just treat you better. For example, 30-60min lunches vs whatever lunches & the company trusts you to get work done. Or you have to clock in/out vs arrive & leave whenever so long as you get work done (usually still 8 hours, but they're at your discretion). Need to take time off for any reason? Some jobs hassle you, others will say "take all the time you need to handle business". I WFH now, but my last job was fantastic too. I rolled in (usually) around 8a & went to my office & worked alone next to our server room. I sat playing movies/music with snacks while building systems & writing documentation for it all. Take lunch whenever (let my manager know as a courtesy) & usually rolled out around 5p. No weekends/ on call, rare late nights.
@@killerbung while i have not dealt with this curve yet as ive only just started going for my degree i can say with reasonable confidence that its a mix of developing skills and meeting others that have developed their skills. When the entire team is competent they can trust each other to get work done without breathing down each others backs all the time, and when you know what you are doing you feel so much more confident, and when you have dealt with past difficulties it makes current difficulties seem not as bad.
This was excellent. Have your course saved. The syllabus is great!
Great to hear it!!
i'm a desktop support for a big company in nyc and i make about $100k. i'm 47. i would rate my job difficulty: 3 and stress: 3. i'm ok where i am now. but if they were to let me go....i'm gonna take an early retirement.
That's great 🎉
In tech, imo senior is the sweet spot unless you're really career oriented... To make the jump from senior to something like staff, you need to work really hard to separate yourself from a lot of super smart people by showing great people skills to have influence, async communication/documentation and being able to be both in the trenches and also think big picture
Great video! this helps me out a lot
Thank you! Glad it was helpful ^^
Thanks for sharing this information!
Excellent Data, thank you for the video!
Super helpful Josh! Thank you for this video, my take on it, based on your chart I think riding out IT specialist is the way to go, if you’re not chasing money. Awesome video!
I agree and the pay is more now in my market
Senior Cybersecurity Analyst is the build that you want guys... keep it balanced and farm that money!
Thanks, great breakdown
This is interesting. I'm currently at WGU studying for Cloud Computing but am still at the CompTIA A+, Net, Sec phase and debating about how soon after completing those to start job hunting and also if I should pivot to Cyber Security, but since where I live there's a Microsoft that does quite a bit with Azure, I've so far felt like that's the best long-term opportunity. It's interesting see the salaries and perspective. Thanks.
For me I started applying when I started at WGU no certs and had minimal luck. It was after A+ I started getting traction but I found employers were really interested in my ITIL cert for some reason. So start applying today
@@nmor187A+ like in your grade or?
@@nmor187 if you were to give a list of the best certs to get and things to do to prepare to go into a job after 4 years(getting a degree in cybersecurity). what are some key things you would put on that list? ive just started working towards my A+ certification and i plan on getting networking+ and security+ after. I also have some things down like getting my own homelab made but im curious if there was anything else that would stand out that i could complete in that 4 year time.
Thanks I’ve been wanting to do cloud support now I know what to expect
Man 50k pay bump at the end, that’s wild. I make 130k now and if I had that bump I would be over the moon happy
Truly, the grass is always greener.
I think the biggest factor for stress is the company culture and your manager. This list really doesn't give any sort of measure of culture or management, therefore, doesn't provide any real guidance other than the pay rates.
Totally agree, I've been in Cyber Security for 2 years and my knowledge is increasing everyday, sometimes you get tasks that you just simply cannot do and your managers are breathing over your shoulders expecting you to know everything. Asking for help will only get me weird stares and most likely gonna get shouted at.
@@David-ce1ux I've been in the game awhile but keep at it David!
and your co-workers
@@craigcj5953 yeah true.
A lot of it has to do with the company itself and the people. I'm a bit suprised that the Intune was a stressful complicated role really isn't that much too it and so much Microsoft support guess it really depends on the situation or deadlines
an additional metric you might want to consider would be "interesting/engaging"... I've had jobs that were hard, paid crap, super stressful... but the work was interesting and only reason i stayed.
dude this is awesome def going to check out more of your work super cool
Awesome thank you!
Got a job off watching some of your videos and general advisory.. You rock 💪
super reassuring that the positions i want are ranked the highest
Hi Josh,
Love your videos and all the resources you provide. I have done hour vulnerability project using Nessus and really want to do you current course you have out. Have you consider including payment plan for your class? Like one of these pay in 4 type thing for those who can pay it all upfront.
Thanks for all you do
So the question is why did you leave the last job, seems like a dream gig. Was youtube that much better? Layoffs? What pulled you away. Also would interesting to hear how long you were in those roles. Great vid!
i would guess that either they cant give out info about their new job if they have one, or they retired early because if you are making 180K a year, whether you have family or not, you are set for early retirement if you dont live a lavish life. And if youtube is their dream job then making so much money would have given them enough of a cushion to be living off youtubes less than great pay.
It would be cool to see how long you spend doing each job. Also accounting for inflation, how much would your salary be for the earlier jobs like IT Specialist or Junior Network Admin?
Hey Josh can you talk more about what you did to move to Japan for the security clearance ? I would love to do something similar.
He just posted a video about how to get a clearance. I have one myself. It’s accurate
@@TerikaSaidIt oh cool thanks!
Josh, what do you think about going into cloud, and then pivoting into like cloud security or even cyber?
As a marine i completely agree with your statement that’s why im getting out😅
Thank you. Have you done GRC? Where would it fall on your list? Thanks.
Yes I hope he sees it and reply. Also the cyber security auditing.
Please do one with positions that do not require a lot of meetings.
What about System Admin? I heard it’s easy and not stressful & good to go into after getting the Security plus. I wanna know your opinion on that ?
That's been my experience, but I know it depends on where you work :)
I’m on route to get cpa and masters in accounting but hypothetically speaking… how could I transition to cyber security or IT with that? What do I need to supplement with? Degree, certifications, experience?
I feel like if I have cpa and masters, showing certs should be enough? What do you think?
Definitely check these two videos out. They will answer your exact questions. First video is high level answer, second video is more detailed:
ua-cam.com/video/N-pskzV_WQk/v-deo.htmlsi=8CMHwbd3xqoDVynZ
ua-cam.com/video/7PPsufbJHhU/v-deo.htmlsi=qW5ZrsofUqruA6Du
I'm also releasing a cyber range community soon with an internship. Of course it's not necessary, but it's worth checking out. I will announce it on UA-cam eventually, just sub and bell if you wanna see it, or follow my LinkedIn ^^
I think the value you gain from jobs can be based on many factors for different people, salary being a main component obviously.
For example, in my current position as a SOC analyst, I make more than I've made in the past and it's my first FTE security position out of college. Which already makes it incredibly valuable on top of the insane number of days off I get to focus on hobbies. However, the value comes down a little due the fact it is incredibly easy, and while I like easy, I wish there was more to be done and more opportunity to hone and develop skills on the job.
Do you have any or are working towards any certs? I am going to college for cybersec and trying to get a SOC analyst job
You won't get a lot of training/skills/opportunity on the job these days. There's not a lot of upward mobility in jobs anymore, as they want to bracket your salary into a range that can't actually be exceeded by market value. This is why job hopping has become a lot more prevalent than working your way up in one company. Enjoy the pay for an easy job while you level up your skills outside of work.
Thank you for being transparent about pay Josh. You are great as always! I may have missed it but are we to assume the timeline in your chart is for years of employment?
This was helpful was thinking bout doing cyber security
Im curious how changing the stress and difficulty scales to 1-10 would affect the outcome.
Hey Josh! I was wondering if your course, roadmaps and advices are also suitable for non-American audiences, especially Europeans. I'm sure they are, but are there any differences we should be aware of? Except the WGU problem with international students we all know. Thanks!
Great stuff
Hey josh! Love the content really enjoyed your perspective on the Gambit of your jobs and their titles. I did have a question about stress versus pay in your opinion. What do you think about GRC roles in the cybersecurity space? I.E as it relates to stress versus pay. And also enjoy your opinion on the difficulty level also.
I'll make a video response to this now! Basically, it really depends on your personality. GRC is arguably one of the most chill areas of cyber because you are sort-of exempt from having to deal with incidents and panic and having to be on all. But the bad part is, you have to basically do behavior modification on humans, in the sense of get people to follow policies and policies and stuff once they are in place. If you are chill with that and are OK with taking weeks or months to get the simplest of tasks done, then GRC will probably be OK.
I couldn't deal with this because I was spending a lot of energy and people were just making my job difficult, haha
@@JoshMadakor Thanks for the response. I am just finishing up the Google Cybersecurity Certificate and have been loving your content.
I just left an infosec grc job. Loved the job and the pay , but management was the worst I’ve experienced in my life.
same bro i left my info sec job after my cock got latched in the printer
hey Josh i'm really really greatful for this video. it helped me a lot into gaining insight about cyber. Was wondering if there are any cyber analyst jobs in Osaka,Japan. it would really help me out a lot if you could provide some insight on this
Hey, glad you liked it! I actually did a interview with a guy who got a job in Osaka doing Cybersecurity. You can see it here:
ua-cam.com/video/p_OFSx4f7fE/v-deo.htmlsi=wd8VanlXDriqieQy
There is also another business-related approach that lets you practice cyber from anywhere in the globe. I'll paste an email which I sent to someone else below:
---
Getting a job in the US as a foreigner is quite difficult due to visa issues and stuff (H1B, etc.)
Even more-so for a remote position.
I know this is easier said than done, but if I were in your position, I would create really high quality cybersecurity content.
See what works for others, then replicate it with your own spin. The higher the quality and easier it is for people to understand, the better the content will do.
Consider making your social accounts and everything in the United States (VPN, VM etc.) so your audience is American.
Once you have established some kind of audience, you can start making products and selling to them.
You are in a decent position to do this since you've done business before.
I have two courses for example, and I'm about to release a third product, (a cyber range)
joshmadakor.tech/cyber
joshmadakor.tech/it
UnixGuy has a course:
grcmastery.com/
Gerald Auger (SimplyCyber) has a course:
academy.simplycyber.io/p/the-definitive-grc-analyst-program
You could do some community, a course, 1:1 coaching etc in a new niche of cyber, or a niche someone else is already doing, but put your own spin on things.
It's possible to make a decent amount of money with not that many subs.
Hope this helps!
I was in the Marine Corps for 5 years as a communications and network maintenance technician, and was in Japan for most of that time. I would love to know which unit you had your unfortunate experience with, as I was always pretty impressed with our comms operators and they rarely needed my help as a maintenance guy.
Do you think it is needed to get an Associate in Cybersecurity to get a Cybersecurity job overseas?
It really depends on the country doing the hiring. In developed countries (Japan), I believe you need a bachelors, but it really depends on the country. There are always exceptions too and a degree is often just part of the picture
Fool to be an Individual Contributor with such low salaries. Management is better career path. Engineering Manager starts around $200k and VP is around $300k. Lower stress and higher pay. No skills whatsoever. Bad decisions happen, management always blame it on an IC.
Just started on my path to CISO
Good lol
Loved the video
Hey Josh; off topic and absolutely no strings attached but was it “Maduakor” at any time down your lineage line?
obviously anecdotal. But still, great info, thanks! 😮 now can you did a video on how you got those jobs 😂
What do you do now? Just a speculation, it looks like you sell courses/ owner operator, class instructor of your IT business?
Thanks, Josh. I really appreciate it.
If easy is that easy, why is everyone is stressing about cyber jobs?
It's one of those scenarios where it's hard to break into the field, but once you're in, the jobs are really not that hard TBH. (I'll make a video response to this)
@@JoshMadakorwhat exactly do you need to learn for some of the lower stress and lower level jobs? How much math is really involved? And have you done anything with software engineering?
@@JoshMadakor looking forward to it
There is little correlation between pay, stress and difficulty IME.
My previous gig was 10-hour days with toxic leadership, cutting edge/difficult code (reactive programming) and free nights and weekend support. My current gig pays far better, sticks to 40 hours and is honestly so boring I'm getting antsy. No huge uptime/performance needs, etc.
What is your current job? Any advice for an IT guy trying to decide on a path?
is your cybersecurity course appropriate for someone with no experience?
yes ^^
I just began delving into.the world of what cyber security entails. Not sure where/how to begin my education. Any advice?
Hey Josh, I recently found your channel and i love your videos!
I was wondering what's the best certification in cybersecurity to have, to be able to work remotely?
Or is a job in IT better?
Hey Josh, I want to get into tech, but idk what to do. I don't have a degree, but I wanted to get certifications in either Cybersecurity or Web Development, but then again I look at how the job market is and also I don't have a degree so I guess Cybersecurity won't be good for me. I was also thinking about Coursara, but idk how that is.
Thank you for sharing ❤❤
my problem isn't the job, it's not stressful or difficult, my problem is the people, how do you teach John, your average boomer manager that has been on the same position for the last 40+ years basic security culture? like don't open links you don't know where they lead, don't download PDF's from emails you're not sure who's the sender, use 2FA and strong passwords, no John, your grandkid's birth date ain't one
that's my main cause of stress in my current position, I'd say 3 on the difficulty and like 20 on the stress factor
Reasonable people are really essential, money becomes meaningless if the guys around you gets to your nerves for no real reason.
Big True on this one. Big TRUE
What about full time IT support help desk which is where most people are suggested to start in IT? Thanks
How'd you make the jump from desktop admin to senior cyber security analyst?
Wow from desktop admin to a senior cybersecurity analyst how were you able to pull that off? You didn't even go thru a junior cybersecurity analyst role and nor I'm assuming you dont have previous experience work as a cybersecurity analyst.
why only put them on a scale of 1-5 Those are huge jumps that make a huge difference! Why not allow decimals, or bring the scale up to 10 at least!
Yeah you are right, my bad lol :(
@JoshMadakor
My current situation is I’m starting my bachelor degree in Cybersecurity at UMGC and got Secret Clearance from the military and starting a new mos as an 25B. Did the google cert and playing on doing sec+ and currently doing cisco cybersecurity analyst.Any way for me to get more experience that I can apply on resume? Or resources I can use?
Do his IT & Cyber course
For your cybersecurity program, would we still need to get the Security + cert in addition?
We need to talk more about our salaries
Is it worth doing a Bachelors of Cyber Security? its what is being offered here in Australia in a university for free.
It's worth it for certain price points. For sure if it's free, haha
Hello, Thank you for your video. What do you think about Data Steward and/or Analyst ? I am studying as an industrial engineering master's degree student. I have a few good experiences in the fields metioned earlier. I would love to opinion on those :)
Again, loved the video !
Thank you
Can you do a video on certs for cyber security
Check it out: ua-cam.com/video/XOxR7ZGpQSk/v-deo.htmlsi=1UVWj95TTqPPb9KW
Is GRC that stressful!? I've heard from other working professionals that it's the least stressful cybersecurity job!
Seems like Cyber Security anything gives you the most job value. Three of the jobs with the most value are cyber security.
Hello Mr. Madakor. I love watching your videos and am considering working in the IT field. Would getting a university degree in IT be worth it? There are some options to "hack" university and spend less money and time there, but I am not sure how much a degree would benefit me. I know many companies value experience more than a degree, and that you have a course to help people get a job quickly. I was wondering what your thoughts are on this?
Thank you for your videos! They are a tremendous help!