Cyber Security Engineer
Career Area: Information Technology
Occupation Group: Network and Systems Engineering
Salary
Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.
An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.
A typical Cyber Security Engineer earns the following wages (national and state):
State
The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $96,403
National
The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $97,288
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Designs systems that protect the security of large databases, including databases with customer information and patient files. Examines client computer systems, identifies weak points in security, develops and implements new systems, monitors and responds to security issues.
Employment Trends
The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.
Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:
| Location | Growth | |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 2219 | +35.8% |
| Nationwide | 59884 | +31.6% |
Skills
A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:
Baseline Skills
The following are baseline skills every Cyber Security Engineer is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:
- Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
- Teamwork / Collaboration: Experience working in collaborative efforts with a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.
- Planning: Working experience with the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve desired goals.
- Troubleshooting: Troubleshooting or dpanneuring is a form of problem solving, often applied to repair failed products or processes on a machine or a system.
- Problem Solving: Problem solving consists of using generic or ad hoc methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions to problems.
Specialized Skills
These skills are specific to working in this career:
- Information Security: Information security, sometimes shortened to InfoSec, is the practice of preventing unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, inspection, recording or destruction of information.
- Linux: Linux (pronounced LIN-ks or, less frequently, LYN-ks) is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open-source software development and distribution.
- Python: Python is a widely used high-level programming language for general-purpose programming, created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991.
- Network Security: Network security consists of the policies and practices adopted to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources.
- Information Systems: An information system (IS) is an organized system for the collection, organization, storage and communication of information.
Distinguishing Skills
Any Cyber Security Engineer that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:
- Certified Ethical Hacker:
- Threat Analysis: Working experience of Threat Analysis, which is a process in which the knowledge of internal and external information vulnerabilities pertinent to a particular organization is matched against real-world cyber attacks.
- Information Assurance: Information assurance (IA) is the practice of assuring information and managing risks related to the use, processing, storage, and transmission of information or data and the systems and processes used for those purposes.
- Threat Modeling: Working experience of Threat Modeling, which is a process by which potential threats, such as structural vulnerabilities can be identified, enumerated, and prioritized, all from a hypothetical attacker's point of view.
- Cybersecurity Assessment: Working experience of Cybersecurity Assessment, which is a diagnostic test that helps individuals, institutions or organizations identify their cybersecurity risk level and determine the maturity of their cybersecurity programs.
Experience
This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Experience Required | % |
| 0 to 2 years | 17% |
| 3 to 5 years | 44% |
| 6 to 8 years | 22% |
Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.
Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.
Common Job Titles
It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:
- Security Engineer
- Senior Security Engineer
- Information Security Engineer
- Cyber Security Engineer
- Network Security Engineer
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