Category: security

In my experience Information Security as a career field is far superior
to Information Technology (IT).  I've done both for a number of
years.  IT seems to get worse every year and Information Security
seems to get better.

Overall Information Security pays better, has less competition from
competent professionals and usually doesn't have a lot of out of
country competition.  There are exceptions such as highly
specialized IT jobs and management posistions.  When I refer to
“IT” I'm speaking of basic network engineers and
System Administors not WAN engineering CCIE's, or IT guys with running
their own business contracts or very specialized software coders that
know assembly.  I used to be very excited about IT until I went
into the private sector for about a year.

Why does Information Technology suck as a career field?
Well it doensn't necessarily SUCK, but there are several reasons why I
will more than likely never go back to vanilla flavored IT: Too much work, Slave wages, competition.

Lets start with too much work.  Many business' that rely heavily
on their servers, routers, Data bases and other information systems
want their systems to be up 24/7 which requires on call workers. 
I used to be excited about getting the pager and/or corporate cellphone
until I got called a few times at the crack of ASS
on a weekend.  When a critical system goes down, the IT persons'
pager blows up.  This sometimes means working long hours. 
When you are on call, your free time is completely dependent on the
status of the Information System.  FYI, the system hardly
ever goes down when you're sitting at home thinking, “Damn, I'm bored!
I wish I could fix the server.”  It usually goes off when your
at your daughter graduation or in the middle of your mariage about to say “I DO” or in mid-stroke when you're about to orgasm.

Information Security specialists can also have a “digital leash.” 
But major virus' taking down an entire network is much more rare than a
system crash or user error.. especially if you have Windows
behind a good robust firewall.

Slave wages.. o.k. thats an overstatement, but unless you are
specialized, as stated above, you will be hard pressed to make over 55k
in a basic IT job.  Now 55k is pretty good, but in security you
can make as much as 100k (particulary in forensics).

The low wages are directly related to the amazing amount of competition
you will face as an IT guy.  Where I live there are a hand full of
military installations which crank out bright young service who are
willing to take the minimum that most companies will pay.  One of
the biggest competitors may not even come from your country of
origin.  In the U.S., global outsourcing has become an
epidemic.  India is one of the biggest competitors for American IT
jobs including help desk and software engineering.

Information Security typically hires within the host coutries
borders.  Many even require a secuirty clearance which greatly
limits not only international competition, but local competition as
well.  

The bottom line in Information Technology and Information Security is
specialization.  The more skilled you are at one particular trade,
the more certifications, licenses and degrees you have focusing on one
specialized skill that are in demand the better. They may just be
pieces of paper but consider them ammunition against the competition
that want YOUR job.  The specialization doesn't have to be in
Security it could be in Database Analysis or Network Management or some
programming language.