Are you looking for a job with a good salary that doesn’t require a college education? It might sound impossible or impractical, but it’s not.
Many jobs, including those in the most lucrative and fastest-growing sectors, can be obtained without a traditional education. Cybersecurity is one of those career options.
Entry-level cybersecurity engineer salaries can be achieved after a 24-week, part-time cybersecurity bootcamp. There are plenty of cybersecurity jobs. Information security engineer, a mid to senior-level cybersecurity job, is the most in-demand tech job.
What is Cybersecurity?
Online security has become increasingly important over the past decade as more of our lives have been moved online. In the late 1980s, the first cyber attacks were reported. They started with a Denial of Service attack (DoS) and malware attacks in 1988 and 1989, respectively.
Despite this, cyber security and cyber attacks didn’t really enter the public consciousness until the new millenium. The first cyberattacks on the world were not seen until 2003. These included the first iteration by Anonymous and the infiltration of Chinese hackers into a U.S. Naval system.
It was clear that everyone, from internet users to government officials, would need to begin defending against cyberattacks.
After thousands of cyberattacks, both governments and companies are now looking to protect their data as well as the data of their users. This makes cybersecurity a very popular career path. However, there is not enough cybersecurity experts to meet the demand.
What is a Cybersecurity Engineer?
A cybersecurity engineer is responsible for maintaining and building a company’s network security. This is done in many ways by cybersecurity engineers, including:
Troubleshooting issues in a cybersecurity network
Tests of current network functions
Find new ways to strengthen your cybersecurity network.

Cybersecurity professionals are the frontline for a company’s data security. As threats can come at any time in many ways, cybersecurity engineers need to not only ensure that a system is secure enough but also find ways of making it even more secure.
Cybersecurity tools
To do their job well, cybersecurity exports must be familiar with a wide range of programs and tools. These include:
Encryption tools (Tor and NordLocker, AxCrypt)
Vulnerability scanning tools: SQLMap, Nikto and Paros Proxy
Antivirus Software Tools (Norton, Kaapersky and McaFee).
Network monitoring tools (Pof Splunk, Argus, Argus).
Network intrusion monitoring (Kismet, SolarWinds, Zeek)

A Coding Dojo cybersecurity bootcamp will help you to get a solid grasp of all these tools.
Salary for Entry-Level Cybersecurity Engineer
You are correct if you believe that cybersecurity engineers are in high demand and therefore have high salaries. Here’s an overview of the average salary for a cybersecurity engineer in the United States.
ZipRecruiter: $87,000
Salary.com: $91,000
Glassdoor: $92,100

These are the salaries that will make your life easier for any entry-level job. Even with years of experience, many careers don’t offer this kind of income.
The average salary for a cybersecurity engineer is different depending on where they live. ZipRecruiter reports that cybersecurity engineers in Metro Detroit can expect to earn around $80,000 while those in the Indianapolis region will make around $87,000. Chicago is the top-ranked Midwest city with an average salary of $89,000. You can expect higher salaries for entry-level cybersecurity engineers working in coastal cities.
Remote work has become so popular that people from all over the country can now work in California, New York, Seattle and other areas and still receive high salaries.
What is the Median Salary for a Cybersecurity Engineer
So you have secured your entry-level job as a cybersecurity engineer. What next? In terms of salary? Let’s take an in-depth look at the median salary for cybersecurity engineers across all levels of experience in the United States.
ZipRecruiter: $121,000
Salary.com: $140,000
Glassdoor: $121,000

There is clearly some discrepancy between the reports. However, it is clear that cybersecurity engineers can expect much higher salaries than the average American worker and higher than many other tech salaries.
These salaries will only rise as cybersecurity engineers are in greater demand.
Cybersecurity Demand

Information security analysts are, as mentioned above. This year, information security analysts are the most in-demand tech job. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, cybersecurity jobs will grow by 33 percent between 2030 and 2030. This is much faster than the average.
Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2021. This number is far greater than expected.