The Salary You Can Earn as CISSP Certified Professional by Sai Digbijay Patnaik

The cost of living is only increasing year after year. Naturally, you would prefer your income to increase too, in alignment with your expenditure. This is possible only when you are in a good job., You are probably already in the IT field and earning well. Regardless, if you decide to step into the arena of cybersecurity, you will not regret it. In fact, you will have even less reason for regret should you enter with a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certificate in hand!

An Introduction to CISSP

CISSP is one of the several certifications offered to IT professionals. However, many organizations deem it the best certification for people seeking jobs in the arena of cybersecurity. This is because the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2) developed it. Furthermore, it is in alignment with the benchmark set by the International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC/ISO). This benchmark is Standard 17024. Every IT company across the globe recognizes and appreciates CISSP certification.

This certification will improve your knowledge and skills in eight broad areas. They are – 

• Identify and access management or IAM
• Security operations
• Software development security
• Asset security
• Security architecture and engineering
• Security assessment and testing
• Communications and network security
• Security and risk management

Once you have gone through the course, you are bound to have more confidence in your abilities to manage security operations. With hackers all over the virtual world, this is a major area of concern in every business establishment. However, with you at the helm of affairs, no one needs to worry. The design and architecture of your security programs are perfect. You manage them perfectly too! Any employer who hires you will commend you for being so vigilant!

Applying for the CISSP Certification Course

There are several establishments offering this certification course. However, if you wish to gain full advantage of the CISSP certification, you should seek a good institute. Is it easy to apply for CISSP certification? No, indeed, you have to fulfill certain requisites. For instance, you must display five years of cumulative work experience. Then again, you should have worked full time and been paid a regular salary. Thirdly, the work experience should have covered two domains included in the CISSP Common Book of Knowledge.

There are diverse ways of filling these requirements. For example, you may opt for a degree spanning four years of relevant study. Alternatively, you may peruse the ISC2 approve list of CISSP credentials. There are regional equivalents of these credentials. You may opt for a suitable equivalent. This will grant you comparable work experience of one year. Another method is to get through the basic CISSP examination. Once you get through, you can become an Associate of ISC2. As an Associate, you will have six years to gain five years of work experience. 

Obtaining the CISSP Certification

If you have the necessary requisites, then you may apply for CISSP certification. You will have access to study guides and practice books. You may even prepare for the final examination via practice tests. At the same time, you may prefer face-to-face training at a recognized institution, one of which we mentioned above. Of course, you will have to pay for your training. However, the course will be well worth your money and time.

Once you are ready, you will have to sit for a certification examination. It lasts for about three hours. The range of questions covers all eight domains. True, it is tough. However, the gain is immense if you pass the exam. You present yourself as an authority on crucial security issues and an expert on cybersecurity!

You may enjoy the fruits of certification for three years. After this period, you will have to go in for recertification. This means that you will have to display CPE credits. CPE refers to continuing professional education. Towards this end, you must strive to attend as many conferences as possible. If there are any training courses that will help you, do not hesitate to sign up. Learn as much as you can from webinars. Keep in touch with specialized media via your reading habits. This way, you will even be able to stay in touch with the latest trends in cybersecurity. In short, you will have to do something novel all the time. Apart from this, you will have to shell out a yearly membership fee too.

Getting a Huge Salary

The arena of cybersecurity is a lucrative one indeed! If you should decide to enter it, you may boast of earning one of the highest salaries in the world! The ordinary IT professional cannot even compare with you. There is always a difference between the wages of the ordinary individual and the expert. The percentage of difference varies for diverse places. They include African nations, Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Latin America, and North America. 

Now imagine yourself gaining CISSP certification. You have it made for the rest of your life! Every IT professional will envy you! Your salary is the third-highest amongst all global salaries! Since it varies with experience and designations, it is not possible to list out exact figures. Rest assured, however, that the annual income runs into huge sums. In the U.S. alone, pay for CISSP certified individuals remains in the top 10 on the salary chart. In fact, it has been so for the past few years. It is no wonder then that so many IT professionals worldwide are keen to pursue CISSP certification. 

To conclude, opt for a cybersecurity certification whenever you get the chance to do so. Then again, select CISSP first. You are welcome to add other certifications later. Wherever you go, organizations will be keen to hire you. They believe that a CISSP-certified professional is the best person to handle vital issues relating to security.

About the Author:

Sai Digbijay is a content specialist for Cyber Security courses at Simplilearn. He writes about a range of topics that include data science, project management, cloud computing, and marketing. He values curious minds and scrambles to learn new things.