I would secure that clearance at all costs. It will still be good for 2 years even if you leave Federal employment. And it's much easier to get cyber roles with a clearance under your belt. For experience I would just sign up for Tryhackme or HtB.
IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)
- Thread starter fendi_mane
- Start date
xXMASHERXx
Superstar
What is your degree in? You having all that and TS clearance is huge. You would be foolish to leave before getting that. Also without knowing more about you, it's hard to give any advice. The only advice I can give right now would be to invest in a homelab or a tryhackme account. HtB is good but that's more tailored to red teaming. Do you have zero IT experience?
BeachBum Unreal
SD Born & Raised: 760, 619
For the AZ-900 at least, Microsoft Learn was sufficient for me.
LiquidMasterSwords
All Star
So I started applying for jobs last week as I said before. Mainly because I need to start making more money. So I actually decided I'll give them a chance to increase my salary to something to make me feel better as I wait for this TS/SCI. Here is the short version.
- I asked for a 15K increase, which I thought was modest.
- They said this was a large increase and they would come back to me to let me know how much they could give me, but was confident I wasn't going to get that.
- They come back and offer me a 7.5K increase.
- I said 12K is the lowest I can go.
- They offered me 10K
- I doubled down and said 12K
- They said the core money will come in end of February and they MIGHT be able to give me 12K if I can wait until mid March. They will know end of Feb. or I can take the 10K right now.
- I asked for the weekend to think about it
- We had the meeting this morning and after talking through some more details I said I'll take the possible 12K increase
- He said they'll aim to give me the full 15K instead and he's very confident that they will reach that and he'll let me know by end of Feb.
WHY THEY PLAY ALL THESE DAMN GAMES!?
So this 15K will keep me happy for a few months. But again, once this SCI is in. I'm out! I'll be looking for another 10-20K bump, and these folks don't got it. Apparently.
When you deal with Federal contracting unless you work on some huge contract award. There is no telling who or what is skimming money off the top. I've had Federal contract companies tell me there was no money for pay increases. Only to mysteriously find money once I submitted my resignation.
That's why I won't work for the Feds unless it's my last resort. Or it's easy to find the exact details on the contract award amounts.
xXMASHERXx
Superstar
Welcome to corporate America. They play these games because most people will not call their bluff. Your manager didn't just magically find another 15k that he could give you. They had that money in their budget and had you not asked, it was most likely going into someone else's pocket. I'm sure they have the money to bump you another 10-20k but they are going to make you jump through hoops again to get it. Like I said this is nothing new in corporate America. Just have to decide if it's worth the hassle of doing that or going somewhere else
NeilCartwright
All Star
Currently in a 4 month bootcamp right now to get my Sec+ and Pentest+. I dont have any background in IT but im breaking into cybersecurity
Excited to lurk this thread and contribute soon
Excited to lurk this thread and contribute soon
LiquidMasterSwords
All Star
Welcome to corporate America. They play these games because most people will not call their bluff. Your manager didn't just magically find another 15k that he could give you. They had that money in their budget and had you not asked, it was most likely going into someone else's pocket. I'm sure they have the money to bump you another 10-20k but they are going to make you jump through hoops again to get it. Like I said this is nothing new in corporate America. Just have to decide if it's worth the hassle of doing that or going somewhere else
I feel you @JT-Money I only came here for a SECRET the fact that I could be walking around with a TS/SCI less than a year after I was hired was just an opportunity I couldn't pass by. But you're right, there is no telling where the money is going. I left a job 2 years ago because there was nothing left for me to learn, no room for growth, raises were stale. My new job was only 8K more but offered me the experience I wanted and was fully remote. My current job was begging me to stay and was offering up NEW money. Like were all this money come from all of a sudden!?
@xXMASHERXx I called their bluff but I'm not willing to go through the hassle next time, I need more work that will progress my career. I'm rotting over here. Dude told me I need to get my PMP last Tuesday to further my career and then says to me on Friday I don't have the experience so don't worry. It's like that Michael Jordan meme, "and I took that personal". I should get that shyt just to wave it in his face on the way out the door.
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to keep you happy following that carrot while they look for your replacement. (extrapolate to entire company).
as a wise man once said, if you are nice to someone all of the time they will only remember when you were bad to them, whereas if you are bad (borderline) to them most of the time they will remember when you were nice. probably not true, but there is a whiff of truth about it in the corporate world.
the company reset your acceptable-offer-window to a new lower one and then were "extra nice" in offering you a bit more than the new lower-window-top even though this was less than your old higher-window-bottom. result: you remember the niceness and would be pleased to get 10/12 much-less your original 15.
if they on the other hand had given you the 15 straight out of the gate, your first thought would have been that you should have asked for more. plus it might foster the thought in you that the company was ripping you off / underpaying you.
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TL;DR he gave you less than you wanted and via manipulation made you feel lucky to get that lower amount.
Everything Zen
Pro
I don't, if I can help it.
LiquidMasterSwords
All Star
never thought of it that way, but... it still left me upset lol so if that was their plan it failed. I definitely don't feel lucky. Also I have 2 interviews next week. I know I said I would be content and wait, but I applied to these places weeks ago when I was more disgruntled. One is for Windows Administrator/Junior Information System Security Officer... which is an interesting combination. It would be 10-15K more than I just agreed to at my current job. The second is for a regular Information System Security Officer position. So I'm going to take the week to brush up on my interview skills.
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Also I have 2 interviews next week. I know I said I would be content and wait, but I applied to these places weeks ago when I was more disgruntled. One is for Windows Administrator/Junior Information System Security Officer... which is an interesting combination. It would be 10-15K more than I just agreed to at my current job. The second is for a regular Information System Security Officer position. So I'm going to take the week to brush up on my interview skills.
when i first started working I had a senior manager (who i ended up reporting to).
that guy used to make sure that I knew he was going to call me (to pressure me into something), a bit before he actually made the call.
he wanted me to cook leading up to itl, to make it easier to manipulate (young, nervous) me during the call.
*we were based in different countries.
