Hi HN Community. I used to be a developer and I am currently a member of a support team for a biggish company.<p>I have recently been getting a lot of exposure to admin level security work like dealing with Active Directory/ SSL etc. I am not sure if becoming an expert in this field would pay off long term. I have read from other posts on HN that security field pays well but its a vast field with many diverse roles and it is not clear what these roles do and what they get paid.<p>I will be extremely grateful if someone can throw some light on which security related roles / skills are desirable to have and would make one attractive to FAANG companies.
Can you pass a Full-Scope Polygraph and do you want to move to DC?<p>Lots of security folks around here that make good money. First thing that comes to mind is Red Teaming (offensive hacking, basically), and writing or reversing malware.<p>But even then, I think FAANG is going to pay better in terms of total comp, because you're getting paid in stock in some of the most valuable companies in the world, which is going to continue to accrue if they do well.