It is no secret that there is high demand for those who work in cybersecurity. It is one of the industries positively affected by the pandemic, as the rise in working remotely led to an increased need for cybersecurity.
The demand for cybersecurity professionals means that despite jobs in other industries being lost, the average cybersecurity salaries increased from 2019 to 2020. This was just part of the overall increase in IT salaries in the same time frame. For reference, IT salaries reached $97,859, an increase of 3.6%.
The 2021 Tech Salary Report from Dice shows that cybersecurity analysts had the largest growth in salaries of those in the industry. Taking a closer look at that report and other relevant findings can provide crucial insights for those working or recruiting in the IT industry.
Analysts Have the Largest Increase in Cybersecurity Salaries
As mentioned, the 2021 Tech Salary Report found the largest growth of cybersecurity salaries, or any IT salary, among cybersecurity analysts. Specifically, the average salary rose from $88,663 in 2019 to $103,106 in 2020. This is an increase of 16.3%.
The rise in salary is directly related to the high demand, with 35% of organizations saying there is high demand for cybersecurity professionals.
Other Top Growing IT Salaries
The following are the other fastest-growing IT salaries from 2019 to 2020, according to the 2021 Tech Salary Report.
- Data scientist salaries grew from $106,298 to $119,898 (12.8%).
- DevOps engineer salaries grew from $102,606 to $115,125 (12.2%).
- Technical support engineer salaries grew from $63,420 to $68,651 (8.2%).
- Cloud engineer salaries grew to $136,479 (6.3%).
- Business analyst salaries grew to $93,633 (5.3%).
The Demand for Talent Is Expected
As mentioned, one of the driving forces behind the rise in cybersecurity salaries is the great demand for talent. That being said, the demand is nothing new.
As far back as October 2019, experts were predicting 3.5 million open jobs in cybersecurity by 2021. That prediction meant a 350% increase in open cybersecurity roles between 2013 and 2021.
It is also worth noting that the timing of this prediction came before the pandemic. As such, it didn’t account for the rise in people working from home and using technology to connect, along with the corresponding rise in cybersecurity concerns.
That 2019 prediction is about right. Based on data from ISC2.org, the world had about 2.93 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs as of this August.
A Closer Look at the Demand for Cybersecurity Jobs
Demand by Specialization
Those who want to maximize their cybersecurity salaries should consider specializing in one of the areas with the highest demand. According to the ISC2 document mentioned above, these include:
- Cloud computing security
- Intrusion detection
- Incident investigation and response
- Security administration
- Risk assessment
- Security awareness
- Security engineering
Demand by Region
If you are open to moving or working remotely, the following are the states with the most unfilled IT security jobs:
- New York Metro Area: 20,000
- Maryland: 15,000
- Massachusetts: 9,000
- Arizona: 7,000
Demand for Certifications
To make your resume competitive and maximize cybersecurity salaries, try to get at least one of the following certifications:
- CompTIA Security+
- Certified Ethical Hacking
- CISSP
- CISA
- Cybersecurity Expert Master’s Program
- Licensed Penetration Tester
- Network+
With all of these facts in mind, now is the perfect time to get in on the increasing trend of high cybersecurity salaries.
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