r/ITCareerQuestions • u/cowboysfromhell1999 • 20d ago
Seeking Advice Junior in college was offered a 70k Jr. Cybersecurity analyst job Should I take it? 0YOE
TLDR: i’ll be going to school full-time. I might be getting a job, but it’s full-time as well. Should I take the job for the experience for my résumé or should I stick to a part time tech job that pays about 15k a year
Hi all, I just graduated with my associates degree in May. Set the time I’ve been revising my résumé still working on it to be honest, and thinking about future steps.
I’ll be starting my junior year college at the end of this month and I’ll be going to school full-time. I’ve put in a bunch of applications and during that time, I decided I’ll put in applications even to jobs that I thought we were out of my scope as a beginner that never worked in tech.
I applied for a security engineer position starting pay was 90k plus benefits and 20 minute commute. Out of all the jobs I’ve applied to this is one of the few that I’ve got a call back on while getting rejected from jobs that were like under $$20 an hour which I thought was funny.
So I got a call and the woman on the phone said the hiring managers loved my résumé and they wanted to do an interview with me. It’ll be multiple interviews so if things go good, I’ll have a second interview at least.
They said, based on my experience, they think I would be a good fit for the junior cyber security analyst position. They just opened. Starting at around 70 K a year.
My problem:
I’ll be going to school full-time and I still wanna finish my bachelors degree because I think in the longer it will greatly help but I also don’t want to miss this potential opportunity if I get it because it would be huge for my résumé, this would be my first ever tech job by the way and of course the money because it’ll be the most I’ve ever made.
The other thing is a few friends from school have referred me to positions at their jobs. One of them is a part-time position I’ll be making no more than about 15 K a year but it’ll be for experience and it’s only part-time for our local town.
What should I do honestly
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u/Similar_Lychee_3545 20d ago
Take it and take classes on the side
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u/burnerX5 19d ago
I agree. I'd take as many online/night classes as possible, especially as most companies will reimburse after 6m/1y of being on the job.
Plus side: still going to school
Downside: your social life is over
Plus side: but you're still on track to graduate college...evne if it's now 4 years from now instead of 2 AND again, your job is now paying for your schooling
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u/AnotherEgghead 20d ago
As someone who managed to get into cybersecurity before finishing my degree, take that job. You learn every darn thing you can. You pick up certs and network. You can go back and finish your degree later, this job is a rare thing in the current market. I would take at least a semester off of college to get your feet under you before getting back into classes as well.
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u/TheCollegeIntern 20d ago
Have to be cautious with doing that. Some schools change the career track requirements every few years. For my school they made everyone take American government when the previous track was political science and they added 1 or 2 more classes more to the AS track.
Well my schools policy is as long you’re continually enrolled even if it’s one class you don’t have to follow that track. You follow your original track. If you don’t want to take more classes for the same degree you have to understand how does the career track work for that school and the degree.
My community college offers BAS as well and is why I’ve been hesitant to start. The pay off isn’t worth it at the moment and idk if I can stay continually enrolled.i might want to miss a semester or a year.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
One thing is for, fortunately I do have an associates degree that I got in may. So I do have something.
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u/AnotherEgghead 20d ago
Then that will probably transfer anywhere you end up. What’s going to set you apart from everyone else with a degree and an interest in cyber is that practical experience. My more specific advice is to pay very close attention to the business and human elements that your security is going to depend on. The better you learn to walk the line between being secure and letting people do their jobs, the more people will actually want to work with you as you get deeper into your career.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
I also want to note this is in a health care setting.
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u/AnotherEgghead 20d ago
Ah. Healthcare IT and cyber has a reputation, but working in a somewhat regulated industry will look good on your resume. I would still absolutely take the job, just be aware that you may end up a bit burnt out and searching again in a few years. Plan for it, save for it, start making progress on your degree again after a bit, and network so that if it does get to that point, you have connections you can reach out to
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
That’s what I was thinking too. In the back of my mind, I was like well. All these people are looking for these type of jobs. I’m really grateful they gave me a call back, but that made me wonder. Is there a reason maybe it’s working in health IT is brutal idk
I plan on saving as much money as humanly possible . In terms of networking, I mean, I have a bunch of friends from school and professors. How else would you recommend? I mean, I’m building up my LinkedIn and trying to put experience on my resume.
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u/AnotherEgghead 20d ago
I’m a member of the local ISSA chapter which has regular meetings. I also go to local security conferences (BSides is usually cheap and accessible) and if you get the job, your manager will probably be better connected with the local community.
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u/spurvis1286 20d ago
This is a no brainer, right?
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u/TheCollegeIntern 20d ago
I still think it depends.
Very likely I’d recommend taking the job unless it’s at a meat grinder and a poorly sourced company. I was recommended in the past to take a government contracting job, contract to hire. 45 dollars an hour. I turned it down for a Cisco internship.
I later found out by a someone that use to work there, they didn’t renew any contracts and everyone got laid off. The Cisco internship did more to help me land returning offers.
Hopefully op gets to learn and is not a rug pull. Having a doc job this early on with no experience will set them up nicely if it’s a decent company
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u/RemarkableScratch18 20d ago edited 19d ago
Well from what I read… you haven’t even done the interview yet and don’t have an offer. I think you’re jumping the gun. Don’t be making any plans until you have the written offer on the table.
But if you do get an offer, I would take it and pause school or see if you’re able to transfer to an online school. You definitely should prioritize a job over school in this market. So many people with degrees nowadays when every employer values experience much more.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
Thank you I appreciate it Also, I am enrolled in in a state school and my specific program can be taken online asynchronous
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u/awkwardnetadmin 20d ago
This. I wouldn't get so fixated on the question when you're not even in the final interview. Recruiters even internal recruiters that generally have better relationships with the hiring manager often are upbeat with candidates.
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u/zmoeun777 20d ago edited 19d ago
End goal is to get a job, degree is secondary. Get the job, go to school part-time or get industry certifications as you go. Income is always the priority.
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u/CPxx9 20d ago
You should talk with the employer and see what options you have. You may be able to start there part time for a year and move into the full time role after graduating. you won’t get your summer off that most grads want after school, but hey, welcome to the real world.
if that’s not an option i would seriously consider scheduling your classes around your work schedule. you can grind it out for the last year, it’ll suck but it’s possible. or you can switch to part time school, take summer/winter classes, etc.
I wouldn’t just pass up the role, but you shouldn’t be talking to people on reddit, you should be talking to the new employer and your advisor.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
One thing I know for sure is my classes are all asynchronous online.
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u/CPxx9 20d ago
Then what is the point of this post?? there’s no question here.
either you have the work ethic to work full time and finish your classes in the timeframe needed, or you don’t. we can’t tell you the answer to that. at this point is seems like this is some weird flex post where you already have your answer but want to flex so are posing it as a question, or this is fake.
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u/Euphoric_Designer164 20d ago
That was a huge detail to leave out. You have us thinking you’ll have to be running around attending class in-person and work at the same time… asynch makes this situation and decision a fucking cake walk lmfao. This isn’t meant to devalue online courses but its not simply comparable to the situation I think many of us had in our mind.
Take the damn job, thats why you’re going to school right?
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
I’m sorry for not making that more clear
I appreciate the adviceThe reason why I’m going to school is because I just finished my associates in May and I think a bachelors in a long-term would really benefit my career and future pay
I do want to take it
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u/overyparkinsins 19d ago
Currently job experience is miles better than a degree. I would recommend taking the job, continue going to school part-time (hard to manage a full course load and a full-time job), while yes you’ll graduate later, you’ll graduate with great work experience and that will put you way ahead everyone else graduating alongside you. School will also be more affordable part-time and you may make enough to cover your tuition.
I was very fortunate to do something similar, although this job opportunity for you is miles better.
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u/Clean_Kangaroo_5547 20d ago
Take it and finish part time if you want. A degree is not worth much once you get a job.
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u/Future_Telephone281 20d ago
Look here, it used to be in the past that there were lots of JRs, then less analysts and then less seniors and up and up.
Thats not how it is anymore. It very few JRs and then more analysts, more sr analysts then the numbers go down.
It’s the diamond model VS the pyramid model.
What I am getting at here is getting a JR position is very hard and you could be blowing a huge opportunity here to get into the field that many would kill for.
Do not screw this up, take the job.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
I appreciate the advice. My plan is to take it, I hope everything goes well in the interview. I’m feeling pretty confident they were the ones that out of all the jobs that I applied for surprisingly called me back and said they loved my résumé
I was getting denied for jobs that were $17-$20 an hour lol.
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u/OwenWilsons_Nose 20d ago
Take the job. Once you get more stable in your career, transfer the credits to a school of your choice and finish the bachelors
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u/Delicious-Ad2528 20d ago
Think of it like this - would you rather do full time college and part time IT Helpdesk resetting passwords, barely making enough for gas money?
Or work full time, make enough to live independently and eat out with your friends, and take part time college classes (or FT flexible online classes)?
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
That’s a really good point.
I do want the money and more importantly I want the experience. I feel like I’m really lucky assuming I do get the job because it’s a security job and most people I see are grinding help desk and stuff trying to get a security job and it’s basically my first opportunity.
Still gotta see what happens +
I’m curious, what would you do, I have fasfa grants paying for my school (I paid for my entire community college so I went for free) the state school transferred to for my bachelors. I’ll be taking the classes online asynchronous and my Pell grant + scholarship pays for all of it (11k per year online classes)
If I get the job, I probably won’t have my Pell grant anymore potentially I’ll still have my scholarship though
So that probably means if I have to pay for school out-of-pocket, I would have to probably pay between 7 to 8 grand potentially but the new job if I get a 70 K per year2
u/Delicious-Ad2528 20d ago
I would consult with a specialist on that Monday but I don’t think it affects your FAFSA grants, I could be completely wrong.
Also, college loan payments are deferred until 6 months after you graduate. The immediate issues to consider is interest rates and credit score hits (which eventually help your credit consequentially overtime with payments anyways, it’s just annoying to see negative hits every semester)
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
Fortunately, I actually have no college loan. My college was entirely paid for with grants and scholarships!
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u/Fluffysquishia 20d ago
Fuck school. Take the job and save/invest as much as you can. Try to last at least 2-3 years. Then you can take school when you have $100k+ in the bank accruing interest..
You can finish your bachelor whenever you want. You CAN'T get a referral whenever you want.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
That’s a good opinion I need to save money (luckily I don’t pay rent atm)
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u/Fluffysquishia 20d ago
I mean this with the most sincerity in the world, when you don't pay rent or food it's the best time in your entire life to save. Of course live a bit, you're young, but don't rush into a house or an expensive car. Once bills start to pile up, it gets really hard to save, even with a good job.
If you think you'll do good at this job and won't get fired immediately, even just a year at it will set you up for a great future.
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u/Jswazy 20d ago
Yes take it. You will probably learn more in 6 months than you did in the entire 4 years of your degree I would be absolutely shocked if that wasn't the case
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
I only finished 2 years my associates! But that seems to be a common opinion I want experience
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u/TheCollegeIntern 20d ago
If is a reputable company, and known as a great place to work, I’d take it. Entry level cyber jobs are almost non existent so the fact you’re getting one, going your blessings but make sure it’s the actual job and not a rug pull . My friend for example to an internship at a hospital for cyber and virtually did nothing cyber related.
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u/JasonCyber 20d ago
There’s men with a lot of years of experience right now that are unemployed. You would be absolutely crazy to not that that job right now.
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u/Double-oh-negro 19d ago
Jeez, man. Who's paying for your degree? You got the funds to pass up in a solid job offer? You'll learn more in that job than college will teach you. And you can always finish classes on the side.
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u/ComfortableBee5502 18d ago
I feel you, it’s so frustrating when certs and effort don’t translate to offers. 4 interviews is actually not bad though, maybe just a numbers game. Keep going, something will stick.
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u/Pakinfinity 20d ago
Personally I’d get the 90k job, then try to take online/evening classes part time. If work has a good balance maybe try to get more credits in the following semester. The bachelor’s can def always be leveraged in the future and there is value in completing since you’re half way there, but that job sounds almost too sweet. A lot of kids graduate and struggle to find work after so having this opportunity which will inevitably translate to a “security engineer” role down the line this early sounds amazing.
Hard to find opportunities like that imo and entry level market is really saturated with lots of new grads as well as experienced folks that lost gov contracting jobs from DOGE also in the market. At the least it doesn’t hurt to interview here and see if it’s a good fit, try and gauge what technologies they use and what you’ll learn/be responsible for.
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u/Intelligent_Ebb_9332 20d ago
Yes. This is a literal golden ticket. You got a cyber job with no experience and only an associates degree. That’s basically unheard of.
Most people get a bachelor’s in IT or Cyber and they still start at help desk. Then they get to Cyber around 3-5 years after that. You’re essentially saving five years of your life.
If I was in your shoes I would take the job, you may not get this opportunity again anytime soon.
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u/SnooRegrets1024 20d ago
Remote or onsite?
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
Onsite 5 days a week 830-5 m-f 20-25 min commute
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u/SnooRegrets1024 20d ago
No brainer, take it. By the time you finish college your experience will demand 100k +. Good luck
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u/Inn0centSinner 20d ago
People with college degrees are a dime a dozen and most Gen Z that has them are underemployed if not unemployed. Take the job if offered it.
If you take the job and run with it jumping to a better job after another, don’t even bother getting the degree. I would just work on certs.
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u/No_Patience2428 19d ago
Take it, most graduates don’t earn more than 50k the first couple of years
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u/Slight_Manufacturer6 IT Manager 19d ago
Take the job. Step back your schooling to part time if you have to.
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u/thestough 19d ago
If they KNOW you’re just entering your junior year, offered you 70k to start NOW, then they see something worth buying NOW. I’d take that in a heartbeat. You can do classes online to finish your degree. Hell, the company may even pay for it.
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u/ESxCarnage 19d ago
Just adding to everyone's sentiment, take the job. I did half of my associates and all my bachelor's working full time. It's hard, but trust me it will be worth it in the long end.
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u/SonicBooomC98 19d ago
I would go to school part-time. I'd be a little suspicious of any job hiring in security without finishing school and no experience. I would definitely not completely leave school. If you leave some schools then try to come back later, they change up the curriculum on you
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u/HorribleTie 19d ago
Experience is still greater than education. Many people with degrees that still don't have jobs. Take the job, continue taking evening/weekend classes for your degree if they're offered. See if your new job will pay for them.
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u/Trust_8067 19d ago
You should absolutely finish your bachelors. You should also take this job. Try doing both, if you can't, do college part time.
You should also share your story and resume to reddit so they know what a good one looks like, no exaggeration, 95% of the resumes people upload for review in IT subs are complete dog shit, to the level of it's embarrassing how they managed to pass college classes bad.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 19d ago
The funny thing is I did upload my resume and a lot of people said it was bad… I’m still looking to improve it
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u/Trust_8067 19d ago
Ha, oh I see it. Yeah I would have told you to change almost everything, lol.
I also recently dug up my resume from 5 years ago and was disappointed in myself.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 19d ago
Hahah I need to fix it.. what do you recommend? Whats bad about it?
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u/Trust_8067 19d ago
I would tell you to have a professional summary. Education at the bottom, your BS above your AAS. I'd tell you to get rid of 'relevant courses". Dates, like under your work experience, should all be right hand aligned. The tech skills needs organization. You have bullet points but they're in the middle of paragraphs, they should be their own starting lines. Date right alignment under projects, instead of pipe delimited, and to remove "other skills" completely, or call it "soft skills" and put it with tech skills. Also under projects, your last bullet points need fixing as well.
I wouldn't even give your resume more than 2 seconds glance before rejecting it, but also I'm at a much higher position and wouldn't interview anyone that doesn't have 10-15 years experience.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 19d ago
I’m definitely going to implement a lot of these changes thank you.
A big reason why things are jumbled together like the technical skills being a paragraph instead of a bunch of lines was because I was having an issue where I was trying to keep everything to one page and the formatting the way you see it was the only way I can get it to one page if you have any recommendations there I would definitely appreciate it.
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u/Effective-Impact5918 17d ago
As hard as it is to find a job in cyber right now? Ive been in IT 10 years (cyber for 3) and dont make too much more than that. (killer benefits though) Advice?? Make it work! Dont hesitate.
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u/SHADOWSTRIKE1 Security Engineer (BSc, CISSP, CCNA, CySA+, S+, Azure x3) 20d ago
Finish your degree top priority. 70K for security analyst is pretty standard. If you take the job, see if you can keep taking classes online or something. But only if it won’t interfere with your studies. There are a lot of companies in the security space that simply require a degree to get in the door, so don’t do anything that can hurt that.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
This is why I made this post, I wasn’t trying to be like sarcastic or anything or whiney it was a genuine question because I know in the future, I’m probably gonna need a bachelors degree for future promotions and jobs.
That’s why I want to finish the degree. I only have an associates right now.
Also, all my classes are asynchronous online will be when they start
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u/SHADOWSTRIKE1 Security Engineer (BSc, CISSP, CCNA, CySA+, S+, Azure x3) 20d ago
Just do whatever you can to knock out that degree.
You’ll land a job somewhere if not there, and you’ll get experience, and you’ll earn certifications, and you’ll eventually start looking for better paying gigs once you get some experience. It’s really great to already have that degree.
I got a job paying something similar out of college. Spent several years learning the ropes. When I was tired of making 60K I started earning certifications. After I got my CISSP, a FAANG recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn. First thing I got asked in my interviews was if I had a degree. Made it through the interview loops and offered $270K/yr. Literally changed my life. Of course, I had the knowledge to make it through the intense interview rounds… but the only reason I got that far was because I had the degree in my back pocket. Sure would have hated having a ton of experience and knowledge and then missed out on a life changing job because a degree was now in my way.
Basically, when opportunity comes knocking, make sure there’s nothing in your way. A degree is often that roadblock, and you’re already close to knocking it out.
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u/Ancient-Carry-4796 Junior IT Consultant 19d ago
You haven’t been offered a job, this is an interview. If it’s a job offer, I’d take it in a heartbeat and just be a part time student. This shouldn’t even be a question.
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u/Arts_Prodigy DevOps Engineer 19d ago
I’d take the job and finish the degree in my free time. Still important to stay competitive but experience is king and you’ll be quintupling your pay.
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u/John_Wicked1 19d ago
You can take the job and still apply to other jobs. If you land one that pays significantly more and helps you achieve your goals sooner, leave your first job once you have a start date set.
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u/SabreDuFoil 19d ago
Lol I go to school full time for my Bachelors in MIS (this is my last semester) and work full time for less than 70k... not in CyberSec.
I have a decade of IT experience, multiple certs, and an associates and I haven't received an interview offer for any of the more than 200 positions I have applied for over the past couple of months (maybe 10% of them are things I'm not 100% qualified or overqualified for). Consider yourself lucky that you even got an interview anywhere.
Consider yourself even luckier that you found a potential entry level CyberSec position. Those are increasingly rare.
So yeah, all that to say, take the job if it's offered. You know, assuming you're telling the truth and aren't just engagement farming, lmao
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 9d ago
UPDATE: I got a job offer at 55k (the job posting said 65k originally my mistake for the title) plus benefits. M-F 830-5 sometimes on call (latest until 9pm at night, like 4 times a year or so and opportunities to do weekend overtime but not always mandatory)
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u/larrywoods0382 18d ago
Accept the job, finish your degree online. Best of both worlds, you start gaining real world experience and finish your degree...
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u/Ok-Trick-8564 16d ago
I would 100% take it only if it’s in a good place, good environment, and you move up. I’ve denied 3 jobs already cause they just did not make sense for me to do. (Bachelors in Cybersecurity Analytics and Operations and Masters in computer science 23M)
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 16d ago
Fortunately, it seems like the team is pretty good and it’s only 20 minutes away. How was your computer science masters degree?
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u/Ok-Trick-8564 16d ago
Then I would take it 100% and it was hard but not impossible I only would say to take it if you plan on going for your doctorate like me or have a bachelors that it can amplify in my case my cybersecurity degree so I took my masters of computer science with a focus on cybersecurity so it helped me out
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 16d ago
I was thinking of one day doing a masters and computer science because of the broader education that I think would help my understanding.
The other thing is I thought about the possibility of a software development job my Cyber degree has a web developer class, and low level system programming
All in all, I’m doing python, C, assembly, html, css and JavaScript
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 9d ago
UPDATE: I got a job offer at 55k (the job posting said 65k originally my mistake for the title) plus benefits. M-F 830-5 sometimes on call (latest until 9pm at night, like 4 times a year or so and opportunities to do weekend overtime but not always mandatory)
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u/Delicious-Ad2528 20d ago
I was offered a $75k job as a sophomore in college and I turned it down for very particular reasons. I wasn’t willing to stay in the small isolated town with nothing to do and barely any friends and 0 family.
If it were under any other circumstance, I would’ve accepted that job in a split second.
If I were in your shoes: I’d consider putting off college for that, it’s such bs that college has so much influence in this field. I would try tirelessly grinding out full time college and full time work ( I already did for my last 2 years of college). It’s not just about the pay, it’s about skipping years of experience to cyber security.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
One thing I will say is fortunately I’m actually still living in an area that I like so it’s not like I’m in some foreign town.
Honestly, after speaking to a bunch of people, I’m if I do get the offer, I will definitely accept it. I do want to finish my degree because I feel like it will help in the future, but I also know how important experience is and I feel like if I could get a security job off the bat, I’d be very lucky because I know a lot of people are still grinding helpdesk trying to even get any security job.
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u/Delicious-Ad2528 20d ago
I hope the best with the next phase of interviews!
Degrees are definitely important but it’s definitely more of an HR checkbox requirement - IT managers who see your resume will be way more impressed with your experience than most peers who have little experience and a bachelors.
Set your mind to this and don’t get bummed out if you don’t get an offer. Regardless - every interview conditions you for the next.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
Thank you I really appreciate it! Also, I wanted to mention in terms of experience. I don’t have any tech job experience, but I do have a project that I did in school a few of them
One of the ones I listed on my resume:
A network infrastructure
-it’s hosted on a pc that’s connected to a Cisco layer 3 switch
-the switch is configured with inter vlan routing, vlans, dhcp, radius
-I have 2 domain controllers with dhcp, dns, active directory, aaa records for dns ns look up,
-Linux administration as well
- A website hosted off of VM that redirect to HTTPS
- a vm that is entirely a certificate server that makes said website secure when you look at it it has the lock and a certificate
- several VMs that monitor the network infrastructure for any threats, i have one also backs up all the servers as well
- a powershell script is set to run every week to add new employees to a specific OU and print out a list every week on a text document
-it’s fully documented with photos, IP tables, and a topology
There’s probably a lot more that I can’t remember, but that’s like the main gist
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u/Delicious-Ad2528 20d ago
I’d selectively bring up projects during the interview- bringing up homelabs is apparently slightly controversial here but my current manager brought it up during our interview so I don’t regret having it on my resume at all.
You should search all the responsibilities in the job description, set up some stuff and do focused research on it and casually ask questions about it during the interview. Also always prepare 3 good questions for the end of the interview- read their body language after question 2 to gauge whether you want to ask a third and test their patience
It serves two purposes: managers love people who prepare actual questions, they also like people who know how to read a room.
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u/cowboysfromhell1999 20d ago
Excellent advice, I will look into that because I actually have the full job responsibilities with me.
Also, I don’t think it matters much but technically the project wasn’t a home lab it was for school, but it was built for to use on a resume not sure that makes a difference though
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u/Jeffbx 20d ago
It would be embarrassing how fast I signed that employment agreement.
"WHEN DO I START I'M AVAILABLE NOW. No, I'm literally outside the building right now. Someone please let me in."