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More than one-fifth of respondents (22%) who took the ClearanceJobs Security Clearance Compensation Survey confirmed they work on cybersecurity initiatives, including defensive or offensive measures. For that group, the average compensation totaled $101,198 in 2012 consisting of average salaries of $88,092 and $13,106 in additional earnings.

Those figures are likely the compensation baseline with the Pentagon moving toward a major expansion of its cybersecurity force, as reported in the New York Times. Cyber Command’s five-fold workforce increase, from 900 current employees to 4,900 cybersecurity experts, will strain an already limited talent pool. In fact, despite strong job satisfaction amongst cybersecurity professionals (64%), respondents are interested in testing the job market, with 36 percent of respondents noting it’s very likely they’ll switch employers in the next twelve months. More so, history shows cybersecurity professionals who switch employers can usually expect a pay increase at the same time. Private sector companies have been investing in security as threats to their data and networks only increase every year, with some even enlisting cyber “SWAT” teams to provide offensive and defensive protection.

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It’s that interconnectivity between government and industry that President Obama’s long awaited Executive Order, “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity,” hopes to strengthen by information sharing and establishing a framework of best practices.

When you look at the big earners, they all have one thing in common: technology and engineering backgrounds. Software programmers’ compensation rose nearly six percent to $107,471 on average. Software or systems engineers earn on average $108,064, but a bigger percentage of that pay comes from incentive compensation, when compared to their programming counterparts.

Likewise, program or project managers for technology ($114,917), engineering ($124,534), or other projects ($105,476), continue to be amongst the best paid security-cleared professionals.

Other roles with six-figure average earnings: Aerospace engineering ($102,526, down 5% year/year), telecommunications engineering ($101,816, down 9% year/year), and RF engineering ($100,746, up 5% year/year).

While recent enrollment trends look slightly better, the industry is in a different kind of “T&E” gap. The number of computer-related bachelor’s degrees conferred annually, which in 2004 stood at about 60,000 per U.S. Department of Education statistics, fell to about 43,000 in 2010.

“By definition, security-cleared professionals must be U.S. citizens and we’ve had about a decade where young Americans either chose not to major in engineering or drop out from this course of study midstream,” noted Mr. Lesser. “In the short-term it’s wonderful for take-home pay, but with a scarcity of experienced security-cleared tech talent, open positions stay open – not an optimal outcome in the land of opportunity.”

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