Title: For the security folks out there, what is the market like? How much weight is put on having some of the various certifications out there?<p>I have always had an interest in security, especially the red&#x2F;blue team side of things as well as the forensics area. I have spent my entire career in the world of sysadmin&#x2F;SRE&#x2F;shitty dev however so nothing on my resume shows &quot;security&quot;. The last couple of weeks I have been looking at some of the certification classes and... wow, they can get pretty crazy. The SANS online stuff is like $6k per course!<p>Being close to 40 and making six figures (not a brag, just using it for background) I am worried that it&#x27;s too late to make the jump and still be able to provide for my family. It seems like a pretty big risk to drop multiple thousands on certifications only to start at a salary much lower than I currently have. I&#x27;m not willing to impact my family by taking a potential 50% pay cut. I realize there are risks with any kind of career change, I just want to make sure I&#x27;m not going into this blind.<p>Does it make sense to go after some of these certifications, even if they are not from SANS? Is the security world hiring and paying well these days? Am I looking for too much and should just except the fact that a major pay cut would be part of the process?<p>TIA
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