What is reasonable compensation? Location Midwest

[u/Political-Pineapple]

Asking for a friend. Midwest USA

Position start 2021 Help Desk starting salary $40K. A.S. Information Technology and Networking. 2022 B.S. Computer Information Systems emphasis in cybersecurity. Current salary $53K (plus on call bonuses $200 for the week and $30 for the first 15 minutes of a call and $10 thereafter). Acting Service Manager until they find replacement, no compensation.

Certifications: CNSP, CNVP, PenTest+, CSAP, CySA+, Security+, Network+

M.S. Cybersecurity and Information Assurance expected graduation date July 2026

Was offered a position as security admin for $60K. Should they take it?

Edit: I don’t know if this makes a difference, they work with an MSP.

Edit 2: I was wrong. They will be working directly with the head of technology and the two of them would be doing basically CISO duties as the company does not have a CISO.

[u/Political-Pineapple]

Michigan specifically.

[u/EViLTeW → u/Political-Pineapple]

That's still not specific.

Chances are, $40k is too low, but the CoL (thus, salary expectations) are higher in Detroit, GR, Kalamazoo than they are in Gaylord or Munising.

[u/Political-Pineapple → u/EViLTeW]

Living and working near downtown GR.

[u/djgizmo → u/Political-Pineapple]

In GR, I’d say $80k is a good starting point.

Always negotiate. The first question you should ask is “what is the approved pay range for this role?”

There answer should tell you if you’re within their ballpark. If they say they don’t have a specific pay range, your number should be whatever you want plus 20%+1k. This way you give them room to counter. So if you want 80k, you’d say 97k

You seem motivated as you have a lot of certs and working through your degrees quickly. Be careful about chasing the dragon and not learning how to ride the horse.